Kudos to Jen

Kudos to Jen in our production department for her work with Tegan and Sara. Check out the latest interview in the Alternative Press devoted to her work.

By day, Jen is our production wunderkind.

By night, Jen has created an awesome community site devoted to Tegan and Sara.

Woohoo!

It's a Fish Eat Fish World

posted by Jen Vaughn

One Monday last November, Mark bounced into the Right Sleeve office with his weekend project in hand. Mark had assembled an aquatic ecosystem in a 5-gallon water bottle, complete with plants and fish, to reside in the Right Sleeve reception area.

There was an air of excitement in the office all day as employees and visitors funneled into the office, noticing our new addition.

"How does it work?" Julia asked.

"It sustains itself," was Mark's answer.

"What about food?" Simon asked.

"You don't need to feed them," was Mark's reply.

"Everything they need is already in the tank." And, seemingly, it was. A light shone on the tank, helping the plants to grow. The fish ate the plants and the "sucker-fish," kept the tank clean.

Every day, we'd come into to the office and check out the tank, our five swimmers and one sucker. It was early December when I first grew concerned about our office pets and their environment. I noticed the light had scorched some of the plants, turning them yellow. I turned the tank, and figured that would straighten everything out.

We had our sample sale, and again lots of people admired our little ecosystem. December drew to a close and we bid the fish adieu, happily knowing we wouldn't need to come in over the holidays to feed them.

When we got back in the New Year, one fish was missing. No matter how long we looked, we were down by one swimmer.

The deaths unfolded quickly after that. When we returned from the following weekend, we had dropped to three swimmers. Soon, we were down to two.

I started adding fish food to the tank. The rest of the office also grew concerned. More and more, throughout the day, people stopped by the tank and did a fish count. We talked about what to do and decided a partial water swap might help.

Our rescue attempts were successful! The two remaining swimmers made it through the next weekend.

Unfortunately, our victory was short-lived. Things took a turn for the worse when another swimmer went missing. We added more food and more clean water. Then, the unthinkable happened; the bottom-feeder went missing. After a day, we spotted him, unmoving, at the bottom of the tank.

We made arrangements for a last ditch salvage mission. We emptied the water into a trash can, scooped up our sole surviving fish into an empty soup jar, and, on my lunch break, I whisked him down the road to the safety of a friend's fish tank. He looked so happy swimming in the fresh water, amongst the goldfish that I was sure would quickly become his best friends. Satisfied, I returned to Right Sleeve and we breathed a collective sigh of relief when I told the office that our sole survivor had been safely delivered.

The email came an hour later.

"Code Orange," read the subject line.

"He's missing."

Our little swimmer had been eaten by one of his new best friends.

We now have a temporary memorial erected where our tank once sat. We'll soon take it down, but looking at that spot this week reminded me of how the office pulled together and tried to help. It was team-work in action.

Unfortunately, things go wrong in business and in life. Sometimes what goes wrong is out of your control, like the weather holding up a delivery truck or, say, a bigger fish eating you.

Sometimes what goes wrong is within our control, like human error in calculating cost or leaving a light on your fish-tank for too long.

A great team is not defined by how well they work together when things are going well; a great team is defined by how well they work together when something goes wrong.

Social Media Marketing in a Traditional Industry

I am often asked how we have made social media work in the traditional and commoditized promotional products industry. This segues into a larger question as to how to use technology to your advantage in any traditional industry.

There are several ways that companies in other traditional industries can use social media to their advantage. We have used the following tools to increase our profile amongst our target market:

1. Blog. While time consuming to maintain, our blog has been an important part of how current and prospective clients relate to the company. I have learned a few important rules along the way as to how to maintain a good corporate blog.

a. Do not use your blog as a product advertising tool. Think of your blog like a respected newspaper like the New York Times where editorial interests are separate from the business interests that underwrite the publication. No one would read the Times if the articles were shameless plugs for their advertisers. Readers expect analysis, commentary and a perspective, not a sales pitch.

The content of our blog is focused on positive customer experiences. This is central to how we do business, which is why we focus on this theme on our blog. Many of our entries are irreverant and humorous - and each offers a unique perspective.

b. Have fun. One of our company values is to "have fun". We have fun when we interact with our clients in person, over the phone and in our online setting. We present our thoughts and philosophies on the blog as we really want our clients to know more about what makes us tick.

2. Online video - we created a comedy sketch on youtube.com which makes fun of our industry. I think that the ability to have fun and have a joke at your expense is a key rapport building exercise between you and your audience.

3. Product Comments and Ratings. We encourage the good, bad and ugly. Not everything is a winner and we want our community to know what works and what doesn't. There is no point in hiding from something that doesn't work as a marketing tool - as this client felt in their review. Conversely, when products work, the community is drawn to the winners.

4. Aligning ourselves with web properties that our clients identify with. In our case, we have used:

i. Facebook to allow clients to share products via the web's hottest social networking site. We also have a rightsleeve.com fan page and group where "fans" can keep tabs on us via facebook.

ii. Flickr as a forum to post office pictures which gives clients an insight into who we are.

iii. You Tube as a forum to post videos on what makes our office tick.

5. Own your content by building your own web site. A number of companies take short cuts by using white label web sites developed by industry associations. Companies will market these sites as their own, but the end consumer is simply presented with the same product offering as everyone else who has tapped into the same standard web product. The only difference is a template change and a company logo on the header. This is a relatively standard practice in the promotional products business. The end result is that you simply don't stand out. How can you when an average client will receive the identical marketing message from multiple sources?

6. Open up. Visitors to our site can publicly see how many times products have been viewed/purchased. Visitors can also see what clients are actually buying so others can be privy to what's popular. This is determined all by visitor activity which is a much more democratic way of determining popularity. By opening up this information, we have created a powerful dialogue with our customer base that is next to impossible in a non web based environment.

If your industry is old fashioned, this is your chance to be truly unique. You will find your investment is less capital intensive but will draw significantly on your time and intellectual resources. In the end, you can create a winning model that takes on the bigger players who have a legacy infrastructure to support.

There is no better opportunity to use technology and social media to cement your position as the next generation leader within your industry.

American Apparel spoof - classic

For anyone that has followed the rise of American Apparel in recent years, this cringe-worthy video spoof is a classic.

Hidden Charges

I am not sure why consumers put up with companies like Ticketmaster that heap on additional charges at the checkout counter.


I truly believe that Ticketmaster adds a lot of value when purchasing tickets for an event. As a consumer, I like going to their site and viewing just about any event I want to attend. The site is user friendly and ticket purchases are very easy (assuming you are not looking to buy for Radiohead, U2, etc). Given this value add and their near stranglehold on the market, I am not sure why they hide the true cost of the ticket.


Here is a recent example from a Hawksley Workman ticket purchase.


The tickets were advertised as $32.50.


However the final bill comes to over $41.00 per ticket with all of the additional charges applied.

Here was the breakdown:

Advertised: Full Price Ticket CA $32.50 x 4

+

-Total Building Facility Charge(s) CA $2.50 x 4
-Total Convenience Charge(s) CA $5.50 x 4
-Order Processing Charge(s) CA $2.25 x 1
-Regular Mail = No Charge

TOTAL CHARGES CA $164.25


Final individual ticket cost = $41.06, a 26% surcharge over the original cost.


What gives?


As a consumer, I am more than happy to pay $41.06 to see Hawksley Workman. This is more than reasonable. Why not just be up front from the beginning?


Companies who employ this sneaky strategy typically do this for the following reasons:


1. They don't want to look expensive in the market place, so they lead with a cheap price and then add to the price once the customer is at the checkout counter when the chances of walking away are slim. This practice is also fairly common in the online promotional products space where some companies advertise products without decorating charges, thus making them look inexpensive compared to other companies.


2. They want to disclose to the consumer all of the individual components of the sale so as to elicit sympathy that Ticketmaster is really only making peanuts on the transaction.

As far as I can tell, I think most people don't really care where the money goes so long as they value what they are buying at a given price. An additional convenience charge or a building facility charge is just annoying. Be upfront about this from the start. Sure, tell me at the end if you must, but don't heap on the additional charges as I click through the checkout process. This only serves to irritate.

I relate the following example in our business.

Imagine the following scenario. A $10.00 T-shirt advertised on our web site as:

$1.00 T-shirt!

+ $2.00 printing cost
+ $2.00 transportation charge
+ $1.00 thread match charge
+ $1.00 employee lunch fund charge
+ $0.50 company profit
+ $2.00 computer server cost
+ $0.50 dye charge

= $10.00 total.

I understand that it costs money to produce a product, but you shouldn't be in the business of annoying your customers with hidden charges. Note that hidden charges are different than extra charges. To be fair, extra charges are legitimate when they advertised clearly as such so the consumer is aware of what they are getting into. (ie. the cost of buying a book on amazon.com excludes freight if under $39, or the cost to print this mouse pad excludes a $50 setup fee).

A famous quote in business says that "in the absence of value, companies can only compete on price." On the web, companies should not be afraid to post the fair value of their products without resorting to shady practices like tricking the customer at the end of the process with random charges. If your product/service is worth it, people will always line up to buy it.

Green Swag

Every industry has their 15 minutes of fame, and I believe that the promotional products industry is about to have its Andy Warhol moment.

Promotional products are everywhere. Last year, North American businesses purchased 18 Billion dollars worth of advertising specialties. Everything from branded toasters that sit on kitchen counters to wacky magnets that cling to office filing cabinets. The street terms for these types of promotional products include swag, trinkets and trash, thingamabobs, and doodads. While most have a love affair with swag (it's typically given out free), I don't think that companies would believe they are doing the environment a favor when they buy promotional products.

Until now.

Over the past few months, our industry has joined the environmental crusade and once tired products are now enjoying a resurgence in popularity. Here are a few examples:

Yesterday's stainless steel tumbler is today's disposable coffee cup killer.

Yesterday's convention tote bag is today's must have fashion accessory at the grocery store checkout counter.

Yesterday's nylon lunch bag is today's styrofoam container killer.

Yesterday's ceramic mug is today's hottest desktop promotion.

Yesterday's notebook is today's 100% recycled cardboard journal.

Yesterday's plastic pen is today's biodegradable conference writing instrument.

Who ever said that swag could not save the earth?

We are asked all the time about the latest and greatest products in the swag business. People are typically expecting us to tell them about the toaster that can brand your logo into toast or the latest lava lamp. These are the trinkets and trash - the suspect items that simply end up in the land fill without serving any useful purpose.

Historically, there was no quicker way to bring a cocktail party conversation to a standstill if you mentioned the stainless steel mug or recycled journal as being the next best product based advertising medium. But this has changed in the last 9 months - companies today are demanding that their promotional marketing purchases now serve 2 purposes:

1. The product serves a useful purpose and will not be thrown out immediately.

2. By using the product, the consumer is reducing their environmental footprint.

As little as one year ago, a promotional product purchase was typically deemed a success if it met the first objective. Now marketers can now double their investment return if their promotional spend achieves the second, and arguably more important, objective.

Get rid of the washroom jockeys!

This is a blog about positive customer experiences. It's in this vein that I write about the puzzling phenomenon of washroom attendants.

For those not in the know, a washroom attendant is the chatty guy/woman in the men's or women's washroom at higher end establishments. I have never met anyone who feels these people add anything to their experience in the washroom - aside from guilting them to part with money for helping wash their hands.

I tend to avoid establishments like this now as I can't stand going into the washroom only to be confronted with some slick washroom jockey chatting me up about the latest sports scores. I'm there to do my business, wash up and get out. Instead, I'm being watched by some stranger who's sizing me up on the size of tip I'll be tossing into the basket on the counter. Instead of focusing on ... ahem, well, you know ... I'm thinking "man, I only have a $20 bill in my wallet and this guy isn't getting it. How do I get out of here fast?"

This is a terrible customer experience!

I am all for tipping in any environment where it's appropriate. When I receive good service (or even mediocre service) in a restaurant/bar/hotel/cab/etc I always step up with a good tip.

Perhaps it's because I am North American and not accustomed to paying for the washroom like many people in Europe are, but the bottom line is why make your customers feel uncomfortable when it's not necessary!

I have spoken to many club going friends who understand that a night out often costs well into the hundreds of dollars (bottle service, booths, rounds for friends, etc). However, even these friends can't stand setting aside $25 for the evening washroom budget.

Here's my message: people tip servers because they are providing a service that people value. The guy in the washroom? I'm not sure I see the same value and I hate the fact that I'm expected to toss $5 into the tip jar to have someone help me wash my hands. Even my 3 year old knows how to do this himself.

Zen and the Art of the Morning Dog Walk

I just read a wonderful article in the Rotman Magazine (Fall 2006) called "Our Ongoing Love Affair with Dogs" by Dr Patricia McConnell.

The article was sandwiched between essays on Loyalty, Business Strategy, HR and Finance. At first glance, I was a little surprised to see an article on dogs in a business magazine from one of the top business schools in North America. But after giving it some thought, I was able to draw a very close connection about how my dog (Jack/Jakers/Jakerton - see above) has had enormous influence on the development of Right Sleeve's model over the last few years.

Bear with me here ....

To quote McConnell,

"Some of my happiest moments are when [my dog] Luke and I sit silently together, overlooking the green, rolling hills of Southern Wisconsin. Our lack of language doesn’t get in the way, but creates an opening for something else, something deep and pure and good. We dog lovers share a kind of Zen-like communion with our dogs, uncluttered by nouns and adverbs and dangling participles. This connection speaks to a part of us that needs to be nurtured and listened to, but that is so often drowned out in the cacophony of speech. Dogs remind us that we are being heard, without the additional weight of words.”

In life, I struggle with distractions. My mind is often racing 1000 miles a minute as I dream up grand visions of the future. Everything is an opportunity for me and I waste little time in diving into a wide range of projects. Call it the entrepreneurial curse.

Enter Jack. On weekdays, I get up at the crack of dawn to walk him. Naturally, he loves it. I also love it for many reasons (exercise, peace and quiet, etc) but the most profound effect it has had on me is the opportunity to contemplate the day ahead. Whatever I am struggling with, I know I can sort it out on my morning walk with Jack.

Jim Collins has said that the most important pages of his classic "Good to Great" are pp. 114-117. These pages discuss the importance of developing a "Council" for one's business.

To paraphrase Collins:

"The Council consists of a group of the right people who participate in dialogue and debate .... about vital issues and decisions facing the organization".

While I lean on many smart and talented people to drive Right Sleeve, there is a special spot on my "Council" for Jack - he who chooses to just be there, he who communicates through his expressive eyes, he who expresses his agreement with me through a long and lingering sniff (or his disagreement with me through an immediate jerk on his leash as he insists on stopping for no reason), and he who trots along in sync beside me.

Many of the boldest initiatives at Right Sleeve have come from my morning Council discussions with Jack (note to readers - I refer to discussions in the wordless sense. I am not that "guy" ranting to myself while my dog hides his head in shame!). This is where I have the opportunity to churn through the pros and cons of my ideas so I can be clear about my direction come the beginning of the work day.

I am sure if Jim Collins were a dog owner, that he/she would definitely be a part of his famed Council.

Inspiration from Alec Baldwin

No doubt, Alec Baldwin's rant in Glengarry Glenross has to be one of the best scenes in cinematic history. It's also the most amusing sales manager pep talk ever.

I don't advise sales managers to follow Alec's lead, but there's no question that his tactics command attention. I believe there is a middle ground.

This YouTube clip is an rightsleeve.com office favourite. Enjoy.

How to avoid mushy Kraft Dinner!

I am a devotee of this fine product. Life would only be 1/2 as good without KD.

However, here's a caution to all - don't rely on the box for cooking time instructions . 7-8 minutes? This is guaranteed to yield mush if the KD is left boiling for a second over 5 minutes. This has been tested many, many times.

You heard it here first.

Trunkslammers!

We just returned from the hilarious production shoot of our upcoming video short on a parody of our industry. Kudos to the guys at Studio M for making it all happen. The video will be launched next week, as part one in a series on the art - or lack thereof - of trunkslamming.

All pics from the shoot can be seen here.

Micromanagement - Breakfast Club Style

I watched The Breakfast Club this past weekend for the first time in 20 years. I first saw it when I was 12 or so, right in the heart of the 80's when all it meant to me was teenage rebellion. While this theme is still predominant in the movie, I couldn't help looking this time at Mr Vernon - the lame duck vice principal - through the lens of managing a business.

Here is my analogy:

An arrogant and micromanaging boss is charged with an underperforming division comprised of uniquely talented, but uninspired employees who dislike each other. (it actually sounds like something out of Pat Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team)

The boss views the staff with disdain and believes they should automatically respect him because he is, well, the boss ("Bender, I make $31,000 a year and I have a home and I'm not about to throw it all away on some punk like you.").

The boss comes in intermittently (monthly performance review?) and berates the team for goofing off and continually letting the company down. The boss becomes enemy #1 and the staff bond over their dislike of him, along with other people's unreasonable expectations of them (parents, teachers), and how no one seems to care about what they really think. In search of therapy and a solution, they smoke pot, dance in the library, run around the school's halls, cry and laugh together. The end result is that this motley crew comes to trust and respect one another. They bond and collectively solve the problem that their boss forced them to address at the beginning - how were they going to become better people?

To use an analogy - if the deliquent teenagers can be seen as employees, then there is no question that Mr Vernon can be seen as the ineffective manager, the kind of person who has nothing better to do than micromanage his team to generate results. (my other favourite micromanager is Bill Lumbergh from Office Space).

Yes, I have had my Lumberghian-Vernonian moments of micromanaging in my business. It's not easy to let go and let your team thrive without your constant input. Employees are human beings and they will inevitably make mistakes, much to the chagrin of a demanding boss. But, as a few smart people have told me before, managing is all about letting go and giving the people around you the freedom to do amazing things. Figuratively, this is what happened in that library when the students were left to their own devices.

Vernon did not trust his students. Lumbergh did not trust his staff. Both meddled. Both were overpaid and rather useless. The Breakfast Club struck a nerve for disaffacted teens in the 80's just like Office Space struck that same nerve in office workers in the 90's. Both movies were addressing the same issue from the standpoint of how not to lead a team of people.

I love how the Breakfast Club ends - with the students' collective note to Mr. Vernon. It's pretty interesting to see how the group is able to come to terms with their demons and collectively work out the best solution, without the guidance of their leader.

Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you're crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out, is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basketcase, a princess, and a criminal. Does that answer your question? Sincerely yours, The Breakfast Club.

Learnings from this? Train your team well, give them the power to make decisions for themselves, get them to believe in what they are doing, and give them the freedom to make mistakes so they can learn for themselves. I believe the best managers celebrate their teams for being the brain, the athlete, the basketcase, the princess, and the criminal.

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Since becoming a Dad almost 3 years ago, I am always amazed at the commonalities between parenting and starting/growing a business (or a career, for that matter). This could be the subject of a book (maybe it will be one day), but in the interest of brevity, I'll stick to one main example.

I know Dr Seuss is primarily considered a children's author, but I draw some very powerful adult themes from his works. This is similar to another favourite author, Roald Dahl, who spent just as much time writing for children as he did for adults. I think they were onto something.

Dr Seuss was a childhood favourite of mine. However, I had not read him in almost 30 years when I started reading him to my son Matty (b. 2004) just a short while ago.

The path to success/failure/recovery in business is not dissimilar to the path to success/failure/recovery in life. One my favourite books Oh, the Places You'll Go! explores these ups and downs in characteristic Seussian style.

1. Initial optimism

2. Oooh, look at all these choices/distractions!

3. All right, I am setting off on my own course!

4. Hey, look at all of my fans!

5. Oops, that may have been the wrong turn!

6. It's scary and dark here.

7. Hey, where did all of my fans go?

8. I'm alone and nervous (and that scary monster is eyeing me).

9. Look at them! They're succeeding and I'm not!

10. And look at those other people - they're just playing by the rules (and waiting ...)

11. Hey, who cares about them! Look at what I'm doing!

12. I can see much clearer now. I'm going to be just fine.

13. The road ahead looks pretty bright.

This supports an earlier post I wrote about passion as being the key ingredient for overcoming adversity.

Right Sleeve could have been the template for "Oh, the Places You'll Go!". (we'd be at #12 right about now, with some #8 moments thrown in for good measure).

I always find myself lost in these "ah-ha moments" while reading these Dr Seuss books. I wish I'd understood what they were really about when they were being read to me 30 years ago. But then again, perhaps Dr Seuss had intended for us to make the inevitable mistakes so we could truly learn for ourselves.

How Not to Write a Job Ad for Advertising Specialties Sales People

I continually scratch my head at the the type of people who write job ads like the one I just came across on Craig's List. I understand this employer wants a keen sales rep to bring in sales. Yes, sales people need to bring in business at the end of the day .... how they achieve this goal is the subject of another discussion.


Customers - run for cover!!! Mr. Alligator Grizzly Bear Ball Buster is out to sell you some pens, flashing baubles and white coffee mugs!! Reject him at your peril!!

------------------------------------------------------------

Ad Specialty Sales $1,000 + wk

Looking to train experienced salespeople to sell Ad-Specialties.

This position is about building your own business within a business.

Successful applicants will learn how to sell all types of Ad Specialty products.
Once you have achieved an income of at least $1,000 per week for six months you will start building your own crew of salespeople. Your income will be limited only by your work ethic and imagination.

-Qualified applicants will be hard working, self-disciplined and goal oriented.
-Be responsible and punctual.
-Want to make as much money as humanly possible.
-Have the hide of an alligator
-Be prepared to rip the hair off the balls of a grizzly bear

WARNING:
Slackers, Liars, Deadbeats and Wimps need not apply.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Growth Dilemma

I observe most of my important business lessons when I go to market.

I love farmer's markets as they are filled with such interesting vendors. Most of them are pretty quirky and have strong personalities. It is pretty evident when you are speaking with the owner at one of these places. They are the ones who know what you ordered last week, that your toddler likes poppy seed bagels, who enthusiastically recommend the basil-lemon mustard to go with the sausage you just bought, point out the best head of broccoli, and always cut the ham just the right way. They just get it.

Then you come the next week and the owner is busy serving another client. No problem, except for the fact that the owner's nephew is helping out this week. The nephew does not get it. He reaches for the limp broccoli, fumbles with the credit card machine (or even worse, informs you that you cannot charge $13.11 worth of goods on the card because it contravenes the "no visa under $20 policy"), he slices instead of shaves the ham, and he fails to connect with you about anything. The exchange is a transaction vs an experience.

I return the following week. Again, the owner is swamped with other clients. "Uh oh", the nephew is eyeing me, looking to help. I pretend to continue shopping, all the while hoping that the owner will look up and take my order. No luck, I keep delaying ... keep avoiding the nephew. Eventually, I succeed and I place my order with the owner, the only one who gets it.

This situation is not uncommon in business. A passionate owner, recognizing they can't do it all, hires others to help grow the business. Suddenly, a new person starts answering the phone. Their voice is different, their disposition is different, their product knowledge is different, and they are pretty good at enforcing company policies that you were previously unaware of ... all told, you feel something is missing.

Of course, this is the ultimate challenge. How does a business owner empower the people around them to act like themselves - stamping their DNA onto the people who work with them, so to speak. I know of many amazing businesses that have done this very well, though I know of many others that fail miserably. Unless you are dealing with "Bob the owner", you walk. This is unfair to Bob as he is just too busy ... why won't my clients just deal with the "nephew"?

The companies that nail this concept end up winning. In my experience, training the people around you to "get it" is the most important thing you can do in growing your business. Yes, it is essential that you hire people that have a range of experiences, but if you can't bottle up what is special about your business (and you) and give it to these new hires, you will end up with an uphill battle on your hands.

I speak from experience. Right Sleeve is a very demanding place to work. We are fanatical about delivering a "wow" customer experience and those that do not get this, end up leaving very quickly. Unfortunately, more people end up NOT working out than the ones that do. Why is this? While growth is very important to us, we are not prepared to sacrifice a quality customer experience for anything. All of our staff have to connect with our clients.

If people think and act like this is a product business, their chances for success are limited. This is a people business first and a product business second. Come on - we sell branded promotional products!!! However, what is special about this place is the effect that these products have on the people who order them (making them look good in front of their boss or clients). This is powerful stuff ... and a hard concept to teach.

I feel like we have made some tremendous sacrifices in our quest for the perfect team. While I know deep down inside that we could quadruple overnight if we hired a small army of salespeople, I am not prepared to become the kind of company staffed by too many "nephews" and too few "Bobs". Why? While in the short/medium term, it would be brilliant strategy for growth, I'd pay the price in the long term. (do you think Howard Schultz may have been thinking this when he wrote his "Starbucks is becoming soulless" companywide email in Feb 2007)?

Growth is still very important to us. But it just takes time to find the right people. It takes time to hire them, train them, develop them. Our management team has been around for years and we have highly dedicated, passionate people who take ownership over what they do. These are the kind of people who genuinely say they have fun at work. I know they represent this company as well - if not better - than me.

The ones who don't work out have difficulty understanding the path to success involves patience, training, learning from setbacks, dealing with criticism, listening, and truly caring about their work and the impact it has on others (vendors, colleagues and clients). This is hardly an overnight process.

When done right, everyone acts like "Bob the owner" and the passion permeates the business meaning the experience is never diluted for the customer.

The Machine is Us/ing Us

My buddy Scott Annan sent this video my way. While it has already been watched a billion times, I wanted to spread the word even more. This is a fabulous look at the evolution of the web from a unidimensional resource to its current status as a dynamic and collaborative medium.

This is worth the 4 minutes ...

Fabulous quotes

You know when you come across quotes that make you say "Yes! That's really smart" ... well here goes. They nail the point in such a cool "less is more" kind of way.
-----------

When people are least sure, they are often the most dogmatic (JK Galbraith)

Imagination is more important than knowledge (Albert Einstein)

Coffee is for closers (Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glenross)

Where there is no vision, people perish (Proverbs 29:18)

Things do not change; we change (Henry David Thoreau)

Until you try, you don't know what you can do (Henry James)

Man cannot discover new oceans until he has courage to lose sight of the shore (Anon)

A crank is a man with a new idea - until it catches on (Mark Twain)

If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten (Anon)

Leadership

In my experience, the meaning of leadership is giving your people a voice to express themselves.

The staff we attract enjoy selling our fun/hip/trend setting products to image conscious companies. Working with headstrong, creative, opinionated people can be a challenge. However, giving a group of people like this a voice to express themselves can have extraordinary results.

I have found that giving people a voice is achieved in three ways (i) participation (ii) ownership of ideas and (iii) setting an example

Participation

We have weekly meetings to discuss creative initiatives. These sessions are pretty liberal and open ended. I have found that the more freedom I give people to express themselves, the more creative they are with their ideas.

For example, in a recent session about how we were going to communicate our top sellers to clients, we honed in on the idea of a Staff Top Ten list. In order to give this promotion a little more personality, the team decided it would be fun to showcase ourselves as the style makers behind the products. Fast forward to the creative ... we now have people striking poses in the Number 10 to represent the Top Ten theme so we could capture the meaning of the promotion on our web site.

These exercises are often very random and the energy in the room is unbelievable as it allows members of the team to express themselves as well as feel connected to the overall mission of the company - to deliver a WOW experience to our clients. You can read more about the exercise here.

Ownership

In addition to these creative sessions, I ask each staff member to be a weekly "Learnings Chair" where they moderate a discussion based on a case study of their choosing in their assigned week. This case study may be a chapter from a book, blog post, magazine/newspaper article or podcast. This topic is distributed to all staff a few days in advance.

Each Monday, the appointed staff member will lead a discussion on the top 3 learnings from the case study and how we can apply them to Right Sleeve. The results have been fantastic. Not only does the company learn 3 new things each week, but each staff member is empowered every time they are asked to present in front of their peers. This is much more powerful coming from an employee than it is coming from the boss (people just expect me to say these things)!

Setting an Example

As a leader, I find that the written word gives my ideas more legitimacy. As such, I publish my ideas on our company blog for the world to see. Our company blog is successful because it gives Right Sleeve a human face. I avoid writing about selling our products, rather I use it as a medium to communicate my philosophies on marketing and business in general. I have found the impact of the blog on my staff to be profound as it gives them a forum to discuss and debate the things I publish online (and believe me, they debate them passionately)! They also get the opportunity to look "beneath the hood" and see what makes the owner tick - unfiltered and uncensored. This is powerful as it makes me more accessible as a leader.

While I have made many mistakes in running this business, one of my biggest successes has been giving my staff a say in the process so their sense of ownership increases ... making my job a little easier every day.

Herd mentality

Herd mentality is fascinating.

Have you ever noticed that whenever a plane lands, taxis to the gate, and turns off the seat belt sign that 95% of the passengers instantly jump up, rush to get their bags from the overhead bins ... and then proceed to wait for several minutes (still standing) before the plane's doors open?

Where are they going in such a rush? Is the guy in the seat behind me going to get off the plane faster than me when the doors open? It seems so unfair - he has been standing with bag in hand for 5 minutes while I sit there relaxing (and I still get off before him .... after all, I am still seated ahead of him). It only takes a few seconds to get your bag in the overhead bin. (and yes, I have traveled with my family as well as by myself).

To be clear, I am not a slow poke. I am usually in a hurry, but I just don't get why people rush just to stand there? Why not sit back, relax and wait until the doors open? Then grab your bag and be on your way. Standing in the aisle will not speed anything up, other than just congest the aisle and cause back pain.

Ever since I can remember, people have always rushed to stand after a flight arrives at the gate. It seems somehow ingrained in the traveler's DNA, but it does not seem to affect one's ability to get off the flight any faster. This is just what people do, as though they are following some sort of rule book.

Here's the point. Why do what everyone else does, especially when "what everyone else" does is kind of silly when you step back and really look at the situation?

It's pretty liberating to do things differently - in life, business, etc. Sometimes doing it the way everyone always does it only satisfies our need to be like others, but it is not necessarily the best way.

(author's note - while I may be onto something with this deplaning business, I still engage in many other silly and herd like activities, so I am not playing high and mighty. I still have plenty to learn!)

The Power of Core Values

In the past, I was never a believer in committing core values to paper. I always knew they were important, and while we certainly abided by a set of core values in our heads and hearts before, I chalked up the actual "writing of them down" as corporate schlock and rhetoric. Did anyone really care? If any of you have seen Office Space, you know what I mean (i.e., big, grey company asking its people "Is this Good for the Company"?)

I have since parked my skepticism as I found the process of committing tried and true values to paper to be liberating. Someone once told me that you know you have nailed a core value when writing it down gives you goose bumps. I mean, it actually has to mean something in order for it to be that powerful. That changed my perspective immediately. What was it that was so exciting about this place when it was just an idea, 1 phone/desk and no clients? Why did the founder wake up one day and declare "I want to start a company". This is the magic that needs to be encapsulated in your value system (the magic elixir, as it were).

For a look at what guides us at Right Sleeve, click here.

I also found that as a business grows, the founder does not have the time they had before to manage individual staff and guide them through every process, customer issue, sales call etc. It is so much easier if everyone is on the same page from day one. The values of a company end up replacing the boss in many ways. If you ever have a question about how something should be done, don't ask the boss ... consult the values. This is so much more empowering for everyone. No one wants to hear the boss drone on more than he/she already does (I speak from experience)!

This also makes your recruiting process much easier. Not everyone is going to agree with your value structure. Fair enough - pass on these candidates, regardless of their skill set. We ask everyone of our job applicants to study our core values so they can draw upon experiences that show they will be the right fit. We have made many interview mistakes in the past ("can you tell me your greatest weakness?"), but we have found that the whole conversation shifts into reality when you hold up your value system to a candidate and ask them to respond. If they lied in the job interview, you will know within 1 week of them starting on the job (at which point they should be shown the door - for everyone's sake).

The same can be said when you pitch clients. While we always want new business, we make a conscious effort to evaluate our clients and measure them against our set of values. No one wants to work with a client that does not value what you stand for. The same goes for partnering with vendors as well.

All great teams have one thing in common - alignment around a common cause. Committing values to paper is a great process to go through (and I sheepishly apologize to anyone with whom I debated this subject in the past).