Fresh!

BY FRANK J. RICH The market decides all things. The idea is simple; the customer determines the value of all products and services, their price and potential use. Shipping is a case in point. The tendency is for vendors to find all the profit they can in their products, adding surcharges for increasing fuel prices and everything that is made of petrochemicals or depends on fuel to manufacture or deliver, which is just about everything. “Shipping & handling” (S&H) has been a favorite over the years, a convenient way to add to profit, many vendors took to “adding” S&H charges for the goods they shipped, an increasingly more common practice given Internet shopping. The practice had people looking elsewhere for their products, or resignedly accepting the predatory practice. Like so many others, I found abusive S&H charges an abhorrent practice, so I took to finding alternative sources of goods and services. My penchant for organized correspondence led me to regularly discussing the matter with vendors to alert them to my decision to go elsewhere and the reason why. It worked!

BY FRANK J. RICH Motivational talks confirm an essential trait in the human psyche— self-development or investment in oneself. Education, training, therapy, and exercise give us hope. Deep in the viscera it’s the reason many start up small businesses. And, coincidentally, it is some part of the wisdom in good ideas; it stimulates the endorphins or pleasure centers in the body. This group of hormones binds to the opiate receptors primarily in the brain to deaden pain and increase pleasure. Could it be, then, that the “eternal spring” that is hope is rooted in an emotional well that gives birth to good ideas and, by its elemental chemistry, also informs bad decisions? Small business has much in common that is also found in larger businesses. The drive to achieve a unique place in a market that titillates, but less frequently rewards, comes to mind. Most businesses put their hopes on the perceived uniqueness that has given them life. The thought of winning big, such as winning the lottery, excites the production of “the morphine within” to reduce pain or increase pleasure. “Wouldn’t it be great to win the lottery”… is the thought that comes most often to mind. Clearly, the “viral effect” that is extraordinary market response energizes the most sedentary among us. But what keeps us from doing what we must to realize the hope in the enterprise we value so personally?

BY FRANK J. RICH Few things creative, least discovery, are the issue of planned effort. The idea may violate B-School ethic, but suggests, if only to the willing—an action population—no more than an available spirit in their pursuit of productive ends. The so-called “best and brightest” companies in the world -- this usually equates to those with the highest market capitalizations, already the hobgoblin of productive ingenuity -- are soft-beds of luxury perks that would make coal mining a leisure sport. Nevertheless, companies with great success and promise have leaned over to lavish their minions with a bevy of perks so prodigious that their perks have perks. Think bike and leather goods repair, international cuisine all hours of the day, free, flex hours, car service to work, morning boot camp, open schedule chair massages, and a requirement to spend 20 percent of their working hours on innovation. Think how successful your parents were at getting you to do your homework by exciting you with social events and sports.

BY FRANK J. RICH The opportunity in growth is to avoid war with one's history. Little is accomplished today that holds tightly onto the past. The creative energy that sees what others can only look at is the stuff of opportunity. This, by definition, is growth--only Steve Jobs saw an iPod in a common MP3 Player. You know, it's work, though not for everyone. "Heaven isn't a place you go to, it's how you live your life." Having a hard time getting over your circumstances, consider the alternative--things won't change much unless you do. Don't know what to do? Start doing something differently than you did it before.

BY FRANK J. RICH A casual walk along the streets of the Mt. Pleasant district of Vancouver, British Columbia, reveals a vibrant local retail environment. With disappointing employment news and retail performance in the U.S., I was surprised by both the density and variety of local retail shops that dotted Main Street for roughly two miles. Curious, I took the opportunity to speak to Main Street retailers about the state of the local economy. What I heard was astonishing, and consistent with the state of the Canadian economy. It naturally drew a comparison to the U.S. economy just across the border. In the biblical story of Lazarus, who had fallen ill and died suddenly, and whose sisters, Martha Mary, friends of Jesus, sent an urgent appeal to Jesus to tend to his friend as he lay entombed. As the story goes, Jesus waited two days before going to Bethany, but before he had gotten there, Martha, who had learned of his coming, went ahead to greet him. She asked what he would do inasmuch as Lazarus had lain in the tomb for four days. Jesus said, “He will not die,” in an effort to grow Martha’s faith through the crisis. True to his word, Jesus approached the tomb and told the sisters to remove the tombstone, after which he commanded Lazarus to come out. And it was so, according to the story.

BY FRANK J. RICH Most companies—monolithic and local retail--know their customers. But most don’t know they do. Why, because companies continue to roll the dice on methods of defining how their customers behave during the buying process. Not least, those compelled to find gold in Internet sales—that means all of us—either try anything to succeed or nothing at all for fear of throwing money away. Both are founded in rational thought and market savvy. The Internet is a high-volume use model and a low-volume revenue model—for most. A very small percentage of product and service providers earn sustainable revenues using it, at least today. Growth in Internet sales is forecast at roughly 20 percent, 2016/2011. Absolute dollar gains are even less impressive. Yet, most reading this will naturally question its accuracy. Isn’t the Internet taking over the world? The answer is both “Yes” and “No.”

BY FRANK J. RICH The opportunity in enterprise is often their names—companies, divisions, products, and initiatives. Take In n Out Burger for example. The signature idea in the name is to suggest that customers get in quickly, get freshly cooked food, and get out just as easily. Staples, the office supplies superstore, is much the same—they have the office staples, things you need to run an office. The name in each gives perspective on the specific thing they were created to do. How we see things reveals not only our viewpoint, but also the virtues and pathologies of them. Perspective is at issue, both in the metaphorical model and its practical implementation. The view from 50 feet up is always different from that at 10. The opportunity in each benefits significantly from the skill to apply them at the right time. It may have been impossible for Napoleon to see the “details” in a battle with Russia while preoccupied with his vision of empire building—ending in defeat at Waterloo, which has since taken on eponymous significance. Likewise, a deafening economic decline makes it hard for most to narrow their focus to just one step at a time.

BY FRANK J. RICH Customer data drives marketing decisions. Don’t know what your customers want, need, or are in the habit of buying; there’s a rain forest somewhere in the world you can study the lifecycle of bugs. For most of commercial history understanding the customer has been the best way to serve his needs. Simply, when we know the answer to the question above we are better equipped to satisfy our customers. But why is this so important; if we have something the customer wants, needs, or is in the habit of buying we just need to open up shop and let the buying begin. Right? Not exactly! Today, the marketplace is made more of services than products—9:1. In simple terms this means that our connection to people and how they “feel” about an offering is a much greater element of the commercial exchange than ever before. We may enjoy the durability of the garden rake we use, but have an immediate love-hate reaction to those who offer a service for our consideration.

BY FRANK J. RICH                                                                                                          In a recent development session, I heard Jim Huling, CEO of Matrix Resources, describe a familiar experience. “… great initiatives are usually formed of a winning strategy that appears to be endowed of all the right stuff. It’s going to lead to greater results than ever achieved before. The grand plan is packaged and presented to stakeholders with passion and conviction, and then summarily applauded by all. As a CEO this is your single best moment, but it is also the moment when your effectiveness starts to decline. Because what really happened is that only about half the people even heard what you said, for both legitimate and other reasons. They’re just anxious to get back to the real work they left waiting on their desks. Of the half that heard the message, only about half of those knew what to do about it. And only about half of them went back to their desks and began to do anything about what they heard. And the saddest reality is that of that group of those who know what to do and are doing it, only a fraction of them even care—they’re just doing because it’s their job. It is the translation of the grand plan down to the deepest level of the organization, and the caring of what we do that is the single greatest challenge facing organizations today.”

BY FRANK J. RICH In this political season there is much ado about nothing, as the saying goes. Voters (people) want their leaders, parents, teachers and clergy to be special. It's a natural human tendency. Would any parent offer a different result for his own children? Would any dare say (in public) that someone he knows is a bad mother. Would a politician utter the words, “bad mother?” Yet, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” another saying. We pronounce, “The customer is never wrong,” that “children are innocent,” and that our cities’ “finest” are without fault. Really? The customer is often wrong, though never made to feel that way. Children are innocent except when depraved by their parents or environment. And the nation’s “finest” have a higher percentage of corruption per capita than any population but prisoners.

BY FRANK J. RICH The dilemma in baiting a fish that has already eaten is the bane of the inexperienced fisherman. Fish do not “usually” take the bait when already sated. The wisdom in the note may apply to business today when considered in context. The populist wisdom, “perception is reality,” is at issue. Most hold the view that the Internet has taken over the world. It's a reasonable conclusion given the sensory data that forms conclusions in the human experience. The ontological basis of the view--perception is reality—is firmly rooted in the “mapping” mechanisms that make the method of preparing that view more palatable. In order to feel a sense of wholeness, we form stable images of the way things are. Though conflicts may arise in us, forming one’s own reality, a relative view of our worlds, is for most the objectification of our experience. Forming perceptions of things we fear often helps to keep them at a safe distance. In a recent meeting of industry leaders, I heard the typical plaintiff cries heard ‘round the world of business: “Who keeps telling people ‘print is dead’?” While daily newspapers have not figured out how to replace eroding classified ad revenues, community papers and most forms of print promotions are doing well, even though Main Street America is still mired in a slow recovery. The current tally of dailies is roughly 1200, while weeklies (local papers) number 6300 and growing. Free papers (the one you’re reading) alone reach 74 percent of the U.S. population. The Super Bowl, the greatest audience attraction worldwide, drew only 47 percent this year—yet it was a record-setting audience. Reasons aside, the facts are clear, but virtually every local retailer believes the competition is the Internet. Is this perception or reality? Perhaps, a little of both! While the Internet continues to...

BY FRANK J. RICHIs society better or worse, a fundamental question in either the measurement of achievement or in its defining. If solutions are in the hands of men, even capable men, at issue is the human condition, its natural tendencies and ability to overcome them.

BY FRANK J. RICH A Lincoln appears on the street wafting in front of you; a squirrel seldom strays very far from a tree. Good luck and good sense! Luck, it is said, is produced when preparation meets opportunity. Is this good luck or good sense? If you’ll excuse the literary Hallmark and imagine the personal effort that yields agreed upon results, most would fail to measure up. A job may deliver self-esteem, but little else if it reveals the “value conflict” in us (see http://tiny.cc/5fwkd). After 4 years of hard work studying and a degree, how good are most at identifying their life’s work? It may resonate deep within us but market realities have a way of derailing our ambitions, especially if we have confused the didactic above.

BY FRANK J. RICH   I am ever seeking that essential and simple direction that will influence best practices. But the relationships (to stakeholders) that make it possible present both opportunity and unique challenges. Gladly, the opposites join unused brain cells in the gambol toward more effective responses to both. The result it causes may be described as “a sudden intuitive leap of understanding,” revealing opportunity in challenge. The sense that all have felt, of being overwhelmed by both the sheer number and immediacy of the challenges we face tends to drive us in two directions. We are stuck at START, unable to move toward any of the things facing us, immobilized by the sheer number of them. Or, we narrow our focus on one thing at a time, ‘til all are done or delegated. But the simple wisdom in the approach masks the tension that acts like an emergency brake on a car. It’s stuck, like us!

BY FRANK J. RICH Why is it that so many enterprise goals are unfulfilled? Attitude may be defined as the summary elements that inform behavior, that which is characteristic of a species or functional kind—a ship, for instance. In order for a ship to go in the right direction, attitude must be monitored and controlled. It is also the quality that best determines a person’s likelihood of success at whatever s/he does. Knowledge and skills help, but attitude, more than anything, is at the helm. Habits are formed of it, the very thing resumes attempt to reveal in candidates. If there is a pattern of enterprise in the performance of the candidate, attitude is at its root.

BY FRANK J. RICH   The following column is contributed by Gord Hotchkiss, senior vice president at Mediative. The thoughts and ideas are well prepared and uniquely qualified. I trust you’ll find them as valuable as I do. Humans hate making mistakes. But making mistakes is an essential part of being human. To achieve we must learn to live on the edge of this paradox. Success—in all things—is balanced on this fulcrum. Consider the method to “screwing up” successfully:

BY FRANK J. RICH An old story by Bill Cosby has me sitting up nights thinking. As the story goes, Bill is in a bar listening to the tiresome bragging of a martial arts newbie. Deciding he’d heard enough Bill challenged the windbag by suggesting that his feats weren’t so extraordinary; to which the Karate student responded. “Oh yeah, let’s see you do it.” Backed into a corner, Bill swaggered into a nearby alley to demonstrate his skill and will. He prepped his mind, making repeated approaches to the targeted brick perched between two stone columns. He was ready, now puffing and belting out convincing incantations.

Organizations are qualified by many things, which define the nature of the gathering of talent and machinery to form the organization. Perhaps, first among them is the value in the contract with work. The greatest opportunity in the work we do comes after we have matched the right work with the right organization. The size, attitude, market segment, purpose, and ability of the organization are first considerations; the people are the next. Only when we have secured this equation can we avoid the value conflict—where we fit as people and with the work. Most organizations have “values and beliefs” systems in place; some even live them. The first week on the job usually acquaints us with this system in a handbook, which we may need to sign. Few employees see it as more than formality—their first big mistake. Why, because where we belong, as we see it, is critically important to our success. When we don’t feel connected to the organization, on some level, the value conflict comes into focus.

BY FRANK J. RICHPerhaps the focus of more attention than any principle or practice in life, measurement is the sine qua non of growth. It is variously informed of opportunity and rigor. The former, an actualization as much a part of achievement as the achievement itself: the latter, the inflationary pressure on greater achievement, measurement is quick to inform models of achievement and often the source of pain for those uncomfortable with risk management. The process begins at birth and continues through life, in every endeavor. Growth is marked most in infants, parents often wondering how their babies gain weight while seeming to eat almost nothing. Not only healthy growth but intellectual and physical development are measured finitely to ensure natural progress and effective transitions from infancy to adulthood. It is only at age 26 that the brain is fully developed, according to science. If one does not crawl, often an indication of learning irregularities, a flag goes up, alerting parents to appropriate adjustments. Knowledge is fundamental to all measurement—quantitative and qualitative. How we “feel” about things is a measure of our comfort with them, which subsequently prepares us for greater or lesser achievement, as studies demonstrate. Logical analyses form conclusions that do the same. Driving another’s car takes only minor adjustments, leading to quick acceptance of the decision to do so. However motivated and seemingly appropriate, shouting at the boss just doesn’t “feel” like something that ultimately satisfies. The oddity for most in a comparison of any role to the role we play in the workplace is the view that we are different people in each. Not so! Character is immutable, and in the main, apparent. That it is impossible not be revealed of oneself is a universal truth, despite techniques to outsmart a polygraph. Yet, these and other “truths” are too...

BY FRANK J. RICHThe vast majority of business people see opportunity in their venture, at least it’s how they begin. The opportunity in things is informed of interest and a model of success, either self-generated or impressed upon us by others with a similar interest. We join with things, people, and enterprises with just enough enthusiasm to imagine success. And we deliver on the promise of the vision inside when we lean optimistically toward the future. This imagining may have more to do with our success than our skills or knowledge, though both help to grow the self-confidence necessary to achievement. To be clear, it is enthusiasm for our present and future moments that informs a better result. Coupled with a view of the past as a learning experience, we construct a model of success with everything we do. The “human time machine,” the ability to move freely across time and space, in the mind, is not only the progenitor of good things, but vital to our survival. Virtually every venture begins with a vision of the expected outcome. Most organizations set a vision on paper or in posters on their walls, they add the tactical element of this mental image with a mission statement, the “how” in what they’ll look like in the future. The vision forms a staircase to the future, to the accomplishment that delivers on its promise, stacking the steps with the resources, attitude, functions, knowledge, skills, and resources necessary to achieve it--a simple plan. Not coincidentally, this mind travel is as hard to accomplish as a back-somersault for most. But it takes far less practice and mental athleticism than its physical analog. Why, then do so many miss the opportunities before them, even those who have invested significant financial, time, and material resources to achieve the success they...

BY FRANK J. RICHWhat may appear at first glance as an oddity in a column on business may after consideration be anything but. It is not uncommon to discover that our view of things is less than an accurate representation of reality; more commonly we fail to consider alternatives until our reality is stripped away. Denial is the most convenient coping mechanism known to man. Resistance naturally follows. Consider the typical work experience: We meet frequently to inform decisions. The diversity in people reveals the confrontation in such gatherings—a natural consequence. They are really meetings to disagree, in an effort to form consensus, to come together. Americans are legendary for righting wrongs. Though we sometimes get in our own way, lose track of our moral foundation, and succumb to squeaky-wheel pressure, we look for ways to make things better. Business is nothing if not a mechanism to find better solutions in meeting needs. People are empowered to discover the opportunity in them, to find the means to express their unique contribution, to grow that contribution over time and through personal development. It is not the organization that defines people; it is people who define the organization. Once measured of its people the organization takes on a life of its own as a reflection of the character and quality of performance in its people. The process is revolutionary at its core, “involving or causing a complete or dramatic change.” “I messed up … Many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming … In hindsight, I slid into arrogance based on past success,” Reed Hastings, Netflix CEO. The first virtue at risk in the face of success is good judgment. Resistance to the obvious ill-conceived behavior is an American tradition. It’s possible that what we think...

BY FRANK J. RICHAmerica’s economic crisis is marked by opinion, the diversity allowed by freedom; not least an aching feeling in the side, perhaps wanting for a solution that derives little from promises and even less from D.C. quiche called hope. Summarily, those with knowing glances now shake their heads at the obvious—America’s economic crisis is rooted in moral crisis. A listing economy, in these years past, exposes a fundamental rift in the American fabric whose unique bent arched the most dynamic, innovative, and competitive market society known to mankind. Sadly, the strength of will that sustained it was less than equal to the igneous current that undermines its culture today. The signs may be more apparent than in recent times, though were always begging for the light. But now, it’s clear, at least to those who would see. “A person convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” If ever we are given to self-assessment it is now, when the longest winter in recent history just won’t go away. Why, because the quick fix won’t, can’t work. America suffers not from a short-term economic cycle, though cycles define all of life, but from the ardor of long-term political, economic, societal, and ethical change. This is a time for revolution, the thought upheaval that burns patience and strikes a balance with passion as they change places. It is what our founders believed was necessary for America to remain true to its birthright, an uncommon freedom born of moral crisis. Like Lady GaGa America always felt famous, never allowing others to constrain her thirst for glory. Now resting, an aged population watches as the most unlikely set the pace that was once an American monopoly. What is the moral crisis we seem loathe to recognize, still forming words of invincibility on...