This brief post on the Speed Limit for Change caught my eye. Not for the concept, which I think is silly on an individual level but possibly sensible from an organizational behavior perspective as an empirical observation.
It reminded me of one of the best bits from Al Dunlap’s Mean Business (aff. link) (before he embarrassed himself at Sunbeam) was when he was reviewing a restructuring plan and pushed the team to make all the job cuts at once, “this quarter,” rather than dragging things out. His rationale was that it was better for the company, and even better for the workers as a whole, if the situation moved from old to new as soon as possible. The people left behind would know that they weren’t still at risk next month and could get back to work, and the people leaving wouldn’t be put through the emotional ringer for months before having to look for new jobs. (My recollection is bad on whether he planned t0, and actually did or didn’t, use some of the savings from a faster plan to juice the separation packages.)
I agree with Margaret: good change should start now. In the Army, that was the second part of being decisive: once your decision is made, you put it into action right away. No sense fooling around (or even worse, rethinking it!).
Tagged as:
execution,
leadership
A recent NYT Bits post describes Genius Rocket, a website that fits my early recognition of C2B (customer to business) business models as a likely future for the Internet.
The first incarnation of thoughtstorm.com was for a business that, in modern terms, facilitated the crowdsourcing of advertising ideas for companies and ad agencies looking for fresh sources. The VC client with whom I spoke at the time, seeking feedback and funding, said that the idea would not really do well because of the inherent risk for buyers: not the IP risk but the knowledge that a baby commercial was the idea of a child molester, or something similarly awful from a PR perspective. I took his advice and continue to respect his opinion and knowledge; the only reason I won’t link to him now is to avoid appearing ungrateful for his honest opinion or casting aspersions on his advice with the benefit of hindsight; I certainly didn’t take the alternative route and followed his advice of my own accord.
Seeing these sorts of articles, about crowdsourcing in general and advertising in particular, has nevertheless always been a bit of a sore spot for me. I’ve always thought that I’ve had a succession of good, even very good ideas, and I’ve apparently done poorly at getting them executed, at creating something substantial that exists in the world.
So this self-awareness is part of the genesis of the “orphan ideas” tag on this site and even on the “official” ThoughtStorm blog. My goals are to:
- Release the old ideas from my brain and to-do lists so they’re not cluttering up my thinking and draining my energy, particularly if I’m not actually likely to do anything about them now. GTD advocated moving these to “Someday.” I’m accepting that “Someday” is closer to “Never” and doing something, however small, in taking that step.
- Gain psychological credit for having ideas before other people; not really worth much, but it’s a way to help myself accept #1 and points me to #3.
- Encourage me to pursue ideas in some tangible format, whether rapid prototyping of a social networking website or actual writing related to a book idea (and then a follow-up with a proposal). Executing is all that really counts; ideas really are a dime a dozen, but people who can turn an idea into something, anything, even an ugly but functional website, are rare.
- Recognize value that I’m just not that interested in pursuing and so revealing it for someone else to work with or build on. It’s like seeing a bag of returnable cans in the garbage; I’m not really likely to take it out, but I’ll gladly tell someone who’s collecting cans about it. What’s the harm to me of benefiting society in that tiny way? What have I lost? Nothing, and if you think about the gains from #1, 2, and 3, I’m actually better off.
So the history of ThoughtStorm is now revealed. I’ll try to update that old c2b page into a post so it’s legible and more accessible.
Tagged as:
execution,
orphan ideas,
rapid prototyping,
tips,
writing
