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Archives › July 2005

July 29, 2005

Barriers to Change

Do you need to change? MindTools' Force Field Analysis might be a useful tool to identify what might hinder change efforts. The process also helps you identify pressures for change, as well as prioritize the potential impact of each pro and con.

[via Occupational Adventure]

Posted by Heath Row at 3:20 PM | Add Comment

Sorry, Dad.

Lachlan Murdoch threw a monkey wrench into dad Rupert's succession plans by announcing that he's resigning as deputy chief operating officer of News Corp so he can spend more time with his family in Australia.

Aside from the revelation that there's actually a human side to the Murdoch clan, what's your take on sons (or daughters) taking over the family business? What about when they don't want to follow in their parents' footsteps? Any sons, daughters, dads, or moms out there in the latter situation?

Posted by Michael Prospero at 10:47 AM | 7 Comments

July 28, 2005

Best Business Blogs

What are your favorite trendspotting and cool hunting blogs? Blogs that track the latest and greatest developments in culture, technology, and design?

Tell us.

Posted by Heath Row at 4:52 PM | 114 Comments

Why We Love Talking About HR

Keith Hammonds' story Why We Hate HR continues to catalyze some qualitty conversation.

Knowledge@Wharton joins the fray with a piece entitled Is Your HR Friend or Foe?. Suggesting that it depends on who's asking the question -- as I think we've seen in discussion here -- the article goes on to highlight some interesting challenges and opportunities.

Among them: "Trends in HR usually require about a decade to take hold." While that's a slow pick-up rate, perhaps we're closer to HR being a strategic business partner than we think! That gives me hope.

Posted by Heath Row at 2:50 PM | 3 Comments

Store Model

Over at Wharton's web site, they're talking about how there's no Toyota in retail. Unlike industries like cars, airlines (Southwest), or hotels (Ritz-Carlton, say), there's no model of customer satisfaction in the retail world. Four operations experts at Wharton are trying to define that model, pointing to inventory management and happy customers as the keys to creating the ideal retailer. Neither of those are big surprises, but I'm curious: Which retailer is worth aspiring to? Who do you think is the Toyota of retail?

Posted by Jena McGregor at 2:43 PM | 24 Comments

Get Used to It

The New York Times article on used books is interesting. As a buyer of books, both used and new, from Amazon or mom and pops stores, I can tell you that I usually buy a used book when it is something I am only mildly interested in and wouldn't have bought new.

Continue reading "Get Used to It"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 1:04 PM | 3 Comments

July 27, 2005

Leading Ideas: Culture Drives Success

"I came to see in my time at IBM that 'culture' isn't just one aspect of the game - it is the game." -- Lou Gerstner (1942- ) Former IBM CEO, credited with its turnaround

Last week, a colleague was venting some frustrations about a project at her company. She'd been working on a culture change initiative for 6 months and didn't feel like she was getting much traction. When I asked her how much input she'd been getting from the executive team, she said very little. Then she started to defend them by saying they were too busy - until she caught herself. "I guess that's the problem," she smiled. "The executives being 'too busy' to focus on people issues is how we ended up in this situation in the first place." - Bingo.

Continue reading "Leading Ideas: Culture Drives Success"

Posted by Doug Sundheim at 3:42 PM | 7 Comments

Preferred Coworkers

Fancy this: "An overwhelming majority of people would rather work with a less-skilled but likeable person than a more-competent jerk."

Talent & Careers Resource Center contributors Beverly Kaye and Sharon Jordan-Evans recently considered what it means to be a jerk at work. And Alan Deutschman took a look at psychopathic leaders.

Who would you rather work with? Take the Fast Company poll.

[via Techdirt]

Posted by Heath Row at 9:20 AM | 1 Comment

Why We Hate Talking About HR?

The current cover story -- Why We Hate HR -- has sparked an interesting discussion about the piece -- and the practice. Some people in the profession don't want to talk about it. Others do -- and they don't like it. (Full disclosure: George Lenard used to contribute to Fast Company's Hiring Center.)

What's not to like? Isn't that what this conversation should be about? It's interesting how topics like this tend to polarize people -- people working in the industry, as well as those outside. (Some designers didn't really like our jokey How to Look Like a Designer, either. That piece was certainly less serious than the HR feature.)

What's even more intriguing, however, is the gap between HR practitioners and the people they work with. Many people's workaday experience with HR is less than stellar -- and I agree with Keith's contention that HR is a function with a lot of unfulfilled promise and potential.

So why refuse to talk about it?

Posted by Heath Row at 9:04 AM | 24 Comments

Money, Meaning, Motivation

In the past, Fast Company has considered money and the meaning of life, how new wealth can change your career, and whether money can buy happiness.

In a new Slate essay, Henry Blodgett takes a look at the financial profile of John Roberts, Supreme Court nominee. The "psycho-financial analysis" sheds some light on how Roberts might act in terms of rationality, risk taking, and managing conflicts of interest.

What's your money story? What does it say about the way you work?

Posted by Heath Row at 8:36 AM | 1 Comment

July 26, 2005

Feed Me, Academia

Need more ideas and insights for your work? The University of Saskatchewan Library offers an online directory of academic journals that offer RSS feeds.

[via Infectious Greed]

Posted by Heath Row at 6:30 PM | 4 Comments

The Worst Strategy

Elliot Spitzer's announcement that the record industry has been paying disc jockeys and radio programmers for radio airplay doesn't come as a surprise to many. Payola is an old and pretty successful strategy for promoting their artists.

That strategy, while serving it's short-term purpose, is helping to destroy the industry. Payola coupled with deregulation made radio so boring that it's almost beyond belief. With cash coming in, radio programmers choose to ignore their audience and play what they were paid to play because that audience had nowhere to go. Now they do. Listeners are opting out subscribing to satellite radio and helping Apple's iTunes sell 500 million songs.

This new payola scandal obviously isn't of Enron-esque proportions despite the fact that Elliot Spitzer called a press conference and showed up with very ominous looking charts. The lesson here is what can happen when an industry continually serves the wrong master incapable of realizing what doing business as usual is costing them. Sony will pay a $10 million fine, and -- hopefully -- the radio industry will get a clue.

Posted by Kerry-Ann Austin at 3:01 PM | 3 Comments

July 25, 2005

The Revolutions Continue

The Seven Futures project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington, DC, offers its Seven Revolutions report. The study looks at how factors such as population, technology, and governance will affect life and work in various geographic areas through the year 2025.

Each section of the study includes a self-test, and the report may make an interesting parallel read to Five Regions of the Future.

[Thanks, Valeria!]

Posted by Heath Row at 5:43 PM | 1 Comment

Readers Choice: New Books!

Our August issue of Readers Choice pits "Nickel and Dimed" author Barbara Ehrenreich's new book on getting whitewashed in the out-of-work, white-collar world, "Bait and Switch," against "Social Intelligence," a book on boosting your social skills in the name of a better career, and "Integrity Service," which looks at improving your company's customer service through employee incentives (and more).

Ready, aim, vote!

Posted by Lucas Conley at 4:39 PM | 3 Comments

Praising the Partnership

The Times article about Sony and Samsung sparked my interest immediately. Strategic alliances between two rivals are often the smartest move either can make. Rather than diverting budget to out-market your rival, and lowering your profits, you can spend your funds and attention on innovation.

The Samsung and Sony partnership seems doubly wise considering the field of technology. With both a format war and a game console war on the horizon, Sony needs allies. They need to concentrate on the big battles and not the everyday struggles. The same could be said for most companies. Partnerships on resources may result in both companies increasing their profit margin, turning the worst of rivalries into great friendship. It could turn a company's fortunes around overnight.

Which alliances have succeeded in your opinion? Which have failed?

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 12:19 PM | Add Comment

Revisiting "Webification"

Similar to an Indian business school project undertaken last year, students at the Symbiosis Institute Of International Business in Pune, India, are currently discussing a Fast Company article from 2000.

It's a Web, Web, Web, Web World offers a then-courant look at how the Web can change the way we work. But that was five years ago. This is now. What could we not foresee? What's as true now as it was then?

Join the lively discussion.

Posted by Heath Row at 11:28 AM | Add Comment

July 22, 2005

A Farewell

After a nearly two-and-one-half year stint as Fast Company's editor-in-chief, I turned in my resignation this week. Our executive editor, Mark Vamos, whose deft editing skills are evident in every feature we've published in the past 27 issues, has been named acting editor.

For me, this was a difficult and agonizing decision. I love this magazine, and I love the highly talented team we've assembled here. Every person on this team is an A-player. Every person has done remarkable work. One of the most difficult things I have ever had to do was to walk into a room on Monday afternoon and tell my colleagues and friends that I was leaving.

Continue reading "A Farewell"

Posted by Editor in Chief at 10:08 PM | 15 Comments

Art for Ad's Sake

Art has always been part of Marketing. Whether it is painted posters, companies sponsoring art festivals, or corporate sculptures in lobbies. The other followed one link after another and found myself at a website of an artist who works with LEGO. Besides personal projects, he has also done corporate jobs. It is both interesting and strange, using something so innocuous from childhood to do something wonderful. Or do some good advertising.

Over at CNN, I read about a new art trend of adorning groceries and returning them to stores. The whole tone of the piece was, "This is interesting; what these artists are doing will be appropriated by advertisers in a heartbeat." Oh, brave new world in which art movements are absorbed into the mainstream before they even really begin.

What uses of art in marketing has impressed you? Or surprised you?

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 4:19 PM | 1 Comment

The Costco Buzz

"How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart," read the headline in the New York Times last Sunday. Old news, I thought to myself. We highlighted Costco founder Jim Sinegal in our Customers First Awards last year. Seemingly all the business magazines have written stories about the benevolent-yet-successful company, which manages to pay workers fairly, keep costs low and focus on long-term success. This has been known for years. What's the news here, folks?

Guess it was news to some people: The piece has become the most emailed article on the Times' Web site over the last seven days. That spot is almost always reserved for the likes of Thomas Friedman, Paul Krugman or Frank Rich. Still, I highly doubt all that interest is really coming from investors or business readers. I think we have a hunger as a nation to do business with companies that do good--by way of their employees, their customers, and their shareholders--and that when people find them, they latch onto them with incredible loyalty. When we hear about them, we tell everyone we know about them, we forward emails about them, we go on "treasure hunts" in their stores (the one bit in the Times piece I hadn't heard about--Sinegal's focus on planting high-end products like Coach bags or plasma screen TVs to enhance the customer experience of finding gold like that in a discount warehouse). If Costco is any model, the best word-of-mouth buzz can't be manufactured around some brand-new product or news--it comes from people finding out about who you are, why you believe in what you do, and how you do it by doing good.

Posted by Jena McGregor at 8:48 AM | 6 Comments

July 21, 2005

Delivering the Profits

I've been thinking about Heath's previous blog entry about MaxDelivery. It's tough reviving a business concept that has already failed and failed spectacularly. But former Kozmo.com employee Chris Siragusa has resuscitated the one-hour internet delivery model. His new company MaxDelivery offers one hour delivery below 24th street in Manhattan.

It's an idea we can all get behind -- getting groceries and non-food items delivered all within an hour. Diapers, ice cream and now even DVDs can be delivered by a bicycle messenger. We don't even have to leave our front doors. Reviving an idea with all the hindsight that the dot com era has brought us reduces some of the perils associated with starting a business. But I wonder if it doesn't cause some shortsightedness too.

Manhattan has a deli or bodega on every corner and many of them carry more than just food. Why not just run down to the corner and get something you really need and not wait the whole hour? There are already several successful delivery businesses like Freshdirect.com and Bestyetdirect.com that offer next day delivery so why are we so enthralled by the idea of getting non-food items in an hour? Large companies like Barnes and Noble have tried same day delivery service in Manhattan with success. But they have limited that service to the city because its just too costly. Surviving the pitfalls this time around means offering more than just swift service.

Posted by Kerry-Ann Austin at 1:01 PM | 1 Comment

Please Use If You Wish

In my older years, I have decided to "give away as much as I can". My new Web site features lots of my Fast Company columns, articles, interviews, audios and even lots of free video. Please feel free to download, copy, send and use anything from my site. Please feel free to use with anyone in your corporation. Even better, please feel free to use with your church, charity or non-profit. If you need any permissions, please just send me an email and I will send you permission.

Posted by Marshall Goldsmith at 12:09 PM | 5 Comments

New Challenges for Japan

In a recent conversation, I had the opportunity to hear Peter Drucker discussing potential challenges faced by Japan:

• China, South Korea and other parts of the region are becoming increasingly competitive. For example, the products from several South Korean companies are given increasingly high ratings for quality - Japan used to be way ahead in this area.
• The Japanese ecomomic miracle was created by a workforce that was extremely motivated, hungry and driven. The new generation of younger Japanese workers may not have the same level of drive.
• I was amazed by the emotion behind the anti-Japanese marches when I was recently in China. Questions regarding what happened in World War II sill produce a lot of anger.

If you were an advisor to the Japanese government (or to large Japanese companies) - what suggestions would you have? Predict the economic future - what is going to happen in Japan?

Posted by Marshall Goldsmith at 11:40 AM | 5 Comments

July 20, 2005

Hard to Picture

Kodak announced today that it is eliminating around 10,000 jobs as part of its ongoing transformation into a digital company. It'll have less than 50,000 employees, which is roughly 25,000 fewer than four years ago. Turns out, film sales are declining at an even faster rate this year than the company had projected -- about 25 percent, not 20 percent.

These days there are two views of Big Yellow (new nickname: Slim Yellow). The skeptics say it's the Titanic, fatally wounded, sinking ever so slowly, doomed by its outdated film heritage, which prevented the company from responding to the digital boom sooner. No matter what Kodak does, it's too little too late; a hot product is like a ditty by the Titanic's orchestra, sweet but futile. Besides, digital profit margins are puny compared to those of film.

The believers, on the other hand, argue that Kodak has turned the corner, having become the top seller of digital cameras, photo printers, and health-care imaging. Its digital business jumped 43 percent in the second quarter and is expected to generate more revenue than its film business this year, an important milestone.

Which Kodak do you see?

Posted by Chuck Salter at 6:50 PM | 14 Comments

Strategic Reads

This week's "cover story" on the Web focuses on Cirque du Soleil's strategic approach to business. In a sidebar to that piece, Renee Mauborgne details guidelines from the book Blue Ocean Strategy.

If you'd welcome more ideas along those lines, check out Gabor George Burt's blog Creating Blue Oceans. Since February, Burt has expanded on the ideas in the book, offering case studies and tools for strategic leaders. The one-minute summaries are especially thought provoking.

[Thanks, Westley!]

Posted by Heath Row at 5:58 PM | 1 Comment

Take a Hike

Forget designing quieter cubicles. Companies that really want to maintain a creative edge should install locker rooms with great showerheads for their workers. Not so they can sleep on the office sofa and then get up and work all day smelling springtime fresh. But because showers are a unique lubricant to the idea-sparking part of the brain.

I thought I was a weird-o, since I do my best writing in the shower (next innovation needed: waterproof pen). But I'm relieved to discover I'm in good company (get your mind out of the gutter. I shower alone). In this week's Adweek, Nina DiSesa, long time creative director and former chairman of McCann Erickson, the big New York ad shop, says the brilliant line, "There are some things money can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard," was dreamed up by Jonathan Cranin in the shower. DiSesa says that in lieu of office locker rooms, when her team was stuck, she'd tell them to go to a movie. Take a walk. Rest their brains. That's when ideas, boxed in by the corporate environment and distractions, bubble forth.

So listen up, Herman Miller. Forget the next generation Aeron chair. If you care about American innovation, come up with the Aeron showerhead. And watch a thousand flowers bloom.

Posted by Linda Tischler at 5:05 PM | Add Comment

Needing the New

It is a strange piece of news, the creation of a new periodic table of elements. It is something so mundane, something we all know from our school days. Various message boards are already aflame with those who hate the new table. Others have shot back criticizing those who dislike it because they are not used to it, that people usually prefer things they grew up with.

Continue reading "Needing the New"

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 2:59 PM | 2 Comments

Graffiti Madness

Today's Adrants highlights the fight "anti-graffiti mouthpiece" Queens Councilman Peter Vallone is picking with Atari for their new videogame that "features a young graffiti artist up against corrupt officials and rival gangs as he spreads his tag around the city." Vallone is concerned the graffiti simulation, developed by spray paint aficionado Marc Ecko and set to be released in September, will encourage kids to vandalize their neighborhoods and hand them a one-way ticket to jail.

When I read the bit I almost laughed out loud that we were getting flustered by a few spray paint cans when our kids are spending some 3 hours a day playing with virtual machetes, machine guns and human wood chip cutters. Granted, art in the context of gangs may not be the best alternative to violence, but at least there's a level of creativity other than how to wire someone up to a car battery or set them on fire.

Vallone chose to write a letter to Atari's chairman. What are we doing to make the $25 billion videogame industry take some responsibilty for how they're shaping our next generation of leaders? We think we have ethics problems now...I can only imagine what thousands of hours of mutilation simulation will do for our CEOs of tomorrow.

Posted by Danielle Sacks at 2:02 PM | 4 Comments

July 19, 2005

Courting the Enemy

Revenue from DVD sales have been helping film studios out of the hole left by poor box office receipts, except in China. Experts guess that up to 90% of DVD sales in China are pirated. Hoping to take a step forward, Hollywood signed an anti-piracy pact with the Chinese government to help curb DVD sales. Hollywood has been lusting after unrestricted access to the huge chinese market for years. The Chinese government restricts foreign releases to just twenty films per year, yet pirated DVDs of US movies and television shows can be found on every street corner. China's government has been by some accounts unwilling to cede to Hollywoods demands for stricter enforcement of anti-piracy laws.

But could the unchecked piracy of the past several years eventually work in Hollywood's favor? Pirates have created an unquenchable thirst for American culture that could pay off in the long run if, the powers that be get it right. As a way to get around the Chinese government's foreign release rule Hollywood execs are now on their way to China looking for partners. Warner Brothers is planning to build modern multiplexes as China only has 2,500 movie theaters for 1.3 billion people. The Chinese government's interests aren't exactly on the losing side either, more movies made in China within close proximity of censors works for them I'm sure. It will be interesting to see how Hollywood big wigs respond to censorship and other issues they are not used to dealing with here in the US.

Posted by Kerry-Ann Austin at 12:45 PM | Add Comment

Inventive Designs

I first learned about TRIZ and its approach to creative problem solving last June. Thanks to a recent blog post by Kevin Kelly, I'm revisiting Genrich Altshuler's design strategies for inventing -- a summary of engineering design principles extracted from a study of 200,000 patents by a Soviet patent examiner in the 1960s. In the business world, the TRIZ 40 may be a useful tool to reframe a challenge.

Posted by Heath Row at 12:14 PM | 1 Comment

You Are Where You Eat

Need a place to eat while on a business trip but don't want to do a lot of research? Turn to Dinnerbuzz, a social guide to dinner and drinks. It's similar to many restaurant review sites, but the range of locations is interesting, as is the service's Flicker- and Delicious-like social elements. I'll be sure to give it a go next time I'm on the road!

[via Focused Performance]

Posted by Heath Row at 12:01 PM | Add Comment

July 18, 2005

FC Now BlogJam 2005

Last year, more than 30 Fast Company readers, Company of Friends members, and FC Now regulars participated in the inaugural FC Now BlogJam to celebrate the anniversary of this blog's launch in August 2003. Over the course of two days, participants contributed almost 100 entries about leadership, innovation, and related topics.

The second FC Now BlogJam is quickly approaching! Monday, Aug. 8, and Tuesday, Aug. 9, FC team members and readers will once again collaborate to collectively explore the state of business, leadership, and innovation -- and celebrate FC Now's second anniversary. If you'd like to participate, email me to volunteer. We'll be lining up the roster in the weeks to come.

Posted by Heath Row at 6:06 PM | 1 Comment

Leading Ideas: Expect Greatness

"It is the nature of man to rise to greatness if greatness is expected of him." -- John Steinbeck (1902-1968) American writer

Currently one of my clients is on the short list for a top position at a leading investment management firm. While he always knew he was good at what he did, the opportunity has quickly thrust him to a new level in his career. It's been remarkable to watch his transformation. His management tendencies have grown into leadership tendencies. "My perspective shifted when I realized I was a candidate," he noted. "They thought I could do it and I didn't want to prove them wrong. Necessity is the mother of invention."

Continue reading "Leading Ideas: Expect Greatness"

Posted by Doug Sundheim at 4:27 PM | 4 Comments

Weasel Words

Don Watson, a former speech writer for Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, has a book coming out: Death Sentences: How Cliches, Weasel Words and Management-Speak are Strangling Public Language. Don Watson's book and Web site mercilessly ridicule incomprehensible business chatter to great effect.

Readers have sent in unintentionally hilarious passages from company manuals and speeches. Even job listings are fair game. The examples will have you nodding your head and chuckling. There is even a hilarious confession from a self-proclaimed weaselwordholic who is "starting to rebuild his life." Mr. Watson's Web site has allowed me to express my seething hatred of those who overuse the word "leverage." People are leveraging everything from dollars to doughnuts to actual human beings.

I am now publicly announcing my campaign to severely restrict its use. Who's with me?

Posted by Kerry-Ann Austin at 12:23 PM | 4 Comments

Design Fix of the Day

Just came across this cool site, by way of the cool-hunting site PSFK. It includes fun interviews with dozens of designers, revealing Karim Rashid's favorite flower (cacti), advice for young designers from Philippe Starck ("make a job useful") and Yves Behar's favorite time of day ("falling asleep, when thoughts end and dreams start"). Fun reading.

Posted by Jena McGregor at 11:46 AM | 3 Comments

Mission Control

When I read this story this morning, it made me think of Spielberg and the plethora of films he has made that had a social intention. He seems to make his best work when he is driven by a message. This need not be limited to the entertainment world.

Companies that provide more than a simple service or product will thrive. When the company is directed by passion and a purpose, everyone tries harder and productivity increases. I would put Google in this category, or even JetBlue. This enthusiasm for the overarching mission of a company can be instilled in every employee from the mailroom to the highest executive.

How important is a grand purpose to your business? What is your mission statement?

Posted by Kevin Ohannessian at 10:45 AM | 2 Comments

July 15, 2005

(Summer)Time to Go Home

It's time for me to head home, I think. The office is deathly silent, and most people left around 3 or 4 p.m. We are in the days of summer Fridays here: If you work an extra hour every other day, you can take half of Friday off. Many of my colleagues have been taking advantage of that. Outside of a week away recently, I haven't taken a single summer Friday. And I'm beginning to wonder why.

In the Globe and Mail, Wallace Immen considers the impact of seasonal distractive disorder, the double whammy of attention and ambition waning for part of the workforce -- those heading on vacation -- and waxing tension and stress for those left behind. The piece offers tips and tactics to better managing vacation time and productivity -- advice I'd find particularly useful were I not about to leave the office myself. I'll have to read the rest of the article... Monday.

[Thanks, Linda!]

Posted by Heath Row at 6:48 PM | 2 Comments

Words for the Wise

MarketingSherpa's publisher Anne Holland makes a call for the creation of a new leadership role: The Keeper of the Words. While her proposal is largely advertising and marketing related, the idea has potential for broader application.

What words do customers and clients use to describe you, your business, and your work? How do you do so? How consistent is your internal and external language? Do the words you use in your work resonate with the people you work with?

[via Angie McKaig]

Posted by Heath Row at 4:34 PM | Add Comment

Rifling Through a Dead Man's Things for Profit

In my Mother's garage lie the belongings of one Herman R. Silverstein. For two tears she has hemmed and hawed about what to do with his things. No one in my family ever knew Mr. Silverstein. His belongings came to my mother's garage along with other assorted items from the flea market my mother trolls every weekend for items to sell on Ebay. My mother, who before the auction craze was an occasional collector of depression glass, now has a full-blown addiction, which she supports by selling off unwanted items on Ebay.

Mr. Silverstein's army trunk stood out, and it caused a bit of a ruckus among some of the antique dealers who constantly try to one up each other. The trunk was sold by a man who didn't know Mr. Silverstein either but who frequently buys items from lien sales at storage sites. The trunk holds a wealth of WWII memorabilia -- highly valuable and sought after items. His uniform, helmet army issued prayer book. Even the trunk itself is worth quite a bit, but my mother's conscience just keeps getting in the way of profit.

Every couple months or so my mother poses the question "What should I do about Mr. Silverstein?" She hasn't the heart to sell his possessions. I doubt she ever will.

Posted by Kerry-Ann Austin at 12:14 PM | Add Comment