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Develop Culture Sensing Skills and Take the Blinders Off Of Your Career

Apr 3, 2009

One of my greatest career misfires was accepting a role in a firm where I had failed to properly assess the culture. I was blinded by the allure of this successful and global firm and by the sharp people that I met during the interview process.

I can think of few skills more important for professionals, product and project managers and other lateral leaders to develop than culture sensing. All of the functional or vocational expertise in the world is for naught if the individual fails to take into account and leverage cultural idiosyncrasies to achieve results and drive performance improvements.

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Hey Tech Marketers, How About Helping Your Customers Solve Problems

Mar 31, 2009

“Nobody Cares About Your Products (Except You),” is one of the core rules that author and marketing thought-leader David Meerman Scott espouses in his latest book, World Wide Rave, and throughout his other works and blogs.

The most zealous anti-smokers that I know are former smokers. The fact that in hindsight, I can see that I was guilty of being a bit too proud of the features and functions of my own products as a technology marketer makes me just a bit maniacal about David’s product rule as a user and consumer of tech products today. Unfortunately, it seems like there are still quite a few technology marketers out there that did not get the memo.

What I thought would be a simple search for a solution to a straight-forward business issue has turned into a quest worthy of Homer.

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Too Many Projects Chasing Too Few People-It’s Time to Learn to Say No!

Mar 3, 2009

One of the themes that I hear consistently in workshops and in discussions with the professionals in my MBA classes is frustration over the propensity of a firm’s leaders to never say “No” to a project. Lacking a viable mechanism to compare, evaluate and select and reject projects, decisions are made based on politics, gut feel and the squeaky customer wheel.

The net result of this lack of discipline is that the people doing the work end up overloaded and overwhelmed. They operate in compliance mode, focusing on surviving until the next deadline and adding little creative value or innovation to their activities.

You can end this chaos and rebuild your team’s morale and effectiveness by building in new systems and proper rigor to project evaluation and selection.

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The Challenge and Opportunity of the Product Manager

Feb 17, 2009

Product Managers face significant organizational challenges in their quest to expand their roles and increase their value-creating contributions to their firms.

Through a recent and on-going series of interviews with senior executives as well as product managers across a variety of technology and manufacturing organizations, it is becoming clear that more and more organizations recognize the potential for product management to create tremendous value. It is also clear that enlightened executives increasingly recognize that the professionals that wok in product management roles are a ready-made source of high potential contributors and emerging leaders.

Senior executives are looking for their emerging senior contributors in product management to bring more advanced skills to the party, in the areas of: Leadership, Strategic Thinking, Executive Presence and Process Optimization.

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Sixty Years of Deming and American Managers Forgot to Pay Attention

Dec 21, 2008

Dr. Deming indicated that he hoped one of his life’s accomplishments was to keep American companies from committing suicide. The public spectacle of Detroit and Wall Street committing suicide in the same quarter would indicate that he failed in his mission. Deming’s Theory of Profound Knowledge and 14 points offered (and still do) keys to many of the answers. They are not prescriptive, but rather they combine to create a philosophical approach to running a business, that if adhered to, will stand a chance of succeeding for customers, workers and partners on a global stage.

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The Counterintuitive Nature of Management Excellence

Dec 2, 2008

It takes no management skill whatsoever to spend a fortune building up clicks and it definitely takes no skill to slash budgets, cut headcount, freeze programs and hunker down and wait out the storm.
It does take remarkable management courage and skill to run against the crowd and conventional wisdom by investing in strategic initiatives and talent during tough times and resisting the temptation to chase mythical fortunes during boom times.

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“If I had asked customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Oct 2, 2008

The notion of not asking customers what they want and responding directly to their needs may seem like heresy to those individuals and organizations consumed with improving customer satisfaction and creating customer loyalty. In fact, you should always listen and importantly, observe. The real art in this process is understanding what customers really need, what problems they really would like to solve and what approaches and experiences that you can create that can surprise and delight them.

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Career Growth and the Product Manager

Sep 26, 2008

wear my respect on my shirt-sleeve for the many dedicated Product Management professionals that hold down what I believe is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical roles in today’s fast moving technology and B2B organizations. I firmly believe that these talented and well-rounded business professionals are potentially some of the most valuable assets in an organization’s talent pool.

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Ironically, Mid-Level Managers May Save Your Business

Jul 7, 2008

Ever since terms like reengineering, right sizing and downsizing became part of the corporate lexicon; midlevel managers have been taking it on the chin. This once populous class has been synergized and right-sized almost to extinction. Those that remain often struggle with spans of control as wide as the Golden Gate Bridge and limited authority that is constantly challenged from above and below. I find it just a bit ironic (and appropriate) that this much-abused class of leader may just hold the key to surviving and prospering in tough times.

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