The Risks of Clock-Watching

Source: www.tonystone.com

You've gotta hand it to the Aussies.  They've honed work-life balance to a fine art.

A recent study by The Australian Institute has unearthed a shocking statistic: every year, Australian workers are 'donating' more than A$70 billion (no typo here) to their employers in terms of unpaid overtime.

"That's a very generous gift," observes Dr Richard Dennis, executive director of the think-tank, "and our employers have taken, gotten into the habit of accepting it."  He goes on to say that slashing overtime would create some 400,000 extra jobs in Australia -- and improve the health of workers.

According to the study, some 80% of Australians who work overtime want shorter working hours.  Since full-time workers want to work a lot less and part-time and casual workers want to work a lot more, the study explores the idea of capping the working week at 35 hours, and recommends sweeping changes that would better match the preferences of employees and employers alike.

Which is all well and good for hourly-rated workers.  If you're flipping burgers or are a brick-layer or vehicle mechanic, you deserve an honest day's wage for an honest day's work.

But what if intellectual capital is your stock-in-trade?  What if you're a legal intern, an advertising copywriter, or industrial designer?  What if your job can't be easily confined to an 8-hour window?

Are only 20% of the jobs in Australia of this variety?  What does this stat say of the chances of companies retaining a competitive advantage?

Fact is, organizations live and die on the strength of the talent coursing through their corridors. What then can organizations do to ensure their employees are engaged, energized and equipped to succeed?  A few pointers come to mind:

1. In an age where roles and management structures are loosely defined, jobs are dispersed and alliances keep shifting, brands are emerging as the most significant spiritual, emotional and cultural glue that an organization has remaining to stabilize, focus and inspire an educated workforce.

2. Recognise that different skills are needed to lead and motivate a geographically dispersed, remote workforce than those required for close-quarter management. The more dispersed your team, the more directive you should be.

3. Organizations are traditionally good at doling out responsibility -- but chronically deficient at taking it away. Don't just focus on what your people should start doing; dig deeper to define what they should stop doing as well.

4. Find out what turns the crank of your employees.  It might be an inspiring credo like "Do no evil"; free perks like day-care and laundry services, and the best employee cafeteria on the planet; or the permission to spend 20% of your working hours on pet projects which may not yet have proven commercial viability (all of which, by the way, describe the cocoon of the Google employee).  Or, as Google as effectively admitted by giving employees across the board a 10% salary increase, it might come down to pure cash.

The bottom line is this: When you're really into something, you don't notice the (passing of) time. It behooves employees to find some purpose in their profession. And it behooves employers to give them a reason to do so.

The Quagmire of Low Price

A tech giant has just made a huge U-turn.

About a week ago, Dell announced plans to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a new global advertising campaign.  What makes this new push radical -- for Dell -- is its stated intention to move away from price-focused, transactional advertising to a strategy that is more focused on the brand.

I wonder if it's too late.

Dell became the #1 PC company in the world on the back of its 'direct' model: a revolutionary, 'just-in-time' manufacturing process that dramatically lowered inventory costs, cut out the middle man, and served up huge profits in an industry infamous for its razor-thin margins. The pace of obsolescence in the PC industry is unforgiving -- so inventory management is critical. While other players typically struggled with weeks of supply (WoS), Dell counted its inventory in terms of hours. (At its brutal best, it even boasted 'negative' inventory -- it collected your money before it started to configure your purchase; and stretched out rebate payments.) For the longest time, no one could touch its supply chain efficiency.

Then the competition wised up. HP and other contenders got their act together and reduced their WoS -- but they also offered consumers the choice of buying from the retail channel, the sensory experience of physically interacting with the product (and bonding with the brand) before buying it.

Dell's competitive advantage was no longer so.  The only other residual impression it had registered, was low price.

Source: www.tonystone.com

But price is not a strategy.  It is the quicksand of a brand -- drop your price, and you will almost never be able to claw your way back to a firmer footing.  It is indefensible (sooner or later, someone is going to drop prices lower than you can afford to), and the only connotation that keeps it company is the wrong one -- poor quality.

Dell has finally wised up, too.  But it has a mountain to climb.

Paul-Henri Ferrand, its Chief Marketing Officer, has acknowledged that they "need to invigorate the brand".  It's about time.  But when he says that "there's a real space for us to become the most-loved PC company in the industry", my skeptic antenna starts twitching.

The campaign theme says, "You can tell it's a Dell."  With due respect to its creators, I believe it's the worst possible thing Dell can tell.  If all you've got is a much-eroded competitive advantage, and the double-whammy impression of low price / poor quality, don't wave a red flag in front of a bull. Remember the concept of 'credibility snap'. You need to work your butt off to prove you're a different company, then let your audience ascribe to you that compliment. In other words, don't say it. Just earn it.

I hope Mr Ferrand has deep pockets.  He's going to need them.

Audi: Giving Virtual Advertising A Whole New Spin

Source: www.fastcompany.com

Talk about seismic shift.

This past weekend, car-maker Audi raised the game to a whole new level, with a trail-blazing article in Fast Company which touts their latest planned campaign.

"Planned" is the operative word -- because the campaign hasn't really run just yet.  But -- in a move resonant with today's bare-all social media generation -- Audi has apparently allowed its agency, a creative shop called the Access Agency, to publicly share the creative rationale behind this admittedly compelling concept: “It is a display of four life-size Audi cars, suspended inside the silver rings of a massive Audi symbol attached to an iconic bridge structure or in front of landmark spaces — the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Tower Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge. The rings rotate around, light up at night, and move up and down the bridge. Against the backdrop of spectacular urban architecture, the Audi installation reflects Audi’s continuous challenging of the status quo, its capacity to innovate, and its ability to avoid the bland and the ordinary.”

The agency goes on to say that real brand value will delivered by the process of getting the iconoclastic idea built: the “manufacturing and transportation of the gigantic rings, the installation of the rings, the hoisting of the vehicles, the first test of the lights, the rehearsals of the launch.”

Source: www.fastcompany.com

Is the idea compelling?  Pitted against much of the dreck that's out there, I'd definitely say, Yes!  But is it 100% original?  I know, from a previous life spent in Canada, that the Engineering students of the University of British Columbia (UBC) had an annual tradition of hijacking a lecturer's car and installing/suspending said vehicle in all manner of incredible positions (including one memorable year in the early 1990s when I lived there, when they suspended a tutor's car from the Lion's Gate Bridge -- all in the name of demonstrating engineering prowess). Adidas' "Vertical Football" human billboard and Esprit's vertical catwalk show down the exterior wall of an Esprit building are two other well-known examples of the human installation idea and its product installation cousin.

But here's where I think the real genius of this Audi campaign lies: (Did you pick up on it?) Here is an advertising campaign that hasn't yet run, but which has garnered the kind of publicity one should only hope to achieve if a campaign was actually out there.  No actual executions in sight -- yet a few well-timed 'leaks', the offer of an 'exclusive', a well-written rationale, and voila!  Thanks to the wonders of PhotoShop, a launch campaign is yours without having to actually produce an ad. Gives virtual advertising a whole new spin, don't you think?

Source: www.fastcompany.com



Source: www.fastcompany.com

 Access Agency seems to be milking this approach for all it's worth.  Its big idea for the Nike swoosh apparently hasn't seen the light of day -- yet it might as well have done, considering the buzz it's generated and downloads it has inspired.  They've latched on to the insight that people pass on and share stuff they think will awe or entertain their friends -- casting themselves as purveyors of cool in the process.  It's easy to see how this can make sense for a shrewd client and sharp agency -- you get a lot of bang for little buck.

If this trend catches on, I daresay ad agencies will rediscover the lost art of writing a creative rationale.  And as for media agencies?  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

Incredible India! For All The Wrong Reasons.

With seven days to go before the curtain lifts on the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the city is scrambling, day and night, to get ready for the 7,000-plus athletes and officials expected to arrive for what was originally touted to be India's coming-out party ... but which has unfortunately become a source of national shame.

Several star athletes have announced their withdrawal from the Games, citing health and security concerns. Advance teams from Canada, Scotland, New Zealand and Ireland have lodged complaints about the accommodation allocated to them.  Site workers have been using the unlocked flats. Toilets are stained. Fixtures haven't been installed, don't work, or are broken. The first batch of UK athletes and officials arrived on Friday, but tellingly checked into a 5-star hotel -- and brought their own sanitation team.

The Indira Gandhi Velodrome is flooded with rainwater, adding to the risk of mosquito-borne dengue fever. A bridge and the ceiling of one of the competition halls recently collapsed. Alarm and fire evacuation systems are yet to be put in place.  Obviously, no test events have been run to put the timing and measurement systems through their paces.  And the city is bracing itself for aggravated traffic jams as special lanes are going to be blocked off for athletes and officials hustling to their events.

The original budget of US$500 million has ballooned to nine times that figure, in a country where 800 million people live on less than $2 a day. While this doesn't condone the corruption that has largely caused the cost overruns, it goes some way to explain it.

Mike Fennell, chief of the Commonwealth Games Federation, has gone on record to say that he is disappointed with the Indian organizers and that the lack of preparedness for sporting event has hurt the reputation of the country. He flew into Delhi yesterday for crisis meetings with the Indian Prime Minister in an effort to conclusively determine if the Games should go on -- or be cancelled.

Whatever the outcome, some hard lessons are obviously being dispensed -- and hopefully internalized.  Among them will be some soul-searching around how a team of bright, intelligent and articulate people in positions of influence could have allowed Delhi's preparations to be in this sorry state at two minutes to midnight.

Organizational leaders can heed an important lesson here: Unless you make the effort to align individual and organizational goals, you are not going to achieve any significant forward velocity. In fact, you may wonder what's causing the drag on your efforts, not recognizing your uninspired workforce for what it is. This phenomenon is true of every company, but is especially evident in large organizations which have to consider not just individual aspirations but also cultural nuances and matrix reporting relationships.

India may be one country, but it practises an extreme democracy -- which is all the permission an educated population needs to make their feelings known.

One can only hope Delhi pulls together in this last crucial week to salvage the Games. The repercussions on brand India will be felt for years to come.

Is Reputation Meaningless Today?

Mark Hurd's smug face looks out across reams of newsprint and computer screens today. The recently deposed chief executive of HP has just been appointed Co-President of HP's erstwhile partner and soon-to-be competitor, Oracle.

In an inevitable reaction, HP has moved quickly to file a lawsuit against Oracle and Hurd, citing the need to protect itself against the inevitable disclosure of proprietary information about his former company in his new role. Essentially, in the course of doing his job as Co-President at Oracle, Hurd would inevitably draw on information gathered while at the helm of HP. You can enforce limitations on what a man does; but you can't enforce restrictions on what a man thinks.

This is disturbing on several fronts, not the least of which is the topic of reputation.

Well-regarded companies generate reputational capital that gives them a competitive advantage:
Their products and services entice more customers.
Their stock attracts more investors.
Their employees are more productive and loyal.
Their job vacancies attract more applicants.
Their clout with their suppliers is greater.
They survive crises with less financial loss.

An individual's reputation can be equally potent. But -- as Mr Hurd is demonstrating -- just as transient and fragile. As Warren Buffet, chairman & CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has said: "It takes 20 years to build a reputation, but five minutes to ruin it".

Jeff Bezos, founder & CEO of Amazon.com, puts it just as vividly: "Reputation is what people say about you when you have left the room." Going by some of the comments posted here and here, Mark Hurd doesn't have too rosy a rep, Wall Street notwithstanding. Glassdoor.com gives him the lowest employee approval rating (just 34%) of any major tech CEO.
 
I have to wonder why Mark would make such a move, so soon after his stint at HP. It's not as if he needs the money.  He could have chilled out for six months, or until the proprietary secrets he carries around in his head lose their competitive edge with time. Either Larry Ellison was a persuasive man -- or he must awfully, badly want to stick it to his former company.

HP's Standards of Business Conduct (SOBC) recommend that employees pose themselves a simple question to decide whether an action is appropriate: "Before you make a decision, consider how it would look in a news story."  I served eight years at HP, and once turned down an all-expense paid trip to the Maldives offered by a media owner -- because it was drummed into us to avoid even the slightest hint of obligation in our transactions with suppliers.  After five years with the company, and barely a month after leaving it, Mark Hurd seems to have ditched those very same standards he swore to uphold not so long ago.

He may yet wring a bunch of cost efficiencies out of Oracle; but in my book, he starts in his new role morally bankrupt.