Dumping Money into Poor Systems-Knowing When to Change Strategy

The greatest ability to succeed in business is to see trends and capitalize on those trends before everyone else does. Those who can find openings in the market and put forward a successful strategy will beat the market while those who cannot muster this ability will be beaten by the market. When old strategies become ineffective it is necessary to do something new and put investors money in places that actually work.

Strategies are inevitably tied to people's egos. We spend a great deal of time trying to develop strategies and looking through our personal knowledge banks to assess a situation and formulate a plan. They become personal extensions of ourselves.

This is one reason why changing a strategy once it has been solidified is so hard. People become opposed to change because it could reflect poor judgement, a changed situation, or invalidation of one's experience.

Strong leaders have the ability to see the need for change and be reflective of their strategies. They are able to draw in the collective knowledge of their teams and in turn are able to incorporate new knowledge when it becomes available without threatening their fragile sense of self.

There are times when it become apparent that a strategy change is needed. A few of red flags could include the following:

-When your business is losing revenue/customers.
-When the political and regulatory environment changes.
-When your business isn't differentiated from everyone else.
-When your value propositions become weaker.
- When your business fails to capitalize on emerging markets.
-When expenses and cost structure becomes over burdensome.
-When old strategies lose the support of internal stakeholders.
-When competitors move into your market.
-When new knowledge and ideas are not incorporated into management decision-making.
-When customer complaints rise.
-When mistakes and errors rise. 

Using Social Norms in Subconscious Organizational Management

Bare with an idea for a minute and lets get unique without making judgements. Do you believe that you can manage a company subconsciously? I picked up a study from 1994 that discusses Japanese inter-organizational control through subconscious normative and symbolic inducements. They had less need of utilitarian methods often utilized in current human resource practices.

Sounds crazy doesn't it?

Think for a moment about the design of organizations and how it uses incentives and punishments to coerce behavior. If you do something right you get rewarded with praise while if you do something wrong you get punished with chastisement or fired. The mechanisms of control are overt and part of the official management practices of an organization.

As long as a person believes in these mechanisms they have power (conscious).

There is also stronger internal, deep seated, subconscious mechanism based on our social upbringing and value systems. These are often symbolic by nature and are culturally laden. They are what makes us connected to a particular society through our shared value systems. If the Japanese are good at anything it is symbolism.

We conform to certain rules and values because we are have subconsciously pre-programmed ability to accept social structures. We can't live and be in a society unless we accept certain values and norms as part of who we are. Not only do we learn these values through interaction with others but are born capable of connecting to other people.

As long as we are connected to society we have certain norms and values we accept (subconscious).

Creating a subconsciously motivating business, in this case as found in a Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, is by perking cultural values and using symbolism. The person comes willingly, or at least unknowingly, to accept the values of the organization because they fit within the cultural context of society. They act and work in a way that is drawn from their subconscious desire to be connected to others and be accepted by a greater social network.

Nussbaum-Gomes, M. (1994). The subconscious in organizational control. International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 35, 1/2.

The Impact of the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement

The Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement (TPP) includes the U.S., Japan and 10 other nations (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam).  The goal is to connect these countries together by lowering trade barriers in an attempt to increase transactions and the economic engines of all the nations.

There are a few things we can expect from such an agreement:

Increased Trade: When barrier are reduce there should be an increase in trade and commercial activities. This should lead to higher levels of interaction and hopefully economic contribution.

Cultural Influence: Cultural values are transferred  through trade. Throughout history people visited, explored, and traded with people from other places and in term influenced and were influenced by them.

Counter to China: The agreement offers a counter-balance to China. Trading partners whose economies become more integrated with the U.S. are likely to be more included to lean toward U.S. interests.

Job Gain or Loss: When trade increased jobs should also increase.  If the U.S. is gaining access to new markets to sell high value products then there should be net gain. If trading partners dump cheaper products in the U.S. there could be net job loss.

Access to Resources: The trade agreement should provide access to cheaper resources that is used to fuel development and growth in the U.S.

How to Create Marketing "Buzz" and Greater Sales

One of the best forms of marketing are the organic types that quickly pass information through social networks in a way that sparks people's interest and helps them remember the message. "Buzz" marketing is one way in which companies can help people learn about new products and services.

"Buzz" is designed for global online media and is expected to move quickly. This is one reason why videos, pictures, and other digital methods are more popular than print media. The latter being too slow of process to take a market by storm.

A few ideas on how to create marketing "buzz":

1) Do something unique, funny, crazy, bazaar, and organic.

2) Put it on digital media to be shared vial email, text, social media and other viral marketing networks.

3) Film it with simple media for simple technology transmission.

4) Use a message that has lasting power.

5) Ensure the message fits within your core demographic group.

6) Spread it quickly and track what is going on.

Are We Too Connected? Knowing When to Turn Off Your Phone

Being connected is a great thing. We can talk, chat, and text anytime we want. The problem is that we may actually be a little too connected and we may need to learn how to put down our phones. Just like some sci fi movie we can Google just about anything and can do almost anything from the little black box in our hands.

I'm an advocate of technology but I am also an advocate of the natural ability of people to do things without technology. One skill is innate from our souls and the other is artificial from the ability of our gadgets.

Sometimes we have to disconnect to create appropriate boundaries between our personal lives and our virtual lives. This could be during periods where we are taking care of family business, resting, vacationing, or engaged in some important activity that needs our attention.

The advantage of technology is that we can contact anyone anytime. The disadvantage is that we can also contact anyone anytime and this means we need to just back away for a while.

It doesn't need to be long. An hour, a day, or whatever time frame you need to accomplish an important task. Don't be afraid that you are missing something as all your text and emails will be there when you get back. Take some time for yourself.

How Art Leads to Scientific Discovery and Business Success

Intelligence takes many forms that include the ability to find new and novel pieces of information that form market leading products and services. As a form of intelligence, abstract thinking leads us to use a large working memory to think about ideas and forms that don't exist in our real world in much the same way as Einstein imagined riding a moonbeam. Practicing art can lead to higher abstract abilities that helps science and business.

Artistic ability is associated with intelligence, abstract reasoning and scientific thinking (Galenson & Pope, 2013). As we get older our abstract abilities lesson and our brains less willing to explore new ideas. In genius, the brain maintains its mental pliability that leads to mental play and scientific discovery.

The type of art one enjoys lends itself to certain personalities that are more likely to discover new ideas. People who like abstract art are open-minded, novel, sensation seeking, independent in thought and exploratory in nature (Gridley, 2013). Those more focused on the rules were less novel seeking.

Abstract abilities and an open-minded personality lead people to explore new ideas and break convention. That is the process of scientific discovery and invention. What must step outside the norms of what society knows, find something that doesn't match, and explore it. With some scientific training and knowledge they can uncover an unknown truth.

Art is a conduit that helps one explore their subconscious and the creative abilities. It helps make new neural connections that lead to new ways of thinking. The process of using art as a way of training the mind to look for the novel can lead to successful business strategies that leads markets. Beating the competition requires thinking about the possibilities and bringing new products and ideas forward.

Galenson, D. & Pople, C. (2013). Experimental and conceptual innovators in the sciences: the cases of Darwin and Einstein. Historical Methods, 46 (2).

Gridley, M. (2013). Preference for abstract art according to thinking styles and personality. North American Journal of Psychology, 15 (3). 

Poem and Art: The Water's Edge

Somewhere over a hill is the waters edge.
It is quiet there, a place where you can sit on the shore.

The water runs deep and whisks away the debris.
The trees do not block the view.

Clear site beyond the field and to the hill.
It is slow rolling and gentle.

A place where the livestock graze and the dogs bark.
Children play ball and the birds lay.