First Serve Strategies

Posts Tagged ‘Mark Loschiavo’

In today’s Voices (Harvard Business Publishing), there is an article by Jeff Kehoe, entitled, When Do You Fire Your Four-Star General? Kehoe summarizes the reasoning behind the recent firing of Gen. David D. McKiernan, formerly the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

Referencing an August 17, 2009 Washington post account, Pentagon Worries Led to Command Change, Kohoe writes, “The article gives a vivid sense of how Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, first worried, and then concluded, that McKiernan was not up to the urgent task at hand—that is, not only quickly turning the tide in the complex and treacherous 21st-century battlefield of Afghanistan, but also, simultaneously and continuously connecting and communicating with the Pentagon and Washington about developments on the ground and responsive strategy.”

While reading this article, a comment made to me by a senior IBM executive immediately came to mind.  ”Out of sight, out of mind.”

It was the summer of 1992, and I was the financial executive for a billion dollar profit center of IBM.

Two years earlier I was finishing up a groundbreaking assignment during a pivotal time in IBMs history, reporting to the aforementioned executive (we will call him Hank). As we were preparing to part ways and take on the challenges of our new assignments he said, “I just want you to know that we would have never accomplished so much without your leadership. If you ever need anything from me, just let me know. I owe you.” He had been promoted to a position at corporate headquarters and I was promoted to a CFO position in Philadelphia. Even though I had never before asked for help in that way, his words meant a great deal to me.

Two years later an opportunity to take on a more significant leadership role surfaced. While it would require another relocation, the position was going to be filled by someone with my experience. As luck would have it, Hank was going to be a key influencer in the selection process, so I decided to give him a call.

Hank was glad to hear from me, since we had only talked briefly a couple of times in the last two years. After a bit of chitchat, I asked Hank if, in fact, they were looking at candidates for this open position. Indeed they were, and they were down to the short list. When I asked Hank why my name was not included on the short list his response startled me. He simply stated, “out of sight, out of mind.”  Even though my accomplishments measured up nicely, my name hadn’t come up.

Following the call, which ended graciously, my initial reaction was a feeling of betrayal. What happened to that heartfelt IOU?

Upon further reflection, I realized I had nobody to blame but myself.  While I had accomplished a great deal over those two years, I didn’t bother to keep in touch with those who did not have an immediate role or stake in my endeavors. I was so involved in trying to make a difference that I completely ignored the politics that exists in any organization. It is not enough to do good work. It is imperative to simultaneously and continuously connect with and communicate with your stakeholders.  You must take every opportunity to keep them apprised of your current state, the progress you have made to-date, and your strategies to get to your desired state.  For those of you who like to operate autonomously this can feel confining, and it is time consuming.   Ultimately, we attain our goals only with the help of others who are invested in the outcome.  One of our chief responsibilities as leaders is to stay “top of mind” with those who will help us succeed.  Otherwise we may be reminded that “out of sight” equals “out of mind” at a very critical time.

©Mark P. Loschiavo

While reading a recent blog post entitled, Develop A Business Plan and Change It Up On A Regular Basis, Susan Gunelius describes the importance of frequently revisiting the business plan and changing it as needed.

Being immersed in the strategic management process for 30 years, I have seen, first hand, the importance of continually monitoring strategies in order to make necessary changes. Even the very best business plans are nothing more than a “great start”. I often tell the many entrepreneurs and students I work with that the business plan changes the minute it is introduced to the market.

In the first sentence of her blog, Susan asserts that, “Most people in business believe that you should make a business plan and ‘stick to the plan’.”

Growing up, our family had a wonderful tradition of engaging in debate at the dinner table. These debates often became so spirited that, to an outsider, it might have the appearance of a town hall brawl. During those discussions I can still hear my mom saying, “never say never”. And if one of us fell into the trap of saying, “they say…”, it would be immediately met with “Whose they?” from my dad. As such, whenever a sentence begins with the phrase “most people”, my focus tends to drift away from the intended message to wondering about the veracity of whether or not it is really most people.

I am not really interested in determining if most people in business believe that you should stick to the plan. What I do find interesting are the contrasting philosophies by different types of people about changing the plan.

In large companies it is not uncommon to find scores of employees who only wish, “we could put a stake in the ground”. At the same time senior executives often embrace plan changes. In my work with startups and entrepreneurs I find a very different dynamic.

Instead of refusing to make adjustments to the business plan when needed, they take on the characteristics of a Golden Retriever in a field of butterflies–jumping from one opportunity to the next with reckless abandon.

In the end, I think there are two factors determining which camp one falls into—locus of control and opportunism.

Typically, folks with a strong internal locus of control, complemented with a dose of opportunism are more comfortable with change, because they believe they have more control over the change. People with a strong external locus of control often fear being victimized by change, and nobody wants to be a victim. Or do they?

©Mark P. Loschiavo

This often misquoted line from the movie Field of Dreams (“Build it and he will come”) has led to the demise of more than a few entrepreneurial ventures. The sentiment is actually much older than the movie. It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who first said, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door.”

Any high school graduate in the U.S. should remember Emerson as a famous American essayist, philosopher and poet. Few people, however, realize that in his early career he co-founded and ran a school for young ladies. That said, he might have made a dismal entrepreneur in today’s world with his “mousetrap” philosophy. With today’s increasingly crowded markets it takes much more than a better mousetrap to get customers to beat a path to our door. With so many products, options and features, just creating customer awareness of your product can be a daunting task.

Following the dot com bust, the idea of “eyeballs” and “clicks” as a barometer of company valuation became laughable to many. In retrospect the concept has merit in one particular arena.

Take a moment to reflect on how villages, towns and cities form. It always starts with a group of settlers, brought together in community based on location. Location may be decided based on trading routes, access to natural resources or common interest. Once the community is in place commerce ensues. Said differently, where there is a common community, there is a place and an opportunity for entrepreneurial ventures to flourish. If we transpose this same concept to the electronic age, we start to see the value of “eyeballs” and “clicks”.

A recent article in CNNMoney.com entitled LinkedIn’s startup story: Connecting the business world, Ellen Lee describes how LinkedIn founder, Reid Hoffman built his company around the single goal of getting to 1 million members. “I’m a huge believer in getting a million people, getting them engaged, and then building a business model on top of that,” he says. Forty-one million members later that is exactly what he has done. With the community in place, the opportunity for commerce ensued, and entrepreneurship flourished.

The difference between online communities and physical communities is that online communities are typically built around a common interest. In the case of LinkedIn the common interest is professionals wanting to connect. Facebook, on the other hand was based on a particular demographic—college students. One could argue that Twitter is based more on a specific psychographic.

So, the next time you are tempted to scoff at a business idea based on a business model that is built around “eyeballs”, you might want to first ask, “will these eyeballs lead to a community of people with a common interest, which once in place, provides an opportunity for entrepreneurial ventures?”

©Mark P. Loschiavo

Excerpt for Laurence A. Baiada Center for Entrepreneurship Newsletter

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

- Winston Churchill

Have you ever noticed how much energy is spent focusing on things that are unpleasant? Whether discussing current events with friends or watching the evening news, the topic invariably turns to threatening weather, crime in the streets, disease, political scandal or a bad economy. If you think I am overstating the case, categorize every conversation or encounter you have in one day on a sheet of paper with two columns. In the left column list all encounters focused on something positive. In the right column list all of the encounters focused on something negative. By the end of the day, that piece of paper will be listing to starboard.

Consider the amount of time and attention in the first quarter of 2009 that was devoted to talking and writing about the woes of the economy. There are roughly 200 million working-aged people in the United States. If each of those people thinks about the woes of the economy for only 20 minutes a day, it amounts to 6 billion hours. Now consider the possibilities if those 6 billion hours were spent focusing on entrepreneurial opportunities.

People often ask me how the entrepreneurs we work with every day are dealing with these difficult economic times. My answer is always the same. They know times are tough, but their focus is on building their businesses and making a difference in the world. The economy, good or bad, is just one of the many external factors they need to consider when trying to execute on their visions.

In a recent interview, one of our entrepreneurs, Zach Conover, was asked about the skills necessary to be a successful entrepreneur. He said, “Being a good entrepreneur is like being a good pitcher in baseball. You need a short memory. You have to remain confident after a bad pitch that your next pitch will be better.” That is the voice of an optimist who sees the opportunity in every difficulty. That is the voice of the Baiada Center.

©Mark P. Loschiavo

Legend has it that a young man stopped on a dusty French path in the late Middle Ages to watch a laborer chipping away pieces from a large stone. “What are you doing?” he asked the worker.

“I’m trying to make this round stone square,” came the reply. “I’ve been working on this one stone for more than a week, and look how little progress I’ve made.”

The young man walked a bit farther and saw another laborer hammering away at a similar block of stone. “What are you doing?” he asked.

The worker replied, “My job. I’m a stone mason.”

Not much farther down the path the young man encountered a third laborer, also working a heavy piece of stone. “What are you doing?” he asked.

The worker looked up briefly from his task and replied, “I’m building a cathedral.”

Where do you find yourself these days? Are you chipping away at the tasks in front of you, just doing your job, or are you fulfilling your vision for the future? How about those around you?

The difference between “doing a job” and “fulfilling a vision” is often reduced to nothing more than risking the comfort of the current state long enough to visualize a desired state. Once you have even a fuzzy vision of where you want to go you must set specific goals along the way, and have the courage to tell someone about them. If you don’t think you have the time or patience for that, remember that the cathedrals of the Middle Ages typically took about 100 years to complete.

©Mark P. Loschiavo

One day this man’s daughter came to him and said, “These puzzles are no longer challenging enough for me. I want you to find for me a puzzle that is really difficult.” So dad purchased a three dimensional puzzle. While that presented a bit more of a challenge, the puzzle was quickly completed, and his daughter said, “Dad, you can do better than that!”

After searching to no avail for a more complex puzzle an idea came to him, and he said, I will find you a puzzle tomorrow with less than 100 pieces that you will not be able to put together.” She said, “Bring it on, dad.”

The next day, the daughter spent the entire time at school in great anticipation. When she got home she ran into the dining room, where she found what looked like a puzzle with relatively few pieces. This was a puzzle she knew she would be able to assemble before evening’s end. Under dad’s watchful eye, she smoothed the puzzle pieces out on the dining room table to begin. Then she said, “Dad, give me the box top so I can get going on this thing.” That’s the catch”, he said. “Your challenge is to put together this puzzle without a picture of what the finished product is supposed to look like.”

After giving him that look only a daughter in high school can master, she set out to assemble the puzzle. After several frustrating attempts over what seemed like an eternity she said, “Dad, how am I supposed to put together a puzzle without having any idea what the finished product is supposed to look like?” After giving her a look that only a dad with a daughter in high school can master he said, “You said you wanted a puzzle that would be tough for you to do.” Her response was, “This is stupid and I don’t want to do it anymore.”

As leaders, how often do we give out similar assignments? We tell those we count on that we need better results. Maybe it is more revenue and profit. We tell them that they have to do better next year than the year before—that they have to be faster, smarter and more competitive than anyone else out there—but we do not articulate a clear plan for how to get there. A good business plan is much like the box top of a puzzle. With it, everyone on the team knows what success looks like when achieved, providing a clear guide along the way.

©Mark P. Loschiavo