Impossible Steamy Bikinis

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Feb 012012
 

“We didn’t know it was impossible so we went ahead and did it.”

“I began doing everything by myself, drawing without knowing how to draw, designing without knowing how to design, directing without knowing how to direct. It was all very experimental at the time, based on trial and error.”

Those quotes could have been from the same person but in fact they come from people in two different continents and relate to projects that couldn’t be more different. The former was a comment by one of the founders of the Great Western Society that now runs the Didcot Railway Centre. As teenagers in the 1960s, four friends set out to buy a small steam engine to preserve it from being scrapped as British Railways moved over to diesel. With the optimism of youth they embarked on a project that most would have considered impossible, that then grew into something much, much bigger.

The second quote was from the founder of the Brazilian swimwear company, Salinas, and referred to the period when as a teenager,  she started making bikinis at home for the local market. Salinas has now grown to be a global brand favoured by many A-list celebrities  - probably something that may have been considered impossible if it was considered at all. (Full article on the BBC business website.)

If all you see is obstacles you’ll never get anywhere. If you see opportunities there is a slight possibility that the impossible may be possible.

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Legislation Harms Bus Travellers

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Jan 162012
 

Most businesses would say that there is too much legislation relating to employment. I’m sure that unions would say it’s necessary to protect employees’ rights. But does the legislation do more harm than good? For a start small businesses in particular are likely to go down the outsourcing route rather than taking on employees, and who can blame them? However, there’s another point. If you require legislation to keep you in a job, surely it can’t be a happy situation. Wouldn’t you be better off moving somewhere else? Just a day or two ago a headmistress was explaining how she had moved on one in six of her staff and saying that the conversations with them had been helpful to them to see that teaching wasn’t the right career choice for them.

Many years ago I had a guy working for me who just wasn’t cutting the mustard. We were puzzled by this but conversations with him and having him psychometrically tested revealed that he was the proverbial wrong shaped peg for the hole.  We got him moved to a more appropriate role. He was happier, we were happier and the company benefited from him being in a role where he was able to make a full contribution.

In his book, ‘From Good to Great’, Professor Jim Collins reports on very extensive research into how some companies outperformed their competitors over many years. One of the key factors was, as Collins puts it, having the right people on the bus and sitting in the right seats. This is possible only if there is flexibility to move people around or off that particular bus. Once we have a job that is reasonably secure and well paid, I suggest that most of us are reluctant to leave even if we don’t enjoy it. But this is helpful to no one. Allowing businesses to remove easily someone from the bus allows that person the opportunity to find the right employment for them … or gives them a necessary wake up call that they need to work harder in their next employment if that was the reason they’ve been ejected from the bus.

Is it right to deny someone the opportunity to move to a job that is better suited to them – that they will enjoy more? And why is it in anyone’s interest to protect lazy employees? Of course, there is another side to this. If employers communicate fully with their staff and involve them in all that’s going on, employees are more likely to feel committed to a business and what it is trying to achieve. An open and honest conversation in both directions will make it easier to ensure that people are on the right buses and buses have the right people on them.

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Cultural Communications

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Jan 112012
 

The unfortunate affair of Luis Suarez at Liverpool has highlighted the perils of not understanding cultural differences. It seems surprising that football clubs don’t have cultural awareness training given the multi-national nature of their squads. But leaving aside the rarefied atmosphere of top flight football, even small businesses need to be aware of potential issues if they are to do business abroad. We tend to forget that the influence of US culture on us has made us far less formal than many other nationalities. While we naturally tend to use first names, the French, for example, will expect to use surnames and the formal ‘vous’  form of verbs until a relationship is well established. Likewise, unless speaking to a very young woman, it is safer to use ‘Madame’ rather than ‘Mademoiselle’ even if she isn’t married. But cross the border into Italy and we have almost the opposite situation where the use of ‘Signorina’ may be viewed more favourably than ‘Signora’. Move north into Germany and start a meeting with small talk about your journey or other trivia and you’ll get some strange looks.

Understanding the people with whom we are hoping to do business is vital. Of course, that applies equally whether they reside at home or abroad.

 

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Turn Off The Hairdryer

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Jan 032012
 

In his latest blog post, the BBC’s Robert Peston talks about interviewing the Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp, for a programme on football and business. ‘Arry, as he is affectionately known, is well known for his ability to motivate players and commented to Peston, “You know I think players will respond more by you telling them how good they are, rather than telling them what they can’t do. I find it’s no good shouting and screaming at players and telling them ‘you’re rubbish and you can’t do this’, because that doesn’t help anybody.” Although Manchester United’s Alex Ferguson is famed for his ‘hairdryer’ treatment of his players, it is exceedingly unlikely he could have become so successful unless he balanced it with a great deal of positive comment and encouragement.

Sadly it is something that many of us learn late on in life (and some never do). In sport, business or life in general, apart from the super confident (deluded?) most of us are all too aware of our shortcomings and need to be reminded of our strengths and abilities.

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300

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Dec 202011
 

I do not believe it! (Victor Meldrew) Since drafting this post, Seth Godin has blogged about the 4,300 items he’s written since starting his blog, originally in email format back in 1991. I think I’ve been trumped! Oh well, for what it’s worth, here’s my offering.

I’m going to bore you with a little history! This is the 300th post since this blog started in its original guise as The Watercooler. Some of the early posts were written by friends before I stopped nagging them and took full responsibility for what appears in print. However, my wandering mind first started dumping its thought in written form on the 26th April 2006 when Random Ramblings first appeared on my original website. Then, with the advent of my second website, RR became a monthly emailed newsletter. With this, my third website iteration, I started the Watercooler blog and for some while ran RR as a separate entity. But it seemed a bit unfair to inflict quite so much waffle on the world and so a few months back I merged the streams so now the monthly emailed Ramble is a collation of what appears in the blog, with a some mild editing.

Anyone who writes as much as I have over the years is either very creative or they nick ideas from elesewhere. I fall into the latter category. One of my key influencers is Seth Godin. I was rather taken with an eclectic list of a dozen pieces of advice Seth published recently. My favourites are:

  1. Borrow money to buy things that go up in value, but never to get something that decays over time. (If only the world had taken note!)
  2. It’s almost never necessary to use a semicolon. (He’s completely wrong on this!!!)
  3. Backup your hard drive. (Well reminded.)
  4. Taking your dog for a walk is usually better than whatever alternative use of your time you were considering. (Hmm, no dog.)

And just to finish off, here are three thoughts I’ve borrowed from elsewhere:

  1. A pessimist is never disappointed. (Eddie Kiely, a work colleague from many years back.)
  2. Smile – it confuses people. (Scott Adams – American humourist.)
  3. Strategies are okayed in boardrooms that even a child would say are bound to fail. The problem is there is never a child in the boardroom. (Victor Palmieri, US corporate turnaround specialist.)

Happy Christmas!

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