We are sending out our wedding invitations this week.  There has been a lot of work in the last few weeks and we need to get it done.  If you are reading this and haven’t yet sent me your address, do so now!  :-)

There’s an adage in business, whatever or wherever you work, your job is to make your boss look good.  Or make your boss happy.  I’ve heard both.

If you’re not in business that might sound really odd.  And it is.  ”Make your boss look good” is almost never in a job description or how you’re actually reviewed, yet many people cite it often as the real underlying reason you’re at the organization.

The truth is that adages such as this are significant reasons why some companies are run into the ground over time.

Making your boss look good is actually a very good thing too, I don’t want to disparage it of its own merit.  Much like making your direct reports look good or the company as a whole look good, it’s not a negative.  In fact, making everyone at the company look good is something we should strive for, but we can’t do so at the cost of our real goals.

The idea that your job is specifically meant to make your boss be seen favorably, however, is misguided.  It’s a remnant of organizations that depend wholly on hierarchy to accomplish tasks and completely denies the real reason a business is a business.  That reason is almost always satisfying customer wants and needs.

If we think of organizations as tiers of people, each trying to make their boss look good, people start to think of their reports as tools for their betterment.  What’s more, people will act accordingly and do whatever their boss wants primarily to make them happy, not to improve the business results or offer value to the people that pay the bills.  Dynamism within the company comes to a halt and suddenly the entirety of the organization is suffering from group think.

This internal focus eventually robs the market, in a trade off scenario company workers will take the options that seem most valuable for making their superiors look good in hopes of being promoted to similar positions (or for fear of repercussion.)  Many people may assume that there is a high correlation between what the market wants and what makes the boss look good.  That’s true to an extent, but it’s only true when the boss looks good as a DERIVATIVE of giving the market what it wants.

Company values have to be focused on the customer, not internal perceptions.

Twas a long time ago that I read a review of a book called A Confederacy of Dunces, it was about how Will Farrel was considering a movie remake of the book.  At the time, I knew nothing of the book and so read a quick review.  It was praised as one of the most humorous and well done books of all time for comedy.

While down in Southern California on a business trip (Irvine specifically) I finished the last book I was reading incredibly fast, on the way down there actually.  Much faster than anticipated.  So I was left looking for something new to read and had no clue what to get.  In the “Popular Summer Reading” lo and behold up popped this book and its incredible cast of characters.

The biggest character is Ignatius J. Reilly.  He is an oafish scholar of Tulane who lives with his mother and refutes the expectations that modern society has so viciously put upon him.  His speech is pronounced and often of haughty  superiority with a vocabulary meant to shake even the most sophisticated of well reads.  He is also a lout, an incredibly selfish and even mean individual at times.  His very existence is a dichotomy of hypocrisy.  The book revolves around him at first, but as it proceeds other masses come into orbit.

There are many interesting characters here.  Ignatius’ mother, ill prepared employers of our selfish protagonist, local business keepers and random workers therein.  But each is well written and in depth with a head of their own.  Development of the subplots is always twisting and turning and the ability of John Kennedy Toole to paint a picture of a scene and the disparity in perspective never wanes. Perhaps his impeccable use of dialogue and alteration in character dialect is the book’s greatest strength.  It’s something to behold, for certain.

This is not a book that everyone will love.  It is not short and there are points in the book that are dabbled with long written letters from Ignatius (or others) which are more like James Joyce than the sharp witted banter akin to some Shaw plays, which is how the faster moving pieces of the book assemble.

The saddest point in this story is that our author, Mr. Toole, would only finish this one book.  He committed suicide at 31.  A Confederacy of Dunces won the Pulitzer Prize in 1981.

Read a very interesting article on tech company obsolescence today.  The basic gist of it is that web based companies are not “master of their own domain” due to the typical infrastructure that sprouts at the time of their start.  The author then points out that these companies are part of three generations:  web 1.0 companies such as Google, Yahoo, Amazon, etc.; web 2.0 companies such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace; and now mobile companies such as Instagram.

I think there are some flaws in the rationale, despite the overall theme being good.  For instance the article makes no mention of Twitter, almost certainly part of the second bucket, who IMO has successfully created both a website based application and a very good mobile app.  There are likely many more examples of web based portal applications that were subverted by a powerful mobile app.  Flickr is a good example of this, though Flickr is still around.

The overarching point is that humans and the businesses they build have a tendency to not be dynamic and able to change based on the needs of the market.  Over the past 100 years, this effect was less pronounced due to the time and effort associated with building businesses that are centered on capital expenditure to build things (mills, factories, energy needs, brick and mortar outlets.)  Due to those long term time lines, customers have less choice and ability to alter their behavior toward another newer alternative.

In the digital world, new companies can start over night.  Start up costs are drastically reduced and the output of the company is software code.  The author argues that it’s completely conceivable that Facebook and Google would disappear in the next 5-8 years.  I agree with this, especially on Facebook.  Right now it’s an incredible behemoth, on top of the world.  But there is no true tether to their service beyond the social network that has aggregated there.  You are on Facebook because your friends are on Facebook.

That could end.  As technology advances, there will be newer, better offerings to do the same things you can do on many sites.  I don’t want to pick on Facebook alone here, because this is a systemic idea.  Web based companies are just more fragile than companies with a throughput of products or services.  It’s certainly arguable that Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn are providing a service, but that service can be replicated in other fashions online.  That’s why Instagram was purchased for $1B.

All of these companies were born into an “ecology” of their time.  They built themselves to be strong and powerful in that time, but the times are a changin’.  And they are changing faster and faster due to technological advancement.

So why haven’t retail outlets been disintermediated?  We certainly have the technology to send food, clothing and other supplies via logistics companies.  Amazon has already gotten very good at sending things via drop shipment.  I’m not an expert in the yearning of people to shop, but I think it’s been fairly well proven out that (despite what we say) we like to go to stores and shop, to look through wares and pick what we want in person.  At least most of us do.  I really enjoy purchasing certain types of gadgets and wares online, but I want to buy my food in person.  Same thing with clothes, often times it’s easier to do in person.

If companies are a product of their times, then what allows some to last and some to compete successfully against their peers?  There are a great deal of books on this, some of my favorites are In Search of Excellence, Good to Great and Positioning.

This article is well worth reading.  I don’t know that it’s completely true, however.  If you look at the old guard of software companies like Microsoft, they are still well alive today and competing.  They displaced the hardware company as the powerful group (IBM got out of computers years ago) and are still around; though their overall influence has been subverted by Google, a web 1.0 company.  Google will be around a long, long time.  My assumption is that Facebook will find a way to be profitable over the long haul as well, but I do think web companies existence is more tenuous than real world, product producing counterparts.

I turned 29 on Thursday.  It was a pretty good day overall, did a lot of fun stuff and spent time with my fiancee and a few others.  I didn’t take the day off.

People really seem to freak out about birthdays.  As though being a certain age signals the end of something great.  Conversely it’s abnormal to see it as the start of something special.  They aren’t a big deal to me though, I just keep it moving.  Lots of things to do and worry about beyond a number of days alive on this planet.  It’s nice to take stock of all the blessings and good things in your life though.  And I did that.

Something happened this year that I found really odd though.  Teresa and I usually purchase gifts for one another and this year we were thinking about good gifts up to the date.  And….nothing came.  Since growing up, I’ve always wanted a lot of cool stuff.  We didn’t have much discretionary income and had neighbors that did, so there was always a lot of stuff like video games and systems, wakeboards, clothing and electronics that I really wanted.  I didn’t necessarily get these things for birthday presents, but there were always thing there that seemed nice.

This year, there was so little that I genuinely wanted.  That was a revelation.  The truth is, if I want much of anything today, I can buy it myself.  And I do.  I spend a lot on music and some other things like golf and hanging out with friends.  Most of the things that seem of real value today, those things that I genuinely want, are pretty expensive.  A house, a grill, a dog, reliable transport, a boat, learning Spanish, traveling and more are all things that I’d like, but they aren’t necessarily birthday presents.  There are things I need, but not nearly as many as there used to be.

Teresa and I registered the other day as well and the same issue came up.   Most of what we registered for was really pretty unneeded.  We already have most of the stuff, it’s just an upgrade over what is already there and not completely necessary.  We do want a few things, but mostly we want to buy a house.  Yet there we were, signing up to be given A LOT of stuff.  Stuff we don’t really have room for either.  It is a good thing to list out stuff that people can get you for your wedding, but the older I get the more simplistic I am about what is really necessary.  Material goods do not make you happy, and so buying a lot of things now a days just seems wasteful.

Will next year be the same?  Or even more pronounced?

It blows my mind, but it’s already been two years since business school finished.  I really find this hard to believe.  Time definitely goes faster as you get older.

I’ve had a good amount of education in my life and I’m planning on more throughout my time here on Earth.  Learning is a hugely important aspect of life, it’s something that drives me forward.  When I was a kid, I never realized that learning is actually really fun.  Doing well in school was never an issue for me, but learning itself wasn’t something that intrigued me at the time.  At that age, maybe you’re just figuring things out still.  Not really sure, but at the ripe old age of 28, the script has been flipped.  Learning is a heck of a lot of fun, but my time to do so (outside of business learning) is pretty limited.

The last two years have gone by so quickly, it’s tough to decipher everything that has happened.  Here are some general thoughts about being in school and out, learning along the way:

Time spent in school is generally worth less than time spent in the real world in terms of experience and ability to execute.  A general rule that “makes sense” to me is that each year in a job where you are challenged and doing new things is worth 3-4x a year in school learning conceptually.

Time spent in school is generally worth MORE than time spent in the real world in terms of learning how to approach things at a conceptual level.   The experience you gain in the real world is often biased and somewhat  imperfect in that it simply isn’t always applicable to all situations.  To simplify this idea, school allows you to expand your thinking processes whereas real world experience teaches you how to do very real and concrete tasks.

Both of these things are good.

Time with a job goes a lot faster than without.  I remember in school how it seemed very slow at times (although holistically it was a flash).  Time since has gone SO fast.  Yet they are the same timeframes.

Work ethic is incredibly important, regardless of what you do.  Work hard and good things will happen.

Businesses and their cultures have incredible impact on your role within an organization.  The two large companies I’ve worked for at a professional level are very different and what is expected and how things are done is also very different.  Yet those two are more similar than the small company I started my career with.  And even all those are incredibly different from the non profit that I worked for.

Differing experiences will teach you a lot in itself.  That’s not a reason to leave a good role, but having new experiences will offer you a great deal of perspective that can help you.  My career has been quite short, but those multiple roles have taught me a great deal in that respect.

Organizations will start habits that are both good and bad.  I’ve found my creativity to be noticeably limited as I’m busier and busier.  The ability to think “outside the box” (trite in itself) is severely limited when expectations are set otherwise.  Large organizations can and will teach you a lot of good things, but being creative is not the strong suit.  I’ve also learned a great deal about professionalism and working in cross functional teams.

Learning is important, but realizing when and how you are learning may be as important.  If you don’t realize that you are or aren’t learning, it will be difficult to know if it’s time for a change.  This is important to keep your skill sets fresh and not develop too many bad habits.  I’ve worked with many people that seem to have stopped wanting to learn new things or improve.  Some of these people are very young some are not.  I don’t want to stereotype young people as learners and older people as unwilling to learn, because it’s not true.  Some people are just eager to learn throughout their lives; those people are likely to have long term success regardless of what they choose to do.

Positivity is a critical aspect of life.  The truth is that anything we choose to do in life will have ups and downs, but the way we approach it will have a very large effect on the outcome.  Stay positive!

I’ll leave it on that!  Good one to end on!  :-)

The other night when Teresa and I were going down to the lake, we almost lost her engagement ring!  We searched for a few hours that night before going to bed.  The next day Teresa took off work to search and I posted it to Craiglist as well as twitter looking for assistance.  Here’s what I wrote:

Hello–

We have some bad news. My fiance and I were walking from our apartment at the Wedge area to Lake of the Isles to walk last night. There is a cement block missing between Fremont and Girard on the side which we jumped, my fiance stumbled and after helping her up, she brushed her hands back and forth to get the dust off. During that time, her engagement ring flew off of her hand. We realized it ten feet later and began inspecting everywhere in the vicinity, to no avail.

We are not absolutely positive that’s where the ring came off, but if it were to come off before, it would be on the South side of the street on the sidewalk. She is devastated and we are truly at a loss, where could this thing have gone after all?! She took the day off from work (she’s a teacher) and is looking for it today.

I believe the ring may be gone for good, but I’m certainly willing to pay $1,000 to someone who recovers it. The ring is very important to her and me; we are getting married in July and cannot afford to purchase another like it. It is a platinum band with five stones. It’s also quite shiny, so we were surprised we couldn’t find it. Please email me if you can locate it, I’ll be happy to meet you wherever with cash in hand. Thanks for reading.

Bob

All of that was true and scary!  I wasn’t extremely concerned with losing the ring, it’s just money after all, but I didn’t relish the idea of buying a new one at this point and really hated that Teresa obviously was feeling like hell about it.  After posting it, a lot of great friends retweeted it.  Lots of very cool MPLS folks started retweeting it and eventually even Atmosphere did, which is a pretty big deal to me as I love and respect Rhyme Sayers about as much as any musical organization.

Fortunately, Teresa was able to locate the ring under some rubberized tubing that day.  It was in deep and wedged really awkwardly too.  I didn’t have insurance on that ring and so if it was gone, it was gone for good.  This was a big lesson to insure things for both of us.  It wasn’t the money for insurance, it was one of those things that we put off and put off, and it finally caught up with us.  Word to the wise, get insurance on things like that.  It’s just too big of a deal if it gets lost.  Anyway, feeling very fortunate this weekend.  Not only for the ring, but to have such amazing friends and family for support.

Thanks everyone.

After posting my Trek 1.5 to Craigslist for sale, no one really seemed to want it.  I was kind of on the fence about selling it anyway as I knew when I did it might bug me later.  It’s a really nice bike, I just wanted something with thicker tires because the roads around here can be bumpy.

I’m keeping it now.  And I’m really glad that’s the case!  I took it out twice last weekend and once this weekend and it’s just a very good ride.  The small tire thing can be annoying on main roads with potholes, but overall it’s a great bike and there really wasn’t any good reason to sell it for 60 cents on the dollar.

I’ve been on a reading tear lately.  Lots of travel.

A few weeks ago, I finished a book my mother purchased for me called “Cycling Home From Siberia” by Rob Lilwall.  My fiance and her brother actually both read this before I did, as I was in the midst of some other business reading at the time.  I’m not a HUGE bicyclist, but I really enjoy it and strive to do it as often as possible for fun and as a mode of transport.  One of my favorite things to do on the weekends is to bike down to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods and pick up some food for the week.  So this book was enticing in that way, but I really didn’t know what I was getting into either.

The book is about a very long journey the author took starting in Siberia and traveling all throughout different parts of the world.  It’s a 3 year, 30k mile journey!  Most of the book is describing some of the fun things that happen in different areas in the countries, along with trials and tribulations…of which there are many.  Starting with -40 degree temperatures and slugging through snow entrenched roads and biking through the Asia Pacific, Middle East (including Afghanistan) and back home to the United Kingdom, it’s an ongoing explanation of what was needed to get home.  Rob actually met a girl through this journey as well as many, many friends along the way.

It was written in such a way that it moves relatively quickly.  He states at the end of the book that he curtailed a great deal of what happened on the long road in order to keep the book more readable (a good idea).  It moves quickly and really offers a lot.  If you enjoy biking I’d really recommend it.  If not, I’d still say it’s worth reading as there is just a lot of life perspective in it.  Religion and work and life are all touched on a great deal.  After having read it, I very much wanted to commit to biking more again.  Last year was a slow year for me in that department; this year has already been much better as I’ve been taking 20 mile rides on the weekends (and need to get in the habit of doing so on week nights, but am usually mentally exhausted!)

I’ll be really honest in that I didn’t necessarily expect this to be a great book.  But it was a darn good book and an invigorating change.  Sometimes you have to look at life through someone elses eyes to do that.

I always think it’s fascinating to look at the budget and where we spend. Here’s a quick graph that summarizes it from Off the Charts Blog:

That’s a pretty simple graph.  It shows that most of our tax dollars are wrapped up in Defense, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid and Safety Net programs.

As readers of this blog may know, the other stuff category holds what I think need more of a share.  Education and Transporation infrastructure are where I’d like to spend more dollars, with some reductions in the other areas.  I don’t have a plan, but I believe that education is critical in the long term and that transportation infrastructure is a very good investment in the economy.

I understand why people get worked up about a lot of these things, they are polarizing issues and many believe we need to cut spending in general.  Fiscal conservatism and social programs are not mutually exclusive ideals.  Operating at a budget surplus should be our objective, while still offering society the main tenets it needs to provide a good infrastructure and governance where people are safe, secure and free to pursue happiness.