Arcade Fire’s new album is the best of the year by far at this point.

I really like the latest Tokyo Police Club album.  New band, good digs.

Starcraft 2 is still a ton of fun.  Less addictive now though.

Work is getting more and more normal as I go.  It feels like a long time since school, but it’s only been 2.5 months.

One year will be here in no time.

Life always has and always will boggle my mind.  I’m very much a philosophy driven person and it seeps in from all angles.

Carlson Consulting Enterprise is probably as valuable as anything else in school.  Shout out to Phil Miller.

I miss my classmates already.  It’s pretty obvious we won’t be able to keep in touch constantly.

A good friend is getting married this weekend in Alexandria.  I’m looking forward to showing my girlfriend around.

Summer has been ridiculously hot and my apartment sucks for AC.  Looking forward to Fall.

Time definitely goes faster as you get older.  You don’t realize it and all of a sudden your almost 30.

Many people will probably not think much of that last statement.

I need to get into a better cadence of exercise, both physical and mental.

The fair is this week!  Completely forget that last statement.

Many, many other things going on at this point, but not enough time to detail them in an  interesting manner.

That’s a very good thing.  It means that modern businesses are generally getting it right and if they don’t, they won’t thrive.

So when I look at the recent campaign and marketing changes from Dominoe’s, I think they’re doing a great job.  I HATED Dominoes before.  Their pizza was horrible, they had bad service and genuinely seemed to not care about it.  Yet, their position in my mind has significantly altered for the better in the last six months.  First, they referesh their pizza so that it actually tastes pretty good.  Then they apologize publicly for prior performance.  They have a very nifty “pizza tracker” on their website that tells you when your pizza is done and who will deliver it.  They’ve gotten involved with their audience with this site which allows you to submit photos of your delivered pie; interesting user generated content and a step in the right direction.

This is good marketing and alters how you feel about a company and their product.  Has it done the same for you?  I’d rather order Dominoe’s than Pizza Hut at this point.  Not sure if I’m alone, but I doubt it.

The point is that your story and product and can change.  It’s all up to you how you want the public to see you, but it hinges on honesty and living up to the reputation you set out for yourself.  If you are a huge company struggling with a fluttering image, Dominoe’s is a good case study.

Titles are important from a career standpoint, but within companies titles are usually pretty useless.  Contrarily, a list of responsibilities is actually quite important for many.  The reason is that within organizations people are always searching out what their “role” is and so when something is down on paper, it’s their own forever and ever…until it’s taken away.  So when someone else does a task that is on the aforementioned list that they’re not “supposed” to do, it can cause a ruckus.  Which is why Project Manager seems like such a funny term to me; I know it’s functional specific (function means a specific company arm such as finance, accounting or operations) but it still doesn’t offer a lot.

Businesses are ran by human beings and so applied anthropology becomes important.  The way we work and our hierarchy of needs shining through our actions is something to behold and consider.

I’m unsure if I’ve written on titles before, but they are a funny thing.  They do offer a signifier to resume readers of what the general level of competence is.  The problem is that it’s not always true.  I’ve got a friend who is a VP of Marketing.  The company is like two people though.  I managed the marketing of a 5M company with the title “marketing specialist.”  Not tooting my own horn, just pointing out that titles are deceiving.  Any good interviewer gets an idea of what the title means, then disregards it.  Marketing Manager you say?  How many people did you manage?  What business did you oversee?  What was your OI, share, etc. and how did you affect it in your tenure?  Behavioral questions ensue, etc.  Then they fact check.

The overarching point here is that titles do mean something in the meta career.  At the business your in, you should focus on growth and/or efficiency in your job.

The topic of today’s thought is perspective.  It never fails to baffle me how many people will approach things only from their own perspective when addressing a market.  They are usually pretty darn close to correct in their viewpoint, but because they approach it from their own side of the ball, they may fail to understand why it will, well, fail.

For instance, as a supplier of your product or service, it’s very easy to say something to the tune of “They are doing this now, so as long as we give them the same thing, they’ll work with us!”  Of course, that’s not the case.  There are multiple variables that you can’t even see at this point, but the larger aspect not taken into consideration is inertia and applicable utility needed to overcome.  More simply stated, what is the incentive of a customer to deviate from their current status?  If there isn’t one, then there is really no reason to go.  And if there IS incentive, it has to be presented in a way that is compelling and understandable from their perspective.  That’s where language and advocacy come into play, as well as likeability.

It’s not that people don’t try to see it from another’s perspective, it’s that they fail to truly displace themselves from their objectives first.  Maybe it’s not easy, but it’s the only way.  Your customers don’t care about your EPS and they don’t care about your costs.  They care about their own welfare.

The long and short of it is that knowing when to apply a new perspective based on your customers’ circumstances is a rare trait, and one that’s valuable.  When you start to say (as a smart man once said to me, often) “SO WHAT?” much like a customer would, you’ll start cutting through all the cantankerous BS spewed from marketing departments; you’ll spit out the vile kool aid and start digging into the things that people actually care about.  Hopefully in a way that not only your company cares about.

Yet another reason to be excited, they are coming to play in St. Paul next month!  I haven’t been to a show since Rock the Garden (shame on me) and this will undoubtedly be one of the better I’ve ever seen.  Apparently they are something to behold in person as they are a large group and offer much goings on throughout.

I’ll be sure to review it after, but until then, you might consider picking up the new album if you’re into anything Indy and/or good.

Fearlessness to the point of recklessness is an issue for people and organizations and it will crash your ride.  Pump the brakes.  Slow down.  Slow down.  You are not in a race in most cases, at least not a race that haphazard moves will win.

But I’d still take a manager that seeks out measured risks instead of shying away from them.  Failure in itself is recognized as a negative thing.  Success is positive.  Those two things stand out.   Yet when thinking strategically, failure(s) as a stepping stone to success(es) is a very good thing.  The key is recognizing and knowing how to deal with the former in order to find the latter.

A quick example is my credit card.  I’ve had the same one since college.  Most people get one credit card in college and use it as their primary card for a very long time.  This perfectly corresponds to my usage.  There are many more better cards in terms of deals and money back for my money, but the phone call to alter my current situation (”I want a better deal or I think I’m going to get a different card from another provider” = lower interest rate) has always been the obstacle.  Is it that hard?  No.  But there is ALWAYS something else I could be doing that’s a bit more fun.

How much money would that call have saved me in the long run?  No idea.  I could probably get to a rough estimate, but let’s just say over the last six years with that card during school and lesser cash flow periods I’d racked up some big bills.  I payed them all off, but at a larger price than necessary.

Industries where it is easy to pick up and choose someone else will try to build in incentive programs or return requests.  Restaurants will offer a free meal after five stops.  Airlines will build in travel miles (they allied with one another now and the program is arguable as to worth.)  Service industries recognize that their product has to be remarkable in order to stay on top of mind, so they try harder.  Sometimes it works, sometimes not so much.

The power of inertia is great, although not in a good way.  If you justify lessening the quality of your product by leaning on that power, you’re doing it wrong.

Many are scared to ask for help because it makes them look inferior or unqualified for their positions.  It’s understandable that people would feel this way, but that doesn’t mean it’s the correct outlook.  As with most things, new jobs and tasks take time to fully comprehend and do well.  Teaming with someone who knows the job and can help you accelerate your path down the knowledge curve is just plain smart.

I’ll often say that there is a fine line between creativity and insanity, hard work and obsession, etc.  There is a very broad line between asking for help and it being a reflection of eagerness to do things right and incompetence.  You may have met a few people who really aren’t equipped to do their jobs well.  Most will stay quiet in order to avoid any confrontation about their performance, but occasionally, you’ll run into people who will ask for help on every little thing they do, and this can be an issue.  Thankfully, I’ve met very few people like this and it’s usually not a reflection of character, but a poor choice in vocation.  Choosing a livelihood that you can’t excel in every day is simply not viable and at some point those people may want to consider a career switch.

There is also another great part of asking for help, it instills confidence and recognition in the people you ask it from!  This should very much be your practice in a new role, but also when a new person arrives in your business or team.  Just because someone hasn’t worked as long somewhere as yourself doesn’t mean that their skills are negligable or that you can’t learn from them.  It’s a very positive cycle if done correctly.

Finally, you may want to look at help as career development for both yourself and your boss.  Even if you don’t necessarily need help, you might ask for reviews on work in order to get feedback.  I also very much believe in helping your boss grow, which means providing them time to be the boss and think critically about your work and how to improve it.  When your superiors do well, you’ll do well.  When it’s a continuous cycle, the business will do well, and at the end of the day that’s the name of the game to begin with.

Until next time.

I’m having a tough time getting into a grind of writing, but other than that, life is going really well.  I’ve never been this busy with work and it’s an incredible learning curve.  It’s such a valuable learning curve too.  That’s what I haven’t had a lot of time to reflect on, how much long term value is being built slowly in the short term.  There are always things to learn, especially at a new company:  the culture within the company, the interaction and viewpoints of different functions and levels of tenure, how and where to find resources, what kind of representations of data are expected and wanted, how can you make an impact, how can you get to know everybody and learn about them, while managing everything on the day to day.  It’s non stop and it’s good.

Just not for writing.  :-)