mis-alignment: don’t mess with the deadheads

November 30, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

I’ve been recently inspired by makeover shows; now its rock bands.   It started when I caught The Last Waltz on tv the other night.  Surprising that a lifelong music fiend like me never saw the world’s greatest rockumentary before (at least that I can remember…but that’s another blog!). So I was in the right frame of mind for this NYT article ($): Deadheads Outraged Over Web Crackdown. It  got me thinking about audience (customer) alignment; not just the value in getting it right, but the potential cost of getting it wrong.

The business behind the Grateful Dead determined that too much live show content was being downloaded and traded; so they made a move to stop it.  The band wants to sell downloads of its live concerts through its own official Web site. The fans are p.o.’d:

Dissent has been building rapidly, however, as the band’s fans – known as Deadheads – have discovered the recordings are, at least for the time being, not available. Already, fans have started an online petition, at www.petitiononline.com/gdm/petition.html, threatening to boycott the band’s recordings and merchandise if the decision is not reversed. In particular, fans have expressed outrage that the shift covers not only the semiofficial "soundboard" recordings made by technicians at the band’s performances, but also recordings made by audience members.

To the fans, the move signals a profound philosophical shift for a band that had been famous for encouraging fans to record and trade live-concert tapes. The band even cordoned off a special area at its shows, usually near the sound board, for "tapers" – a practice now followed by many younger jam bands.

This will be an interesting case to follow about the risks of alienating your fans (customers) who will perceive a ’sellout’.  The files will continue to be traded, but the trading will go underground…along with legions of loyal fans, and their money. Did the Grateful Dead go too far?  Could they have better communicated their needs? If their fans are disillusioned, will another band (competition) move in to fill the vacuum? How much power do these fans (customers) have?

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u2’s bigger game

November 30, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

This is a good NYT article ($), Media Age Business Tips From U2 about the band’s phenomenal and enduring success.  Tip #1 is: MEET THE CONSUMERS WHERE THEY LIVE.  The band’s audience (consumers) live on the Web and the band has an extensive Web site.

"We always said it would be pathetic to be good at the music and bad at the business," said Paul McGuinness, the band’s manager since the beginning. And while U2 hasn’t become a Harvard Business School case study (at least not yet) it offers an object lesson in how media can connect with their customers.

Tip #3 is:  EMBRACE TECHNOLOGY

While other big acts were scolding and threatening fans for downloading music or, in the case of Metallica, suing Napster, U2 was busy working on a new business model.

A collaboration with Apple yielded a U2 special edition iPod that was a smash hit and gave visibility to the band at a time when most radio station playlists don’t extend much beyond a narrow selection of pop singers.

Tip #10 is about U2’s Bigger Game:    AIM HIGH

During the concert last Tuesday, Bono asked the audience to send, via text message, their full names to One, an organization that fights AIDS and global poverty. They happily complied and their names were flashed on screen between encores. MTV’s "Total Request Live" may attract a wider audience, but its members probably aren’t made to think they are part of something bigger.

For more than a decade I considered the big research firms (Forrester, Jupiter, Yankee) as the ‘thought leaders’ of strategy.  But now I’m finding lessons from rock bands and makeover shows more useful, practical and fun.

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being liked, being authentic: coming into vogue?

November 17, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

These two articles give me hope that the business world is recognizing that successful leaders lead from the heart and communicate authentically.

Boston Globe’s ($$) Don’t underestimate the value of social skills is about the importance of being liked.

No one is going to make you likable. "The people who are likable actually care about other people and care about the connections they make."

Also, figure out how to help someone else get what they need. "Recognize what you’re trying to get done and who you are trying to get it done with," advises Hodgkinson. "Then think beyond your own stuff to what the other people want."

Think of this as project management synergy, or resume empathy; you need to help others reach their goals. This will make you more likable, and then more likely to reach your own goals.

The Salon article ($$): Cheers for Tears is about showing emotion in the workplace.

The response to Katrina had me over the moon because it illustrates my point: Emotions, particularly when expressed by men, are powerful. Mayor Ray Nagin’s expletives; Kanye West saying "George Bush doesn’t care about black people" on national television; NBA basketball star Stephon Marbury weeping uncontrollably at a press conference; the breakdown of Jefferson County Parish president Aaron Broussard, as he described the calls for help from a friend’s mother who drowned in her nursing home. These incidents placed heartbreak on the political agenda. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff’s cool appraisal, "It’s an emotional time," seemed a paternalistic understatement intended to dismiss these protests as uncontrolled ravings. But on display in the days after Katrina were unvarnished tears and genuine empathy, which eventually compelled action.

Tears teach. What stirs us to public emotion reveals our needs, reflects our values. It also asks others to evaluate what, if anything, they are doing to provoke our tears, to take responsibility for our feelings by trying to make things better. This is why emotions are politically incorrect; they impose on us burdensome questions: What have I done? What can I do? The images of men breaking down and speaking out after Katrina exemplified true compassion, not the propagandistic kind that is safely contained and manipulated with photo ops and false camaraderie. It was raw, it was real and it won the hearts and minds of the nation. Let’s hope we haven’t seen the last of it.

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what were they thinking?

November 16, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

My public gaffes list is growing.  Here are a few recent examples of "what not to say" that provide good learning for anyone interested in communications leadership.

Lesson #1: if you screw up, apologize and express regrets…period.  Don’t, in the next sentence, attempt to rationalize or defend your decision/choice….it makes you look worse than if you did nothing!

Its about local politics and a Boston Globe story ($$): Contrite lawmaker returns to work.  Ten house members, including House Speaker DiMasi, took a 10-day European vacation during the final weeks of the legislative session as crucial bills (including drunk driving) were being debated.  Under criticism, some cut their vacation short, returned, and issued statements about the poor timing and judgement involved.

DiMasi stopped short of directly criticizing the group, however.

”I think this whole thing . . . was basically a little bit of a miscommunication on our part," DiMasi said in an interview outside his North End home yesterday morning. ”I didn’t have an opportunity to speak to them before they set these plans. Otherwise, we would have had a conversation about it. But unfortunately, these things happen."

The trip was paid for with private funds.

Later on Beacon Hill, DiMasi defended his members more strongly, saying that they put in long hours and that their work gets overlooked by the news media.

”Sometimes I wish someone would focus on when they’re here working late and missing dinner and missing their family and not being with their children at night," DiMasi told reporters. ”They work very hard. . . . In my opinion, when you go away with your family once in a while, if you have one week’s vacation a year, I think that’s a good thing."

Lesson #2:  prepare well, be clear, be concise.  In other words: just say it!. Going ‘off message’ can be very costly.

Its about a NYT story ($$) on an investor conference call last month with James Dimon, J. P. Morgan Chase chief executive designate, and his response to questions about a potential merger. 

For Mr. Dimon, a Wall Street celebrity whose career has been defined by big, showy deals, such a question could not have come as a surprise.

But instead of a clear answer, Mr. Dimon’s meandering response bordered on the unintelligible. Citing criteria like price, business logic and capability, Mr. Dimon sought to sum it all up for the many investors and analysts listening in.

”Forgetting the business logic and the price, there will be options down the road there, I would answer your question about capable and that we weren’t really quite capable yet because our army was doing all the other stuff we had to do, particularly the systems conversions,” he said, according to a transcript. ”The army will be capable to do other stuff sometime next year, which is reasonable. Doesn’t mean we will.”

Confused? Here’s a translation: We are not ready to do a deal yet.
More than ever, investors are holding chief executives accountable for their public utterances and their ability to articulate a clear and compelling vision.

A gaffe, a garbled sentence or a muddied articulation of a corporate strategy can not only mar the public profile of a chief executive but also prompt a run on the stock.

Lesson #3: Avoid belligerence and slang; its a turn-off. 

Its about a BW interview  with SBC CEO Ed Whitacre including Q & A about disruption and competition in telco.

Q: How concerned are you about Internet upstarts like Google (GOOG ), MSN, Vonage, and others?

A: How do you think they’re going to get to customers? Through a broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain’t going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there’s going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they’re using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?

The Internet can’t be free in that sense, because we and the cable companies have made an investment and for a Google or Yahoo! (YHOO ) or Vonage or anybody to expect to use these pipes [for] free is nuts!

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truly an american idol

November 9, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

I’ve never watched American Idol but I did recognize a bigger game when I read about one in Village Voice.  Fantasia, the recent Idol champion, revealed last month that she is illiterate, along with releasing her memoir, Life is Not a Fairy Tale.  A quote from her book:

“Not a day goes by that I’m not ashamed about my situation. If you hand me a newspaper, I just look at the pictures and try to figure out what happened . . . when people ask me to write a special message, I have trouble forming words right on the spot, so I write something short like ‘Be Blessed’ . . . something I already know how to write.”

and:

“The real story is how Hollywood and show business wouldn’t want the world to know that illiteracy is a real thing that affects many young people, like me. It’s one of those ugly things that no one wants to talk about. That’s why so many young kids don’t have jobs—they can’t read a job application. They are not lazy and ghetto, which is what everyone says about us.”

This story stopped me dead in my tracks.  This well-written article refers to literacy project Reading is Fundamental and also to the U.S. functional illiterate statistic: 25 million. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around this problem.  Fantasia’s courage and honesty are humbling and inspiring.  And not just hers alone.  Every person who volunteers time for adult literacy programs should be acknowledged for their contribution. 

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lessons from a rock band reunion

November 9, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

I recently got to see a new friend play a 20 year reunion gig with her old all-female band Lizzie Borden & the Axes.  Reunion gigs are big in Boston and fans will come to see their favorite bands from prior decades.  As well as being fun, talented and highly entertaining, I can’t stop thinking about the connection the band made with their audience.  They barely had time to practice and they are now middle-age women with varying ‘real’ jobs like certified financial planner and veterinarian….and its been 20 years! Part of the success of their set was the music itself which had everyone up and dancing.  But even more, it was how aligned they were with their fans..old and new.  They are not afraid to be exactly who they are..still sexy, take no b.s. attitudes, without pretense and with the ability to poke a little fun at themselves (and at their audience which included at least one ex-husband).  I learned a lot from watching them and will remember this takeaway for any presentation work I’m involved in (especially if there are any signs of boredom):  ‘for God’s sake lighten up!’. Skills and expertise are fine but its real people and honesty (with a touch of humor) that make a strong connection and get people (literally and figuratively) dancing in the aisles!.

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theo epstein and ‘leaving’

November 9, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

I’ve recently had some personal experiences around ‘leaving’ and this story about the recently departed Red Sox manager reminded me of my own: the speculation, judgements and  search for ulterior motives by some; the kudos and admiration from others.   Epstein took personal responsibility, blamed nobody and refused to be baited into doing so.  He consistently stuck to his simple reason which was basically about no longer being aligned with the organization.  At the same time he was not afraid of expressing his emotions about the sadness and loss of leaving and his love of the Red Sox.  To me, this is a great example of communications leadership: leaving with grace.  To quote Larry Moulter, former chief executive of the old FleetCenter about Epstein’s decision:

He does march to the beat of a different drummer.

I find it a refreshing story reminding me again that there is always choice to do what is right for yourself. 

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an unlikely bigger game

November 9, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

I’m not sure if its because I’m recognizing them more, or if its because there are more out there, or if the media is now reporting them…but I’m seeing Bigger Games everywhere.

I’m so drawn to the Ashley Smith story/bigger game.  She’s the Atlanta woman who last March was held hostage for hours (or days?) by a multiple murderer on the run.  Religious conservatives, including  George W. and  Rush Limbaugh turned her into a saint and an angel through whom God spoke. Months later she came out with the truth: she is a recovering drug addict who shared her methamphetamine with the fugitive and it calmed him down.  Now she has written a book, Unlikely Angel.

Smith says despite what others have said about her, and regardless of how she’s been packaged by her publisher, "I did what I had to do to get out of there alive, and honestly I believe that God gave me all the tools I needed to get through it. And I honestly believe some of them were not so good," she adds. "He used my past to help me."

Sure, the book deal benefits her and the real story would’ve eventually come out anyway.  But this strikes a chord and reminds me of a quote (by who I don’t remember) I read ages ago and never forgot.

Nothing to hide, nothing to offer.

I believe you have to ‘come clean’ to play a Bigger Game in life.  Its not as easy when you have a lot to risk.  There lies "the gulp" which the Bigger Game describes as:

“I don’t know how or I don’t think I am capable of this.” You have entered into the GULP. If you know how to play the “game” you are up to, then it is not a Bigger Game. There must be a sense of GULP in order for it to be defined as a Bigger Game. This Bigger Game will demand you to develop competencies, skills and abilities that you don’t already possess.

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creative or manipulative?

November 1, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

Mike Evangelist had some interesting thoughts about Apple using its home page as a tribute to Rosa Parks.  He commends Apple for demonstrating ‘heart’ and it led him to read more about Rosa Parks.  Other bloggers have disagreed and think its a manipulative ploy.  I doubt that any of the critics are Apple customers. Personally, I think its a great example of how a corporation can align its values with how it perceives its customers’ values. And it does not have to be lofty values. Apple did a similar tribute to George Harrison. This all brought back to mind a favorite Tom Robbins quote that has stuck with me for years:

The more advertising I see the less I want to buy.

   

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democracy and communications

November 1, 2005 by Mary Wynne-Wynter · Comments Off 

I track how macro trends affect the broadband industry and was excited to come across this MuniWireless blog: The ability to access Internet content and services is the new Right to Bear Arms.
Thanks to Martin Geddes for referencing F2C: Freedom to Connect

Freedom to Connect begins with two assumptions. First, if some connectivity is good, then more connectivity is better. Second, if a connection that does one thing is good, then a connection that can do many things is better.

I see this as a Bigger Game for telecommunications and networks and I plan to get involved and learn much more about it.

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