Skills are the groundwork for excellence. And the mastery of any skill requires time and commitment. While innovation is necessary for progress, skills are the backbone enabling advancement.
I recently had minor surgery to get a pacemaker. The experience, skills, and attention of the supporting nurses and staff were amazing. They know their jobs and execute the needs of the surgeons superbly. In a similar instance, it appears that Damar Hamlin, the football player, was saved by the skills of the emergency team that cared for him. They integrated knowledge, experience, and teamwork to revive and save him almost immediately.
We frequently underestimate the role of knowledge, experience, and skills in solving many issues. Take the Southwest Airlines holiday disaster as an example. The lack of knowledge, planning, and care led to a system-wide meltdown and the disruption of millions of travelers’ plans, from which they are still trying to recover.
In general, we neglect the importance of balancing planning, skills, and experience with innovation and intuition. The more history, expertise, and data, the more analytical and proven methods are preferred. The more uncertainty, change, and volatility, the more intuition and innovation are required. However, our organizations seem to be moving towards more uncertainty and volatility and, therefore, require more thought in our decision-making.
Utilizing skills to forecast and plan:
While we all value analysis and A.I. to improve results, we sometimes ignore the accuracy and validity of that analysis. The pandemic has made much of the data from 2019-2021 less reliable in forecasting. Economic, political, and environmental changes can impact the assumptions and process of our analysis. For example, higher winds and higher water temperatures from climate changes have worsened the impact of weather. Structural changes like the war in Ukraine, crime, and inflation can also affect our assumptions and analysis.
Timing and situation should also greatly affect analysis versus intuition. While many understand product life cycles, we forget how age, competition, and technology can affect our progress. For example, over 60% of advertising is over the Internet rather than traditional media. Age is another factor we frequently ignore. Many politicians and managers continue to serve despite waning capabilities and energy.
With uncertainty high in many areas, requiring more intuition and innovation in our planning, we can trust that skill and experience will successfully inform intuition.
Capitalizing on innovation:
There are many opportunities to capitalize on the need for intuition and innovation. The pandemic stimulated new opportunities like work from home and virtual learning that need to be allowed to reach their potential. For example, small Universities are sharing courses with other local Universities to expand the offerings to students. These need more analysis and objective thought rather than simple opinions to have success.
When dealing with innovation and change, psychological issues need to be managed rather than feared. Hatred and threats are the tools of the extremists. They need to be managed, understood and not allowed to disrupt our efforts. In particular, we need to build positive relationships and improve communication.
The most frequent issue inhibiting progress is bias. Our enthusiasm or mindset frequently cause us to overestimate markets, ignore competition, and not consider the issues in execution. Again, the more we can rely on skill, the more we can eliminate bias.
So, how can you balance innovation with skill to improve the way you run your business?
Replace Hierarchy.
Most organizations are based on hierarchy, but this system is obsolete and, more often than not, fails. It is a structure that rewards people at the top who may not be competent rather than seeking expertise. We should constantly be striving to improve and that is impossible to do if we rely on an inflexible system. The world is constantly changing and we need to adapt accordingly.
Informed decisions require a variety of input and diverse skills to manage that input. It’s always important to consider various perspectives and options. As technology becomes more complex, additional expertise, teamwork, resources, and responsibilities are required to manage operations.
Pay Attention to Data.
Frequently, we think we know best, even when data tells us otherwise. Too often, analytics are ignored due to pride or a “we’ve always done it this way” mindset. In recent years, data is informing us that consumers want to associate themselves with and buy from socially conscious companies. Taking a stance on social, environmental, and political issues is increasingly becoming a must-have for business success and consumer loyalty.
Focus on Process Not Plan.
Many experts tout that the holy grail of a successful business lies in the plan. However, the process of implementing that plan is far more important than the plan itself. Generally, plans are static, lack insight, and are missing operational details. Not surprisingly, this results in poor execution. For example, plans seldom predict and account for rapid changes in the economy. A successful plan is flexible and can adjust accordingly when those inevitable and unexpected obstacles arise.
Consider dieting. You can design a great weight loss program, but if you can’t properly implement that program into your lifestyle, you aren’t going to lose any weight.
Balancing intuition and skill doesn’t have to be as complicated as we make it out to be. Think about an incredible guitar player. Before they can write an incredible song or play a mind-blowing solo, they need to know the basics of playing the guitar. The same goes for any endeavor. Before you can get creative, you need to master the skills that will make your innovation a success.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, president of Startup Connection, prides himself on his ability to define what is unique about each and every business. He works closely with individuals to develop a personalized approach that targets specific areas of concern and offers solutions based on his 40+ years of experience. His expert team will address your particular needs while working to save you time and money.
As we start wrapping up another year, it’s a good time to examine areas we are looking to improve. One proven way to get better results is to take more risks and then take even more risks.
Overall, we avoid reasonable opportunities to utilize risk to our advantage—most likely because we have an unhealthy relationship to the word. Maybe we need to start thinking of “risk” as the “potential to win.”
Recently, I saw a perfect example of how this detrimental aversion to risk actually does more harm than good. Two underdog football teams lost because they refused to take risks and be unconventional. I believe the coaches were simply afraid to be second-guessed and made decisions that were almost guaranteed to lose. Similarly, sports teams consistently take fewer three-point shots, steal fewer bases, and attempt fewer two-point conversions than the odds would dictate.
This phenomenon has also been well documented in organizations. Some of the most notable examples are Kodak refusing to recognize digital, Xerox basically abandoning Windows technology, and retailers failing to recognize the impact of the Internet. Currently, the financial markets seem hesitant to recognize the slowdown in tech stocks. Why do companies act this way in spite of the many cases in which change is both organizationally and financially justified?
If you’d like to avoid this tendency of evading probable wins, here are some strategies to increase risk with limited downsides:
Manage probability better. This can provide greater opportunities, including both value and probability of success. For example, when lotteries increase, the odds of winning remain constant, but the value of winning increases dramatically.
Keep your perspective in check. As uncertainty and change accelerate, probabilities can also change. For example, many analytical efforts are reduced by the volatility of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022, which need to be considered together. Getting excited or depressed about one year is erroneous. In general, the four years together provide a more positive and reasonable perspective than just one year. See also: Embrace Uncertainty with Positivity.
Don’t be afraid of losing. Many studies have shown that we are about twice as likely to avoid losses than pursue gains. For example, we will trade stocks with gains twice as fast as selling stocks with losses despite tax advantages for selling losses.
Understand and maximize goals and needs. The simplest technique is to understand the needs and goals of your partners in a relationship. For example, are you willing to endure short-term losses to develop long-term gains? Similarly, are you willing to invest in efforts like quality, customer service, and people to improve the chances of success? See Make Goal Setting and Measurement Work for You.
Reduce bias as much as possible.The greatest detractor from effective decision-making (which can be intentional, random, hidden, or even unknown) is bias. Probably the greatest source of bias is our own set beliefs, experience, and reliance on a “we have always done it that way” mentality. Thus, we simply ignore information or facts that are different than our own. Another factor is incomplete or wrong information. However, when we eliminate bias, we increase our probability for success.
Be more open. Organizations need to be open to measurement and feedback. Observing, understanding, and sharing financials, operations reports, and sales reports are the first step. Take advantage of simple research studies, which social media can provide. These are worthwhile tools to use regularly. A management style such as the “walk around” and asking simply, “How are you doing? Is there anything you need?” can be priceless.
Remember that mistakes are often the best way to learn and grow. One of my favorite phrases is, “If you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t trying hard enough.”
Environmental and external influences can greatly affect risk as well. Inflation, oil prices, and supply shortages are causing great disruption today, but they will also create opportunities. Electric cars, the chip shortage, and logistics are areas where unknown opportunities will emerge.
Risk considerations are also affected by quantitative versus qualitative considerations. On one hand, quantitative data are measurable, objective, comparable, and easier to document. However, we must ensure we are using the right measures and analyzing correctly. Qualitative data, on the other hand, can measure issues we don’t always consider and allows for intuition. But these processes can be compromised easily or measure wrong factors. In particular, bias occurs much more frequently in qualitative analysis.
When it comes to risk, we also need to consider ignorance and ways to manage it. Ignorance shows up in a number of ways, which require different approaches. Some ignorance is just the unknown—like the economy next year, the long-term pandemic impact, and potential new technologies (such as a longer lasting electric car battery). While we can’t assure certainty, we can research alternatives and their consequences. Other forms of ignorance are the refusal to accept new information or unwillingness to remain open-minded.
Viewing risk as an as an opportunity rather than a danger can produce positive results. Change is occurring faster and faster and we must resist the urge to crave the comfort of consistency and reliability. We need to shift our mindset to one that expects and embraces risk. If we can learn to implement sound, proven strategies, we’ll simultaneously set ourselves up for success while being in a position to effectively and efficiently manage risk.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, president of Startup Connection, prides himself on his ability to define what is unique about each and every business. He works closely with individuals to develop a personalized approach that targets specific areas of concern and offers solutions based on his 40+ years of experience. His team of experts will address your particular needs while working to save you time and money.
Use These Quick and Simple Ideas to Improve Your Business
With the end of the year quickly approaching, it’s a great time to reflect on where we are and where we’d like to be. But, since it’s that time of year when everyone’s schedules are impossibly full, we’ll keep this quick, simple, and practical.
Below you’ll find several resources to help improve your business. I suggest picking one or two posts, and committing to incorporating one or two suggestions from each. My personal recommendation is the 80-20 post, which is simple and almost guaranteed to produce results.
I also encourage you to provide feedback and let us know which suggestions you found the most useful.
And remember, as the end of the year approaches and stress levels tend to increase, be kind to yourself and others, find ways to relax, enjoy time with family, but also make time for yourself. Take deep breaths, cut yourself some slack, and know that your best is enough.
Hopefully this end of the year list inspires you to incorporate some fresh ideas into your business and explore various strategies. I also recommend using the content to develop and test new alternatives and solutions. In your efforts, don’t be afraid of some failures along the way—it’s the best way to learn and grow. Good luck!
Dr. Bert Shlensky, president of Startup Connection, prides himself on his ability to define what is unique about each and every business. He works closely with individuals to develop a personalized approach that targets specific areas of concern and offers solutions based on his 40+ years of experience. His expert team will address your particular needs while working to save you time and money.
We’ve all been asked the glass half empty or half full question… It’s easy to give this discussion more importance than it deserves, or even make it more complicated than it really is. The bottom line is that the question aims to determine whether someone is an optimist or a pessimist. But, what this question fails to consider is whether someone is a realist. I know people who are optimist realists and some who are pessimistic realists. Both can be effective; it’s simply a matter of approach. The commonality, though, lies in the fact that they look at things from a realistic and, often, analytic lens. And that is why they get results.
Take poker, for example. Professional betters fold about 75% of the time after seeing the first two cards. Amateurs only fold 50% of the time. This has nothing to do with whether they were optimistic or pessimistic about their chances. It has to do with understanding the game and considering statistics from a strategic perspective.
The stock market is another example where assumptions and “opinions” can be dangerous. How many stocks like WeWork, Peloton, Teladoc, and Zoom all grew based on unrealistic expectations and then crashed? In 2021, nearly every new issue is down an average of more than 50%.
Furthermore, analysis and AI are valuable and often help improve results, but we have to also consider the accuracy and validity of the analysis. For example, the pandemic has made much of the data from 2019-2021 less reliable in forecasting. Economic, political, and environmental changes can impact the assumptions and process of our analysis. Case in point: higher winds and higher water temperatures from climate change worsened the impact of Hurricane Ian. Structural changes, like the war in Ukraine, crime, and inflation, can also affect our assumptions and analysis.
Timing and circumstances should also greatly influence our perceptions and predictions. While we may understand product life cycles, we often forget how age, competition, and technology can affect our progress. For example, over 60% of advertising is over the Internet rather than traditional media. And many politicians and managers continue to serve despite waning capabilities and energy.
In general, being optimistic is frequently recommended to keep a positive attitude, understand potential, and motivate maximum efforts. And, while many issues require evaluation, there are plenty of opportunities to capitalize on optimism. The pandemic has stimulated new opportunities like working from home and virtual learning that need to be given time to reach their potential. For example, small Universities are sharing courses with other local Universities to expand the offerings available to students. These need more analysis and objective thought rather than simple opinions to have success—this is where that realism comes back in play. It’s great to be excited about good ideas, but we also need to take a realistic look at whether they are effective.
And, when it comes to decision-making and implementing new ideas, we can all afford more risk. People tend to have a pessimistic view of risk-taking. Or, they believe you need to be optimistic to benefit from risk. But, it’s really more about being realistic and evaluating results and considering alternatives. We need to recognize that the upside of many risks is much greater than the limited downside. Additionally, need to understand outcomes and accept reality. Part of that reality is that failure is always part of the process.
Other culprits that pull us away from reality include denial and bias. Denial can make us avoid potential negative outcomes or ignore facts. Bias causes us to overestimate markets, ignore competition, and not consider the issues in execution. These can be a result of our enthusiasm—we want to believe something is true because we are excited about the possibilities. This is a great example of how unchecked optimism can actually thwart our efforts.
So, how can we make sure we maintain a realistic outlook and approach?
Encourage openness. Organizations need to be open to measurement and feedback. Share financials, operations reports, and sales reports. More eyes equal more feedback. This can reduce oversight and bias.
Search alternatives. Don’t get stuck doing it one way. Try new things and see if you can do it ever better.
Discourage enablers. While experience and expertise can improve results, one of the worst strategies in our changing environment is “we have always done it this way.” It simply ignores change, alternatives, and processes. This mindset is frequently fueled by proponents who fear change and discomfort. Don’t allow people to enable this narrow-minded thinking. It’s not inclusive and not realistic.
Measure correctly. Are you in need of quantitative or qualitative measurements? On one hand, quantitative measures are simpler to document, measurable, objective, and comparable. However, we must ensure we are using the right measurements and analyzing correctly. Qualitative data can measure issues we don’t always consider and allow for intuition. However, qualitative can also be easily compromised and measure wrong factors.
In the end, whether the glass is half empty or half full doesn’t really matter as long as we can see that the glass exists and that there is more than one way to interpret how much water it holds. People will always see things differently—our education, experience, genetics, history, circumstances, and a variety of other factors influence how we view the world. Rather than arguing about the differences in our perceptions, perhaps we can discuss them and learn from each other. Together, we can expand our collective knowledge by considering the potential and opportunity that exists in our unique interpretations of data and circumstances. And with a realistic approach to analysis, and a genuine desire to pursue new, improved, and varying outcomes, we can achieve more together.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, President of www.startupconnection.net, offers experience, skills, and a team devoted to developing and executing winning strategies. We guide your plans for business success and unlock your profits.Our strategy includes clear steps, and over 150 free articles and templates to facilitate your efforts and guide your process. We’re here to help you get on track and stay there as you move forward.
We welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. You can write us at: bshlensky@startupconnection.net or call at 914-632-6977
What does it take to change? As in, truly change? It is said that it takes 3 weeks or more to turn an action into a habit. And, the older we get, the more set in our ways we become. So, how then, do we enact change—within ourselves, our businesses, or even society?
In a time when being adaptable is crucial to success, organizations are changing faster than ever and, yet, it still seems we aren’t changing fast enough to keep up. This may be the result of tools that are designed to limit risk and are unable to accept compromise and open systems. For example, changes in Ukraine, mid-term elections, inflation, Trump investigations, and economic growth seem to modify our decision parameters almost daily—are our tools taking all of these factors into account in their analysis? Doubtful.
That means, in order to “keep up” with the times, we have to pay close attention to these parameters ourselves. We must not only embrace change, but be actively working to create transformative change as well.
Much attention is often given to analytics, expertise, profits, and science. However, these tools sometimes ignore critical requirements for change and better decisions: passion, focus, trust, effort, risk, and commitment. Unchecked, analytics may actually hinder transformative change.
Here are some suggestions to develop and execute more transformative change:
Consider structural changes. Society and business fail to recognize old paradigms and structures are failing. Large corporate structures, like print publications, big banks, and brick and mortar retailers, are all gradual losers, or even worse. Many large companies have tunnel vision, organizational constraints, etc., and ignore emerging technologies and opportunities. They lack the flexibility to respond to the needs of the market and use outdated solutions to new problems.
Imitate small businesses. The success of smaller, more innovative companies shows that many organizations should get smaller, or act smaller, in order to effectively deal with today’s environment. Reducing layers and creating professional cultures are a start. Boards and management need to split up organizations or create more independent groups.
Invest in innovation. Large organizations say they want excellence, entrepreneurship, innovation, risk takers, etc., but, really, they tend to encourage mediocrity. For example, short term goals, testing, and failure, which are critical parts of innovation, are punished more than rewarded. In short, organizations frequently ignore the advice, “you can’t score if you don’t take a shot.”
Look at disrupters. Mackenzie Scott (Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife who has $60 billion) is changing the structure of charitable giving. She is a disrupter in that she focuses on equality, gives only unrestricted gifts (no building or school names), and donates significant funds to lesser-known institutions, like black colleges and community organizations, to help transform their entire organization.
Implement more risk. There are more and greater opportunities. Even in sports, home runs, the three-point play, and passing in football are rapidly increasing as coaching, athletes, and analytics improve. We underestimate the potential of frequently unlimited upsides compared to limited downsides. Test more and accept that failure is frequently a requirement for success. We also need to seek transformative solutions, which may be unknown when we start a decisions process.
Embrace the relative importance of marketing over sales. Digital analysis and marketing, the Internet, and account management are examples of efforts that are replacing the good old days of personal selling and relationships.
Focus on reducing stress. The pandemic and rapid change has caused significant stress and unhappiness and we need to take action to reverse some of that damage.
Remember technology is king. Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple will survive and grow as they become even more innovative and efficient. Traditional retailers with large real estate platforms and margin requirements are at great risk. Consumers are proving to prefer the perks of working at home, fast delivery, and other convenient Internet processes. Virtual offerings will continue to expand and be utilized and, therefore, they must be integrated into our structures.
Don’t forget that service, image, andculture are frequently the biggest (and often least expensive) ways for small companies to develop a brand and differentiate themselves. Some suggestions: Focus on your target market and segment your ideal customer. Be polite, listen, and then act based on what you have learned. Become a trusted resource to your prospects by providing useful information that will help them make a good choice.
The post-pandemic changes we’re seeing should be viewed as a critical opportunity to improve sales, profit, and competitive positioning. Many include transformational change. The current state of organizations and the rapid advancement of technology are stimulating perpetual change that cannot be ignored. But, with the right mentality and a willingness to incorporate tools that will help you successfully adapt, you can thrive in this new normal.
So, where in your life, business, or community do you see a need for transformational change? And what actionable steps are you taking to fuel it? And are you committed to making those actions a habit? Because that is what it takes to truly change.
Dr. Bert Shlensky, President of www.startupconnection.net, offers experience, skills, and a team devoted to developing and executing winning strategies. We guide your plans for business success and unlock your profits.Our strategy includes clear steps, and over 150 free articles and templates to facilitate your efforts and guide your process. We’re here to help you get on track and stay there as you move forward. We welcome comments, suggestions, and questions. You can write us at: bshlensky@startupconnection.net or call at 914-632-6977
When you want to stand out, reach out to Bert for the tools that will build your “sticky” brand. My focus is on understanding and analyzing your dilemmas and challenges, so your company becomes profitable faster.
Call (914) 632-6977 or email me at bshlensky@startupconnection.net. Don’t leave without signing up for our useful free eBook!
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