Winning Moves: Getting Bold

March 3, 2010 • www.visionsmc.com • 410-849-8095

Editor's Note

Earlier this week, I had the privilege of hearing Gary Jobson speak. For those of you who aren't super involved in sailing, Gary is sailing's best-known spokesperson and one of the sport's strongest advocates.

Gary's presentation was funny, inspiring, and emotional. I was particularly inspired when Gary spoke about his pride in the ways he had positively influenced sailing. Several things about this were impressive. First of all, there was more than one thing that he was proud of. Another was the magnitude of these influences: he introduced the concepts of recruiting, training, and coaching to the US Olympic Sailing Team (among other things!).

He has been a major thought leader for the sport. These were revolutionary ideas at the time, and he still is coming up with revolutionary ideas for sailing such as the National Sailing Hall of Fame.

These are not small insignificant ideas. But what made them much more than ideas, what transformed them into powerful influences, was the fact that Gary didn't just stop with the idea-he worked to help them to fruition. Gary has both the creativity to come up with bold ideas and the ability to see them to reality. He's a creative visionary and a politically savvy negotiator and networker, always striving for the win-win. Wow!

Reflecting over his accomplishments, I was impressed and inspired. And I immediately started to translate inspiration and the lessons learned into (what else?) marketing. How can we come up with powerful ideas and see them to fruition in business?

Molly Hughes Wilmer

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Feature

Getting Bold

Someone once said to me, "If I'm going to the effort of making a plan, I'm going to make it a bold one." In this economy, and in this economic transition, playing it safe probably isn't going to get you very far. People and companies are re-evaluating everything, and stickiness isn't what is used to be.

It's time to get bold and get out there. Good, let's do it! So, how do you get smart about getting bold?

Brett Harward writes about "The Law of Frequency" in his book, The Five Laws That Determine All of Life's Outcomes. There are several steps in this law we can look at as a strategic blueprint for getting bold.

Eliminating Sacred Cows
Harward advocates eliminating "sacred cows" (sort of like breaking the golden rule of mixing business and religion). What sacred cows is your business holding onto? Being honest about your sacred cows can be very scary. But once addressed, they can be transformational.

Are there people you think you can't fire for some reason? Often the biggest thorns in a company's side are the poisonous employees that management thinks they can't touch. (I have several clients that can attest to this.) Think again, and see what a difference it can make in morale, focus, and dedication. Are there clients you think you have to have? Are there rates you think you have to charge? Are there ways you think you have to answer the phone?

Testing Unproven Theories
Develop new theories, but test them in a small way before making a huge mistake. Develop lots of new theories, but test them in small markets. Don't get married to any of these theories before they are proven.

Many people are passionately convinced they are right before they have any evidence. Just because it was your idea, doesn't mean it was a good one. It's not just enough to be creative and come up with a new idea. You have to see if it's a good new idea.

Rewarding Creativity and Contributions
One of the best ways to develop new ideas is to encourage people to be creative and contribute to problem solving. Seth Godin wrote an interesting blog entry: "The economy has rewritten the rules, and smart organizations seek out intelligent problem solvers."

Smart organizations need to seek out these creative thinkers, and create an environment and culture that allows them to flourish. And for these creatives, don't just reward good ideas-reward all ideas.

Fail Faster
It is better to have lots of ideas to test because the more you test, the more that will eventually succeed. So you want those creatives to be developing lots of ideas. Develop short-term metrics that let you know when something isn't working so you can dump it and move on to the next idea. Run small tests to reduce your downside risk. Having a long list of ideas helps you not be attached to the current one-you know that if it doesn't work, you can move on to the next one, and find that great idea with the huge upside faster.

Get bold-you can do it, strategically.

What Can I Do?

Decide which sector of your business needs boldness-product development, service offering, pricing, marketing, customer experience. Where do you need to make changes that will significantly impact your business?

Identify your sacred cows, your testing processes, your idea creators, and your metrics to identify failures. Delegate, hire and outsource to harness the creativity and intelligence of others to really ramp up your boldness.

Be humble. Take a deep breath, thicken your skin, and ask your employees what they think. If you're ready to listen, you'll probably hear a lot of helpful information.

Ask the Expert

Question
Is a down economy really the right time to be bold?

Answer
A down economy is the best time to be bold. The opportunity to capture market share is huge. The more market share you gain now, the more volume you will have as things rebound. Wow your current customers to keep them current customers, and go out and wow as many new ones as you can. Wow the world and you'll do more than just survive, you'll thrive!

Submit your questions to the editor: molly@visionsmc.com

Want to Know More?

Gary's presentation soon will be online at the National Sailing Hall of Fame.

Brett Harward's book is interesting: The Five Laws That Determine All of Life's Outcomes.

Give me a call at 410-849-8095. I'd be happy to talk about one of my favorite subjects.

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