Order of Magnitude CEOs

If you want your Employees to take the Journey with You, Make Sure they are Excited about the Destination

“Guess, where we’re going this weekend,” I asked my two daughters during a Monday dinner earlier this month.

“Disney World,” said Sarah.

“Not quite,” I replied.

“Sesame Place,” said Grace.

“Not this time, guess again.”

“Pancakes,” Grace asked again excitedly, as she does love her pancakes.

I laughed as I replied “No”.

Finally, Sarah got close when she said “Abuela and Opa’s?”

“Yes, excellent Sarah.  We will see them this weekend, isn’t that cool, but do you know why we are going?  I’ll give you a hint, it’s somebody’s birthday.”

They proceeded to go through various family members until Grace shouted out, “Gabriella.”

“That’s right, it’s your cousin’s birthday and we are going to her birthday party.”

I then asked, “Do you know who else lives in Virginia that we will see.”

They knew very well who they would see as they shouted out the names of all their relatives who lived there along with one or two incorrect ones like their cousin Jordan.

Throughout the week my younger daughter Grace would ask, “Is it Friday yet?” and Sarah would typically reply for me, “No Grace, it’s only Wednesday” or “No Grace, it’s only Thursday.”

By the time Friday rolled around, they were all packed with their clothes and the games they would play along the way.

They hopped into our minivan as soon as I opened up the garage door a full twenty minutes before my wife Michelle and I were ready to leave.

“I still have to pack the car girls, you can go back inside.”

“That’s ok Daddy, we will wait,” they shouted happily in unison.

During the trip, Sarah asked as she usually does, “Are we there yet?” roughly 30 minutes into our roughly 4 hour journey.

I laughed to myself as I replied, “7 more iCarly episodes” (one of her favorite shows, which last about 30 minutes each). 

Some things never change.

Although my daughters weren’t excited about the interim situation of a long car ride they were definitely excited about the destination.

Are your employees excited about the destination for your firm? If not, they may not be willing to do all the little things required to get your firm there.

How My Daughter decided to ride the Sidewinder roller coaster at Hershey Park (or Sometimes to get where you are going you have to think about where you have been)

In early April, my wife suggested that for Easter weekend, “maybe we should take the kids to Hershey Park” which in our family means “we are going to Hershey Park for Easter Weekend, find us a hotel room.”

Over the last three years or so, we had taken our two daughters on various roller coaster rides at Sesame Place, the NJ beach amusement parks like Jenkinson’s in Point Pleasant, as well as at Disney World. Sarah, our older daughter, used to be afraid of even the most timid kid-friendly roller coaster rides.  Over time though, her feelings have changed where now she is very excited and looks forward to riding them.

Hershey Park has a number of thrilling roller coaster rides that previously my daughters would have been too small to ride.  Although we are less than 3 hours away, this is the first year it made sense to visit Hershey because our younger daughter just made the 48” cut off to be a Hershey Bar rider (a Hershey Bar rider is 48” to 54” tall) for four of these thrilling roller coasters .   On our first day at the park, we rode three and passed on the fourth even though by the end of the day there was no line for it.

The one we skipped, Sidewinder, turns you upside down multiple times and looked very intimidating.   Instead, we ended up going on some other roller coaster rides multiple times.   One particular roller coaster we rode multiple times, called the Super Dooper Looper, is a more kid-friendly version of Sidewinder, in that it also turns you upside down but only once and is not nearly as fast or as high.

The next morning, before heading over to the park, for some reason, I remembered a conversation I had about a year ago with Rob Levin, publisher of The New York Enterprise Report.

As we were discussing a presentation I was about to give to about a dozen ambitious owners about motivating them to act now towards where they want their business to be in the future, Rob mentioned that it might be helpful for these business owners to reflect on where they had been and the progress (or lack of progress) made.  “It might give your talk about making a future declaration more context, thus making it easier for them to discuss it, and making it easier for them to act upon their declaration afterwards.”

This conversation with Rob was in the back of my head as I talked with Sarah as we went through the turnstile into Hershey Park and looked at a map of the park.

“Sarah, you have come a long way since you used to be afraid of roller coaster rides three years ago.  You wouldn’t have ridden any of the rides we did yesterday, not even the Super Dooper Looper.”

Sarah thought about it and you could see her face get excited as she agreed that she had indeed come a long way.

“Daddy, which are the roller coasters that I am not allowed to ride yet because I want to ride them all?”   On the park map we went through the handful of roller coasters that required her to reach the next height milestone called Twizzler, a Twizzler rider is over 54” tall and is allowed to ride on all the roller coasters.

“How long will it take before I can go on those roller coasters?”

“Around 2-3 years,” I estimated.

Next she asked, “which roller coaster rides have I not gone on, that I am now allowed on?”   “Only one, Sidewinder,” I replied with a smile.

After the two of us completed Sidewinder together about twenty minutes later (without my wife and younger daughter – the only one they didn’t try), Sarah was very proud of herself as she exclaimed, “I can’t wait until I am a Twizzler.”

By looking back at her journey of riding roller coasters and then declaring to herself that she would ride all the Twizzler roller coasters in the park when she got older, Sarah motivated herself to take immediate action to make her declaration come true.

For your own business, are you happy with the progress made in the last three years?  Did your business reach the ambitious goals set for it three years ago, why or why not?

If you don’t know what your goals were three years ago perhaps it is time to start declaring some today.  Even better, make your declaration public!

That's Not a Hat, That's a Hat - What Are You Doing for your Company to Stand Out in a World Full of Ordinary Offers?

My wife Michelle, her newly purchased HAT, and I returned Saturday evening from a vacation to Cancun. We were very fortunate that Michelle’s parents agreed to come to our house and take care of their granddaughters (thanks Miriam and Erwin).  The purpose of our trip was to relax and so other than venturing off the hotel property for some great meals and entertainment each night, we resolved to stay by the pool and ocean as much as possible and Do Nothing.  We generally adhered to this plan except for one day.

Midway through our trip, we got up very early, spent all day on a tour bus, which I personally abhor, going to a location that was several hours inland from our hotel in order to bake in the sun with no pool, ocean breeze, or pina coladas in sight, returning after the sun went down.  What would cause us to do such a foolish thing?

The answer is that we believed we would have a memorable experience that would stand out for us, the way Michelle’s new hat stands out in a world full of ordinary hats.  What could possibly make us think that?

It turns out  the place we visited had recently won an award, but not just any award, a really big award, an award that helps this tourist attraction stand out in a world full of ordinary tourist attractions. 

Our bus trip in the hot baking sun was to visit Chichen Itza, selected in 2007, as one of the  New Seven Wonders of the World along with Petra, The Great Wall of China, and Machu Picchu (I had to include the last one since Michelle is from Peru).  The funny part was that in 1999, we had vacationed in Cozumel, which happens to be the same distance to Chichen Itza as Cancun, but we did not make the trek.  This time, the chance to visit what was now designated an exclusive award winning wonder had pushed us over the edge to use one of our precious five days.  We are not alone in now wanting to visit the site, Mexican officials who actively embraced winning the designation, project a doubling in the number of tourists to visit Chichen Itza by 2012.

If your prospects have choices that are similar to your offer, don’t blend in, stand out – and the bigger and more appropriate ways your offer stands out the better.  It can be the difference in a prospect deciding to select your offer in a world full of ordinary offers.

(By the way, if you are wondering if the journey was worth it for me, the answer is Yes. Chichen Itza was my 4^th of the 7 New Wonders and each has been a journey to reach but as you know, at least for me, it is all about the journey. The hardest by far was the ride to and from Agra, the site of The Taj Mahal. All I can say is don’t go on a Friday, but that’s another story )

My Forgotten Promise of a Nintendo DSi Happily Teaches My Daughter Spanish and me a Leadership Lesson

Over the summer I purchased a Nintendo DSi XL for my older daughter.

My wife and two daughters went to Peru for about one month this past summer.  My children, got to live with their great grandmother in the house that my wife grew up in.  Among other great experiences including attending for a couple of weeks the elementary school my wife attended they came back knowing more Spanish than when they left.  One reason was the television stations were all in Spanish.  In particular, there was a kids channel called Discovery Kids.  This channel was the only one for children, so what was on Discovery Kids is what they watched.  During our nightly Skype video calls, I kept hearing about a show they could not get enough of called, “Mister Maker”, as well as the fun of attending school.  The teachers and students warmly welcomed in my daughters and made them feel special.  With this background of being completely immersed in Spanish it is no wonder that they each made plenty of progress in learning Spanish although my older daughter, Sarah, learned much more.  Not only did she enjoy learning the language she also had an extra incentive: I promised to buy her a Nintendo DSi if my wife concluded that she had become “fluent” during her time there.  

After a couple of days home, my daughter asked when she going to get her Nintendo DSi.  I asked her what she was talking about.  My wife immediately jumped in, “How could you forget, you promised her a Nintendo DSi if she could speak and understand Spanish, she is really quite good now.”  Although I had forgotten the promise, my daughter clearly had not.  Realizing the importance of the promise to her I recommitted to getting the DSi right away which I did that night via an online purchase.

In fact, the moves I make or don’t make, and the things I say or don’t' say all have an immediate and lasting impression on my daughters.  What I notice or choose to notice, the events in their lives I attend or don’t attend, the way I respond in a moment of crisis or in a moment of triumph all has an impact on them.  Sometimes after a difficult day I may want to wish it a way, that my actions don’t have an impact on them, at least for a few hours, but that doesn’t make it less so.  As the owner of your business, whether you like it or not, you are always on stage, the employees are watching all the actions you make and don’t make.  It’s something to think about when you walk into your office tomorrow.

“Fresh Eggs” -- If You Think You Have A Commodity Offer, You Probably Do

My wife came home last week very excited.  “What’s going on”, I asked, win the lottery?”  “Even better”, she replied, “FRESH EGGS.”   “Huh, what do you mean.”  “Ondrush Farms didn’t open yet but they posted a sign announcing in big letters - FRESH EGGS -  with a phone number.   So I called them up and just got home with a few dozen eggs.”  “Great, how much did they cost?”  She had no idea.  Eggs for the Silbert household, were no longer a commodity.  

Just look around and you’ll notice that almost all industries that have been supposedly “commoditized”, still have brands that resonate more to the customer than other brands because they refuse to accept the commodity label.

Here are three commodities I experienced in the last week: Airlines, Water, and Pizza.

Airlines

I flew JetBlue for the first time out of JFK.  I live in New Jersey so I almost always fly out of Newark.  Due to JetBlue having a direct flight to Austin, I took the train to the plane from Manhattan which worked out quite well.  JetBlue has a great terminal, friendly staff and has plenty of well documented perks that I finally experienced for myself, including Satellite Radio, DirecTV, and extra legroom that you don’t find on other airlines.  I had heard great things about JetBlue and now I experienced firsthand the subtle difference of flying JetBlue compared to other airlines.  In the last few years and even more so in the past year, the majority of airlines have made the act of flying closer to taking the bus.  I did not feel that way with JetBlue.

Water

While at the JetBlue JFK terminal, I arrived early for the flight and thus decided to eat ahead of my 8pm departure.  As I waited for my food from the Chinese quick service restaurant, I went to select a drink.  There were a number of choices and I narrowed it down to Black Cherry soda which is typically not carried everywhere and water.  As you might expect there was 1 brand of Black Cherry and about half dozen brands of water.  The bottles of water came in all different shapes and sizes with all different price points.  The interesting thing is that as far I could tell all the different brands of water cost more per ounce than not only the black cherry soda but the other drink products as well.  I ended up paying up for the Fiji water, which had a similar price point to the other bottled waters but to me was a premium “bottled water” brand and thus it was easier to justify the ridiculous airport terminal price point.  Some bottled water firms, like Fiji, over the last ten years have figured out how to differentiate the ultimate in commoditized industries… water.

Your Local Pizzaria

In my neighborhood, there are conservatively 20 pizza restaurants within a 7 minute drive of my house.  The majority of them are surviving but there is one, Denino’s, that rises above the others.  It is consistently packed during dinner hours and in fact during some days they do not allow individual slice purchases, they are just too busy.  Denino’s takes pride in their pizza.   A great example is a few days back they brought out a pizza for my family  where part of the crust was partially dented.   As the pizza was being put down on our table, our server informed us they were bringing my family another pizza because of the dented crust.  They did this even though their restaurant was just starting to fill up and thus they could have immediately filled the table. 

The more you look around the more you will find that your industry is less commoditized than plenty of other industries and it is only when you start believing it yourself, can you make the bold moves required to differentiate your offer and your brand from your competitors.

By the way, my wife just got home, all excited again, “what now”, I asked, “Fresh Eggs from Ondrush Farms again”?  “Fresh Corn”, she replied with a smile (this time knowing the corn was 3 times as expensive as the corn from our local super market).

Are You Avoiding Left Turns In Your Business?

I was coming home from taking my two daughters to a bowling party this past Saturday.  A friend, Michael, who lives near me and had a daughter at the party as well, left at the same time.  I made a right out of the parking lot and Michael made a left.  30 seconds later my cell phone rang, it was Michael.  “Jeff, why are you taking the long way back to your house.”  We talked a bit more and discovered that unconsciously we each took the same route to the party, which was basically either going straight or making right turns.  On the way home, I went a different path that was also going straight and making right turns.  Michael, reversed his path and thus ended up making a series of left turns (or to be more precise several jug handles – it’s a New Jersey thing as is the law not allowing you to pump your own gas, but I digress) to get to his house.  We talked more and discovered that my way back was a little faster.  An even bigger difference on this short drive is that I described the ride as “easy” and Michael described the ride as “stressful.”

It turns out that not making left turns has been implemented as a company strategy by UPS to save money, time, and gas while at the same time enable UPS to be a “greener” company.  Basically when in doubt or planning a trip, make a right turn and you can expect the ride to be shorter, consume less miles, and as my friend Michael learned, less stressful.

I find that many business owners unconsciously are making left turns in their business which can impede their growth and add stress.  What’s a left turn in business?  For instance, complex contract terms or billing arrangements with clients or partners where the language is either unnecessarily onerous or complex.  Although some clients and partners will sign these agreements, it can turn some savvy ones off or involve unnecessary negotiation and sometimes even worse, legal fees, that if the contract was constructed simpler from the beginning could have been avoided.  The general Right Turn rule is if you were the other party, could you easily understand and sign the contract with little to no changes.  If not, you’re guilty of making a left turn in your business which could be hurting your company’s value.

As the business owner, be on the lookout to turn left turns in your business into right turns.  In the long run you will end up with a much more valuable business with much less stress for you and your team. 

Five Differentiation Strategies I Noticed In Park City, Utah

I just got back from a long weekend trip to Park City, Utah where I went snowboarding with some friends.  During the trip I noticed the various differentiation strategies that businesses in the town used and thought it would be useful to share some of them (I’m sorry I just can’t help myself!!) - :

1.  Location:  the closer to the Park City slope the more a business can charge for its service.  Since I do not own snowboarding equipment, I rented right next to the mountain.  It was very convenient and definitely more expensive than renting a few miles from the mountain or even a few blocks away.   Even better is to be on the mountain, I gladly paid $6 for a slice of pizza on Monday and earlier I paid $8 for a cup of soup.

2.  Brand:  There were a number of clothing stores on the main street selling branded Park City, Utah gear.  They all charged similar prices except for two places.  Roots, a Canadian brand, which sold similar clothing as other places in town although at a higher price point.  There was also a Marmot store.  A couple of interesting items about the Marmot store:  they had no Park City, Utah branding on their products and they had by far the highest price points.  Why?  Marmot has established a great brand among avid skiers and snowboarders.  In fact it was the only store that a friend and avid winter sports enthusiast from Boulder, Colorado actually wanted to go in.

3.  Word of Mouth:  There were a number of bars on the Main Street.  The one that seemed to be the most crowded whenever I walked by was a place called No Name.  It has been around since 1903 and in the town it has done the best job of creating a space where people meet each other after a day on the mountain.  Their staff are friendly, the prices reasonable, and the atmosphere draws people in as they walk through the town.   Every time I heard people deciding where to go to just meet, No Name was the first or second choice.

4.  One of a Kind:  On the main street, there was one olive oil store and there was one hot sauce store.  I am not sure about their business models, but if you were looking for a gift that was not clothing, each store had an offer that was truly unique in town.   At these stores it was evident the importance of having employees who get the purpose of your business.  The staff was much friendlier and knowledgeable in the Olive Oil store.  The person in the hot sauce store barely said anything – most likely it was just a job.

(Note: So not a surprise that purchases were made in the Olive Oil store but not the hot sauce store.  I personally could not purchase from the Olive Oil store as I have a friend who owns Carter & Cavero, a great Olive Oil store located in Red Bank, NJ and in Long Branch, NJ)

5.  Target Customer/Segmentation/Geography:  There were many different restaurants to choose from on the main street. Some catered to the breakfast crowd (Eating Establishment) and others to a meal experience (Chimayo).  Restaurateurs that typically do the best know their offer and seek to be the best at it in their given geography (think Danny Meyer/ Union Square Hospitality Group who since the 1990’s has focused on the Union Square area in New York City with highly regarded restaurants in this area including Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla, and Shake Shack  before branching off into other parts of the city).

If you own a business and cannot describe why your offer is different and execute on making it happen, you might as well be selling shirts on Main Street in Park City alongside the Roots and Marmot stores because  it will be very difficult for you to create Order of Magnitude value.