Simple Truths. Good Decisions. Beautiful!

Innovation is Messy

This is the booklet form of a popular post I wrote a couple of years ago. It's a parable called, Conception Is Messy. Download innovation_parable.pdf

Bobb Biehl's Top 10 Questions

I've never met Bobb Biehl but some of my early mentors are close friends of his. He is famous for his collections of questions. The 10 categories below contain the questions that are his personal favorites:

These questions are best asked in the order presented.

1. GOD: What three changes in me would be most pleasing to God?

2. DREAM/PURPOSE: What can I do to make the most significant difference for God in my lifetime? Why am I on the earth? What is the very best organizational context for my dream?

3. PRIMARY RESULT: What is the single best measurable indicator that I am making progress toward my dream?

4. LIFE PRIORITIES: If I could accomplish only three measurable priorities (goals reached - or problems solved) before I die, what would I accomplish?

5. TEN YEAR FOCUS: If I could accomplish only three measurable priorities in the next ten years, that would make a 50% difference in my life-long contribution, what would I accomplish?

6. ANNUAL FOCUS:

SINGLE WORD FOCUS What single word best captures the focus of my next year?     

OPPORTUNITY Where was my greatest unexpected success last year? Why was this area so successful? What three steps could I take now to take full advantage of this "Window of Opportunity" next year?

LAND MINES What three land mines or roadblocks need my immediate attention? What three changes could reduce my "risk" by 50%?

3/10/50% If I could only accomplish three measurable priorities in the next 12 months that would make a 50% difference in my contribution over the next 10 years, which three things would I most want to accomplish?

7. QUARTERLY FOCUS: What three measurable priorities could I accomplish in the next 90 days to make a 50% difference in the results I see by the end of the year?

8. ORGANIZATION: What three changes could I make to see a 50% difference in our morale as a family or team?

9. CASH: If I had to cut my budget 20% (or some other significant percentage), what would be the first three things to go? If I got a surprise gift of 20% of my budget, what three things would I do immediately?

10. QUALITY: What three changes could improve the quality of my work by 50% in the next 12 months?

© 2003 Bobb Biehl *   www.MasterplanningGroup.com * 800-443-1976

Great Questions

I love great questions. Bill Taylor, co-founder of Fast Company, lists 10 provocative ones in a recent article:

1. Is there a distinctive and disruptive sense of purpose that sets you apart from the competition? The best companies are the ones that stand for the most original and compelling ideas. What ideas are you and your company fighting for?

2. Can you be provocative without provoking a backlash? There's a difference between challenging the status quo and inviting retribution from rivals that are bigger, richer, and more ruthless than you. One key test of any would-be disruptor if whether he or she can also be a convincing diplomat.

3. If your company went out of business tomorrow, who would miss you and why? We first heard this question from advertising maverick Roy Spence, who tells us that he got it from Jim Collins of Good to Great fame. Whatever the original source, the question is as profound as it is simple -- and worth taking seriously.

4. Are you the kind of person that other smart people want to work with? If you expect outsiders (or even colleagues) to share their best ideas with you, then don't be surprised when they expect something in return. It can be money, it can be recognition, but more often than not, what draws people into open-source projects is the chance to push themselves and develop their skills.

5. Can you make innovation fun? Ideas are serious business, but if you’re working to tap the brainpower of outside-the-mainstream contributors, then you have to work to keep your open-source project colorful, dramatic, and energetic.

6. Do you treat different customers differently? If your goal is to establish a psychological contract with customers, then almost by definition you won’t appeal to all customers. One test of how committed a company is to its most important customers is how fearless it is about ignoring (even offending) customers who aren’t central to its mission. Not all customers are created equal.

7. Why should great people join your organization? The best leaders understand that the best rank-and-file performers aren’t motivated primarily by money. Great people want to feel like impact players inside their organizations. Great people want to be surrounded with and challenged by other great people. Put simply, great people want to feel like they’re part of something greater than themselves. Does your company give them that chance?

8. Do you know a great person when you see one? At organizations that are serious about competing on talent, who you are as a person is as important as what you know at a moment in time. That is, character counts for as much as credentials. Do you know how to conduct a character test?

9. Does your organization work as distinctively as it competes? It's a simple question with huge implications for productivity and performance. Leaders who are determined to elevate the people factor in business understand that the real work begins once talented people walk through the door. HR maverick John Sullivan says it best: "Stars don't work for idiots."

10. Are you learning as fast as the world is changing? We first heard this question from Gary Hamel, the world-renowned strategy guru, and it’s the ultimate challenge for any executive or entrepreneur. The best leaders we’ve met, regardless of their age, experience, or personal style, have all been insatiable learners. In a business environment that never stops changing, you can never stop learning.

William C. Taylor co-founded Fast Company. His book Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win, written with Polly LaBarre, was published October 2.
Link: innovation + creativity at Fast Company Now.

Strategic Principles for War

How many strategic principles?

Many military strategists have attempted to encapsulate a successful strategy in a set of principles. Sun Tzu defined 13 principles in his The Art of War while Napoleon listed 115 maxims. American Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest required only one: "get there firstest with the mostest". The fundamental concepts common to most lists of principles are:

1. The Objective
2. Offense
3. Cooperation
4. Concentration (Mass)
5. Economy
6. Maneuver
7. Surprise
8. Security
9. Simplicity

Some strategists assert that adhering to the fundamental principles guarantees victory while others claim war is unpredictable and the general must be flexible in formulating a strategy. Field Marshal Count Helmuth von Moltke expressed strategy as a system of "ad hoc expedients" by which a general must take action while under pressure. These underlying principles of strategy have survived relatively unscathed as the technology of warfare has developed.

Principles of military strategy

• The principle of mass - given all things being equal, sending a single tactical allied unit to combat a single tactical enemy unit will result in 50% chance of defeat, resulting in a 1 to 1 loss ratio at the strategic level. However, sending two or more units to combat a single enemy unit will result in a loss ratio of less than 1 to 1.
• Selecting decisive objectives.
• Taking the initiative from your foe.
• Concentrating your resources at the decisive point.
• Economizing your resources by reducing waste.
• Coordinating the movement of your resources to meet your objective.
• Maintaining unity of command.
• Coordinating your tasks to achieve maximum effectiveness.
• Maintaining secrecy until it is too late for your opponent to react.
• Employing unexpected elements such as deception, speed, creativity, and audacity.
• Keep your plans as simple as is needed to accomplish the task.
• Choose a flexible strategy so you can adapt to changing conditions.
• Organize for maximum efficiency.
• Maintain a positive morale even in the face of set-backs.
• Maintain momentum until success is accomplished.

Wikipedia on Military Strategy