Alan Weiss

I’ll be conducting a full-day workshop called “Alan 101″ at the Ritz-Carlton in Denver on October 7, then doing a half-day for the combined forces of the ASTD, IMC, NSA, and RMC on October 8 at the Westin. The first day is the least investment for any of my workshops in years, and it’s intended to enable new people to the profession and those still affected by the recent downturn to “jump start” their practices at a cost that can be gained back in less than a week. The second morning is to provide the parameters that will build an exceptional business for professional services providers through 2011. You can attend either or both, and we encourage you to attend both.

Links:

Link for Oct. 8 Master Class:
http://www.imcusa.org/events/event_details.asp?id=109835

Link for Oct. 7 full day course (links to Summit Consulting site):
http://www.imcusa.org/events/event_details.asp?id=116023

http://summitconsulting.com/seminars/alan-weiss-101.php

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Mentor Program member David Gammel sent me a fascinating url—it is a “modern” technique to calculate hourly fees (http://freelanceswitch.com/rates/)!!

I’m now off to create an electric buggy whip, larger vacuum tube, and stronger struts for biplanes.

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Everyone talks about “going global” which is easier said than done. But it’s also done a lot by independent consultants. Here are a dozen overlapping issues—many of which you may already do quite well—that will get you on a jet rather than the slow boat to China.

1. Ensure your intellectual property is phrased in a culturally acceptable manner.
Remove jargon and references to national sporting events. Don’t use phrases that are confusing or worse in other languages. “Napkin,” for example, means significantly different things in American English and England English.

2. Internationalize your materials.
When I consulted with State Street Bank and visited global sites, I found local management seething because the promotional materials suggested that the reader call a local Boston phone number for more information! Change photos, reference points, and contact options as appropriate.

3. Don’t be modest in your planning.
Think big. Don’t act like a stranger in a strange land. Focus on the great value you bring to clients. Don’t be afraid to state when you’ll be present (see point #6) and set up advance meetings and events. The farther you travel, the less timid you can be.

4. Begin with low hanging fruit.
Americans would be best off seeking other English-speaking countries, or those with which they share language capabilities. Spanish is spoken in large parts of the world. Look for these easier entry points. Also (see point #10) seek extensions of businesses with which you currently consult.

5. Investigate logical multilingual opportunities.
You may be able to expand on point #4 if you can create an alliance with a partner who can help with local translation and acculturation of materials. You may be able to teach multilingual local professionals your approaches, which they can then use in the vernacular.

6. Visit.
The Internet is fine, but it’s a black and white film compared to the high definition color of being present. If you’re serious about a given locale, due it the justice of making a visit. This is very important for future references in conversations and remote dealings. When I visited Kuala Lumpur I found that the heat and humidity were going to affect the way I dressed, traveled, and even worked with clients. That was important to know in advance.

7. Begin with the most logical products and services.
You need an effective ski trail not an avalanche. What are the greatest local needs that you can address, create, or anticipate? Not all domestic products and services are readily exportable.

8. Seek local alliances.
As in point #5, you may be able to accelerate your penetration of new markets with synergistic partnerships. You needn’t make these legal, though in some countries local representation greatly enhances your ability to operate. Start slowly. This is a great reason to engage in early visits (point #6).

9. Maximize technology.
Everyone has a cell phone these days, and a computer, and a host of other gizmos. Technology is becoming smaller, cheaper, and ubiquitous. Use it to offset time zone changes, hold virtual meetings, provide support, and be accessible despite the actual distances.

10. Use domestic leads and connections.
Find your current client contacts who can help introduce you to counterparts overseas. I always encourage visiting managers to spend time with me on client sites because I can suggest to them aspects of current projects which may make sense in their own operations.

11. Consider local production sources.
Utilize local printing, video, audio, travel, and whatever else makes sense to create a local presence (and, ethically, to reinvest in your market). I’ve always found it appalling to ship in vast materials from outside a country that could just as easily have been created locally.

12. Conform with local regulation and financial rationale.
Make sure you understand taxes, exchange rates, export and import limits, and so forth. Have your bank’s “SWIFT” numbers for wire transfers memorized! I once saw a company principal forced to take a $50,000 payment in the form of local baskets from a Philippine island, since he could not legally export the currency at the time. Unfortunately, his plan to resell the baskets in the U.S. failed, since he lived in Arizona, adjacent to a huge Native American tribe whose baskets were well known and quite popular, and undersold his!

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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http://www.contrarianconsulting.com/the-accelerant-curve-episode-47/

Click Here for entire series table of contents

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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July 26, 2010—Issue #45

This week’s focus point: Consulting is art and science. There are things we know which we can influence. There are things we know which we can’t influence. There are things we don’t know that we can find out, and some things we don’t know we’ll never find out. Actually, that’s not a bad approach to life, either.

Monday Morning Perspective: …to find the best in others, to give of one’s self, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved

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After a long delay, and lambasting Delta several posts ago and on Twitter, they have responded quite well. Mr. Anderson, referred to below, is the CEO. Credit where credit is due:

Dear Dr. Weiss:

RE: Case Number XXXXXXX

Thank you for alerting Richard Anderson to the unsatisfactory customer
service you encountered at Minneapolis/St. Paul (MSP) on May 29.
Richard has asked that I extend his personal apology,
on behalf of Delta Air Lines and our Delta Connection Carrier, Mesaba
Airlines, for the many inconveniences you suffered with a duplicate
billing and for not receiving a refund for your original flight coupon
from MSP to Boston. We are also truly sorry for our delayed response.

Your comments are well received and your frustration is understandable.
Clearly, we recognize the value of your time. Our goal is to provide
caring and accurate service at all times. I am truly sorry in this
instance you did not receive the service you expected and had every
right to receive. Feedback like yours will help us improve our overall
customer experience. Be assured Richard has shared your letter with our
Airport Customer Service leadership team at MSP for internal follow up.

As a result of your experience, I will be taking the following actions.

-ticket XXXXXXXXX - asking passenger refunds to issue a full refund
for the MSP-Boston flight coupon
-ticket XXXXXXXXX - asking passenger refunds to check your AX card
for a duplicate billing of $934.70 for your travel from MSP to
Providence

As a Gold Medallion member, you are an integral part of our customer
base. Thank you for writing and again, we apologize for your
inconvenience. We deeply value your business.

Sincerely,

Kathy Johnston
Administrator
Executive Communications
Delta Air Lines/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

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Made it home all the way from Cape May in about 5:40. Major accidents closed the southbound Merritt Parkway in Connecticut (we were going north) but then slowed everything else. After two detours with our GPS, we finally got by the pasta al dente that passes for highway in New Haven. (Connecticut is, I believe, the wealthiest state per capita, yet it has the absolute worst roads and worst cell phone coverage I know of.)

We had seven consecutive days of glorious weather, perhaps our best ever. We’ve decided to make changes next year: We’ll either rent a different condo location, or rent a house on the beach. We’re also going to change some restaurants. Friday night at the Ebbit Room was adequate but not outstanding. We think our former favorites are getting a bit tired, so it’s time to change things around.

The Jersey shore resorts are clearly suffering. You can see a big crowd on the Wildwood boardwalk in a photo I’ve posted below, but the rides were not well populated, the fast food joints were mostly empty, and virtually no one was playing the games. There are “vacancy” signs everywhere in the middle of the summer. We’re in the midst of a slow-but-sure recovery, but it’s not accelerating still more because consumer spending (even at luxury levels) has become very conservative, I think because people don’t know whom to trust any more. But the market had a ferociously good week last week. Now is the time to get bargains.

In another three weeks, we’re off to Nantucket, aka: God’s Country.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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We went to The Pier Restaurant last night and had a wonderful meal. My daughter prefers white wine, so we had a Far Niente ‘05 Chardonnay. Very nice and kept on ice, something rare these days. When we left, at about 7:30, the restaurant was only 20% filled, which was once unthinkable. Nor was the beach all that crowded today (which is fine with me) and we had our sixth consecutive day of outstanding weather, albeit with a wind that prevented my reading the papers at the beach. Tonight we go to The Blue Pig and our daughter and grandchildren will then head back to New York. Both girls ran into the ocean this year a little ways, so we’re quite pleased with their carrying on five generations of family tradition at the Jersey Shore.

I won the second highest award at the arcade playing “Deal or No Deal,” 200 tickets!

I have moved up from whack-a-mole to whack-a-gator, having to push an 8-year-old amateur out of the way.

Here’s what I’ve learned on this summer vacation:

• Sea gulls are attracted by packaging. They can tell food by the container or bag, and pursue the opportunity. Tell me again why consultants can’t find buyers?
• If you can fit more than six letters on the rear of your pants and I can read them at 20 yards, you shouldn’t be wearing messages on your rear end.
• I can recognize already the 14-year-old girls who will become prom queens, fall in with the wrong crowd, marry big men on campus, and ruin their lives.
• It’s ostensibly for the kids, but the truth is that adults just love to dig huge holes on the beach.
• Dolphins play great games, especially when they leap in the wakes of passing boats.
• The most depressing people I see are the guys with metal detectors out on the beach at 6 am.
• A beach house from which you have to drive a mile and park to get to the beach is not a “beach house.”
• I spend 7-8 hours on the beach each day, of which 15 minutes are on the phone and 20 minutes on email. I will make over $60,000 this week doing that. Why is it that people are so inflexible that they can’t return a phone call or an email if they’re on vacation?!

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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Leadership is a noun. Leading is a verb.

I’ve been observing, coaching, and consulting with leaders since 1972. This has occurred in large firms and small, public and private, educational institutions, charities, the military, non-profits, arts groups, and the clergy, to name the major categories. I’ve done this in 50 countries.

Great leaders can’t be idealized. They possess some traits which we might otherwise regard as inappropriate at best and offensive at worst. They tend to strive for results and not acclaim. They don’t care if people like them, they care about meeting goals. Jack Welch was effectively leading 12 separate companies as CEO of GE, from light bulbs to locomotives, and was sometimes known as “neutron Jack.” He didn’t seem to care (and while GE was a client, I didn’t observe any managers who cared). He was extraordinary.

They are in many cases quasi-narcissists. They believe they are somewhat different, marching to the beat of a distant drummer, on a road rarely traveled. They break rules, exercise power, demonstrate outrage, don’t suffer fools gladly or in any other way, and are not at all afraid to make mistakes. Steve Jobs said, okay, we’ll provide you with a free case to mitigate dropped iPhone calls, but what’s the big deal?

What, indeed?

Outstanding leaders stand their ground.

They are tough, demanding, but fair. When I worked with Roy Vagelos, CEO during the golden years at Merck (America’s Most Admired Company five years running in the annual Fortune Magazine poll), people were afraid of his temper and bluntness, but he never turned a deaf ear to a fair argument. He never asked anyone to do things he wouldn’t. He thought he was the brightest guy in the room until and unless someone proved otherwise.

They take chances and aren’t afraid. Lou Gerstner didn’t know a whole lot about IBM, but he had the skills and the nerves to turn the supertanker around in the water. Scully couldn’t do that at Apple and Gilmartin couldn’t do it at Merck.

Organizations, businesses, even governments aren’t true democracies. They often function best with a benevolent dictatorship. (Lincoln Steffens observed that if we had had good kings, we would all still be monarchists.) Lincoln and Roosevelt regularly bent the rules (e.g., one suspended habeas corpus, and the other tried to pack the Supreme Court).

They aren’t afraid to tell us what we need. Morita gave us the Walkman, great grandfather of the iPhone. Smith gave us overnight, guaranteed delivery, which experts had scoffed at.

Great leaders see themselves as different, not subject to all the normal rules and regulations (and sometimes laws of nature). They can be infuriating, They wield power disproportionately. They make demands.

But the great ones make a difference.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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Big dolphin day, some about 20 yards from the beach, others gamboling behind a cigarette boat, leaping like, well, dolphins.

Tonight we head for the Wildwood boardwalk, see how many rides the girls will attempt, how many games of chance I will lose at. It’s not the same since they did away with the Whack-A-Mole machine.

Love getting up early, going for coffee, writing, being among the very first on the beach.

Ironically, Apple is now trying to deliver my new iPhone, and they’re telling me that FedEx will only give it two more tries! I told my house sitters to be on the lookout for the FedEx truck and to send Koufax after it. They might just waive the signature requirement!

Cape May early in the morning. Alaina and Gabrielle camped out. Maria’s personal sea gull:

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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Freda’s Cafe last night, BYOB again, so I chose a very nice Villa de Caprezanno to accompany the stuffed peppers and giant prawn (which was only slightly smaller than the table).

My observation is that Cape May is not as crowded as last year, with “vacancy” signs at virtually every B&B and hotel, and parking spaces at the beach (usually as rare as an objective news anchor) much easier to secure. The beach crowds during the week are sparser than I recall, as well. Tonight we should drive over to Wildwood, with its two miles of boardwalk, for the grandmunchkins, and we’ll see what the crowds are like there.

Daughter Danielle assembled a beach shelter yesterday that would have shamed the Brooklyn Bridge designers. The kids did not go in it once, of course.

The “dolphin watching” boats seldom stop in front of our location on the beach and you never see dolphins around them. But when they’re gone, the dolphins come and frolic and fees, for the first time while I was in the water about 50 yards away. Could it be the boat motors scare the dolphins, or the dolphins have learned to avoid the boats and their intrusive gawkers? The law of unintended consequences?

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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Alan’s Monday Morning Memo’s mission is to help readers to thrive.

July 19, 2010—Issue #44

This week’s focus point: The undertow drags you out to sea when you’re in the surf. If it’s strong enough, you can exhaust yourself trying to get back to the beach, and when you do extricate yourself, you’re usually at a different point and disoriented. Undertow in our lives includes bad advice from unqualified sources, normative pressure from peers, unrealistic expectations of clients, overextension which creates financial pressures, and managing time poorly. By all means get into the surf, but don’t let it drag you down the beach or out to sea.

Monday Morning Perspective: If we had had good kings, we all would still be monarchists. — Lincoln Steffens

You may subscribe and encourage others to subscribe by clicking HERE.

Privacy statement: Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

Contact information: info@summitconsulting.com
http://www.contrarianconsulting.com
ISSN 2151-0091

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved

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Dinner at The Black Duck, BYOB, and since I’ve been successful in two recent wine auctions, I can bring wine everywhere. This was an ‘05 La Fleur de Laussac Bordeaux.

Lemonade from lemons department: My lap top curser froze last night, I think the track pad is broken. But my daughter arrived with the grandchildren and her lap top. So I used Dropbox on my iPad to find where I was and copy what’s ahead, then write on her lap top (as I am right now) and place the chapter in our shared Dropbox folder. Everything will be up to date on my desk top when I return. Otherwise, since it’s tough to type at length on an iPad, I would have missed five days of morning writing! Life goes on.

More to come.

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Nice dinner last night at Martini Beach. Crowds not as thick as last year, restaurant with open tables at 7 on a Saturday. Finished with an Opus X and chocolate covered jellies and nuts on the balcony. Maria’s seagull made another pass today at her lunch, but the anti-seagull fire drove him off. Started my morning ritual of getting coffee at 7 at the diner, then wandering over to watch the bikers, joggers, and walkers on the boardwalk (which is really asphalt), then writing, until the beach guys open with the chairs and umbrellas at 8:30, so that I can get settled right on the water. Maria usually get there in the next hour or so.

The breakers have been fabulous, but very rough, with a strong undertow, even though I’m prepared for it. Which got me to thinking, as I was trying to estimate the next wave’s cycle so as not to get clobbered (which has happened three times thus far).

A lot of consultants are stuck in the undertow. They are willing to venture out, dare the oncoming waves, enjoy the rush. But they keep getting pulled farther out because the don’t apply discretion or judgment, or even common sense. When they finally extricate themselves, they are farther down the beach, temporarily lost, and too intimidated to go out and try the waves again.

The “undertow” in this profession comprises buzzwords, fads, training people, meeting planners, human resources, academics’ books, invalid testing instruments, poor coaches, victimization mentalities, professional groups that set the wrong standards, and demanding clients. Some consultants get caught in all that undertow and find themselves either needing rescue or exhausted when they finally drag themselves back to the beach.

You can’t just dip your toe in the water. You should make waves. Just don’t let the waves make you.

Watch out for the undertow.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

Post from: Contrarian Consulting

Bad luck at the Borgata tables last night, though I did learn to play a new kind of poker. You have two chances to take back your money. I needed two more.

Drove down to the Sandpiper on the Cape May beach this morning, arrived at 9, room wasn’t ready of course, so we changed and spent the day on the beach anyway. One of the managers trades his parking spot with me so that I’m between the building and a utility gizmo, safe from all but seagulls. I carry stuff in the trunk to deal with that. On the beach, a gull swooped down, grabbed two fries from Maria’s dish, dropped one and flew off. As she was recovering from the most daring attack in Jersey since Trenton, the gull came back in, under the umbrella, for all the world like a P38 on a strafing run, and grabbed the fry he had dropped the first time! Another gull zoomed down in pursuit and a WW II dogfight ensued, but “our” gull swallowed the loot during a hard right bank.

Stereotypical photos of advertising plane and sand turtle should be appearing here, with a rare glimpse of the hitherto unknown waterproof pager, which this guy wore on his bathing suit! If you’re that important, and you may be urgently needed at any time, how do they let you go to the beach in the first place? (Paging Dr. Greely, where are those nuclear attack codes? Is it 34ytu or 33ytu to launch?)

Another guy says to me, “Can you read that iPod here in the sun?” (”No, I’m just staring at a blank screen trying to find inner harmony with technology.”)

Off to the mission church and then dinner at Martini Beach, one of our favorites.

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I received a phone message yesterday from Dan Wolman (I may have that spelling wrong) who said he’s a new assistant general manager for the men’s department at Saks. He had read my blog entry (scroll down a few postings) and wanted to talk about my experiences. After all this time, that’s a good sign.

Well, I called the direct number he gave me, which is not a working number. But perhaps I heard it wrong on the voice mail, so today I called Saks’ main line at their flagship New York store. The first time, after waiting for two minutes through boring advisories (this call may be recorded—yes, but why doesn’t the service improve?) I finally got an operator. She asked how I was doing, I told her it took two minutes to get to her, and she became quite snippy. When I asked for Mr. Wolman, she put me on hold—permanently! Five minutes later, I hung up and redialed.

After a similar wait, which I dared not mention, the operator told me that he couldn’t find Mr. Wolman’s name or that position, so I said that he should forward me to the store’s general manager, who I figured ought to know his own assistant. Guess what? On hold again, no one ever returned.

How is it that Saks harbors such completely uncaring people? Why is the service so slow and inefficient? Does any Saks executive EVER shop his or her own store or department? If they do in men’s wear, I’m hoping they take provisions and extra batteries. And I’m betting their families don’t try to reach them through the switchboard.

So, Mr. Wolman, if you’re out there and still reading my blog, I tried, I really did. Give me another call, I’m happy to talk and relay my being almost completely ignored by a dozen sales people. And now two operators. But, if you’re a new guy, maybe you can cap this well.

Post from: Contrarian Consulting

I’m writing from the Borgata in Atlantic City. We made the run down here from East Greenwich in a tad under five hours. We’ll spend the night and then head for Cape May in the morning. It’s always interesting to us to be driving through our old stomping grounds in Jersey.

I pulled up to valet parking at the hotel and there must have been 75 cars outside waiting to be parked. The valet captain sauntered over, we looked at each other, looked at the car, and he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll put it in the VIP area. It will be right next to the cashier when you check out tomorrow.” Tip gratefully tendered, we found a cozy nook inside to read in and snack on truffled fries until the suite was ready. Tonight we’ll dine at Fornelletto for southern Italian, then try some gambling.

My plan is to write the second chapter of The Consulting Bible on this trip for Wiley. McGraw-Hill has told me that Million Dollar Speaking and Million Dollar Coaching may both be released in January.

© Alan Weiss 2010. All rights reserved.

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