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How Big Is Too Big? December 15, 2008

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Networking.
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I’ve been using LinkedIn for a long time, at least six or seven years.  In that time, I’ve accumulated 270 links in my network.  In all but a few cases, I know each person, why I linked to them, and what relationship I currently have with them.  Certainly, some links are stronger and more robust than others, but they all were created from an initial meeting of some sort that justified the connection.

Some people are compelled to collect links and compete to see who has the most.  Some of these people even include their link counts in their LinkedIn account names, as a sort of badge of honor.  I’ll confess: I do not understand this behavior, beyond some natural desire to compete and win at something.  Certainly, the network that results from this kind of link-hunting is effectively useless.

Network connections have value because you leverage the trust relationship for a mutual benefit.  That might be some advice, or a job reference, or a quick answer to a question.  You know to whom to turn in your network because you actually know these people and know what they can offer.  My recent post on “knowing who knows” expands on this.

When requests are sent to me through my network, I know that I can trust them and deal with them with some level of confidence.  The original goal of LinkedIn was to replicate the traditional face-to-face business network with its semi-formal model of introductions and references.  That whole practice only works when knowledge and trust is part of the network.  If you don’t know the person at the other end of the connection, the interaction is worthless.

I routinely ignore requests to connect with people I don’t know.  No offense intended, but my network is valuable to me.  That value is diluted when anonymous connections begin to accumulate.  Honestly, my rejection improves the quality of the requestor’s network for the same reason: if they don’t know me, why would they want to trust me?

I feel sorry for those link hunters that you see on LinkedIn.  Their network is worthless, and everyone else (except for the other link hunters) knows it.

There is far more value in a small, carefully maintained network than in a large, unkempt one.  Guard your network closely and grow it carefully.  You’ll reap the benefits for years to come, and its value will grow immensely over time.

What’s Your Iron Boat? December 8, 2008

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Leadership.
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2 comments

In planning for his great trek across the United States, Meriwether Lewis had a brilliant idea: a portable boat, made from a collapsible iron frame and covered in animal skins.  After leaving the Mississippi, his group would carry this boat until they reached the river rumored to extend to the Pacific, whereupon they would assemble the boat and sail away.  It was cutting edge technology for 1803 and Lewis absolutely loved the whole idea.

You can imagine what his men thought of it.  The boat frame was cast iron and weighed 176 pounds.  Fully assembled, it would be 42 feet long and could carry 8,000 pounds of men and equipment.  If you were one of the men assigned to lug the boat halfway across the United States, I’m guessing that you were not so enthused over the boss’ pet project.  You can almost hear the muttering and cursing as 176 pounds of iron were loaded up each morning and carried all day, day after day, across the continent.

Finally, the time came to assemble the boat.  Lewis had envisioned covering the boat in animal skins, sealing any holes with pine tar.  There were just two problems: they didn’t have enough animal skins, and there were no trees in the spot where they were building the boat.

For almost three weeks, from June 21 to July 9, 1805, Lewis directed his men to hunt elk and skin them.  It took a lot of elk to cover a 42-foot boat.  Every day, instead of heading west in the perfect weather of early summer, the men stayed in one place, shooting and skinning elk.  Lewis supervised, trying to figure out how to seal the boat without any tar.  Again, imagine the griping, growing each day, as the skins piled up and the boat slowly took form.

Finally it was time to put the boat in the water.  Within minutes, it sank.  Years of planning, months of dragging it across the country, weeks wasted for the skins, and the whole thing was over in an hour.  Lewis was embarrassed, certainly, and his men were vindicated.  Can’t you see them all at the river’s edge, biting their tongues and rolling their eyes, afraid to look at each other for fear of laughing at the boss?  I’ll bet no one could even say “boat” for the next week, without a lot of snickering from the back of crowd.

What is your iron boat?  What idea has captivated you, in spite of what your people are trying to tell you?  What bit of technology are you totally enamored of, regardless of its utter uselessness in the real world?  What piece of your plan made complete sense two years ago, but is now on the verge of sinking because you just won’t let it go?

Every leader has an iron boat, strapped to the backs of his or her team.  None of us can see the boat, but our people certainly can.  Are you listening for their feedback?  Do you trust them when they complain about your boat?  Are you humble enough to see your boat and let it go?

(For more on the spectacular trip of Lewis and Clark,
look for Undaunted Courage on my Books page)

Disaster or Recovery? December 5, 2008

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Leadership.
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What is the biggest impediment to a successful disaster recovery plan?  Server availability? Network redundancy? Available hosted services?  Price?

The answer: none of these.  The biggest impediment to a successful disaster recovery plan is spouses.

Almost all disaster recovery plans have a step, early in the process, that says “Critical personnel meet at the recovery site.”  This looks great on paper and even works during tests, when travel is planned in advance.

Real disasters usually involve big events: hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, floods, wildfires.  Whatever is forcing you to declare a disaster is most likely affecting your staff and their families.  At some point, your key systems administrator is going to look at his wife and announce that he has to fly far away, for an indefinite period of time, to recover the company data center.

She is going to look at him, surrounded by kids, in a house without power or heat or some other crucial necessity, and give him the unspoken ultimatum: them or us?  And every smart man will put down the suitcase and resume his hunt for power or heat or other crucial necessity for his family.

That’s a smart choice: family always comes before work. But that doesn’t do much for getting your company back online.

Good disaster recovery plans presume that no one, not a soul, will be available for an extended period of time immediately after the disaster.  Once their families are secure, your staff will be able to travel and help with a clear mind, focused on the business issues.  You don’t want them restoring your databases while they are distracted with thoughts of wives and kids who need them at home.

Build a plan that respects your staff and their families, and you’ll have a plan that will actually work in the real world.  Your staff will appreciate it and if that day ever comes, so will your senior management team and shareholders.

Truth In Business Cards December 3, 2008

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Random Musings.
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I get handed a lot of business cards.  Some get keyed into my address book; most do not.  All get thrown away.  And many suffer from the same problem: unnecessary labels.

Why do people have business cards that needlessly prefix their phone number with the label “Telephone?”  Is that really necessary?  Is there anyone, anywhere in the world that does not recognize a lengthy string of digits as some sort of telephone number?  Do you really need to take up precious space on the card to clarify that number?  Do you think a lot of people mistake a phone number for some odd post office box or extended zip code?  Me neither.  Yet, there it is.

Some would argue that cards with multiple numbers need to clarify which number is which.  I agree.  But let’s agree that your main number doesn’t need further elucidation.  For your cell phone, a simple “C” would suffice.  And honestly, why are you putting a fax number on your card?  When is the last time you faxed something to anyone without first calling to confirm that you were going to do it?  For the two faxes you send each year, call their main number, ask for the fax number, and you’re good to go.

Even worse are those cards that label your email address as “Email” or (the worst) “Email Address.”  Let’s face it, if a person doesn’t realize that the odd string of characters with an “@” in the middle is an email address, the odds of them successfully knowing how to use that address are pretty slim.  Let’s give everyone the benefit of the doubt and assume that we can all successfully find the email address on a business card.

Finally, drop the separate listing of your company’s web site.  It’s only there because someone in marketing thought this would be a great way to drive traffic to the site.  If your email address is correct, I already know what your company URL should be.  If I can’t figure out that prefixing “www.” to your email domain name does the trick, I’ve got bigger problems.  And if your company web site isn’t the same as your email domain, your company has bigger problems than both of us.

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Honesty And Sales December 1, 2008

Posted by Chuck Musciano in Leadership.
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Selling is hard. The uncertainty and day-to-day stress are more than I could handle on a regular basis.  Yet I have friends in sales who love every minute of it, from the first cold call to closing the big deal.

I once had a chance to be in sales, sort of, when I spent about 18 months as a consultant.  Since I was a C-level consultant, I got pulled in to help close the sale and provide some pre-sales services in an effort to win the business.  I was working with some great people who taught me a lot about selling, but they could never eliminate my insecurity about each and every pitch.

That experience further cemented my deep respect for salespeople and deepened my desire to treat them accordingly.  I view vendor relationships as long-term commitments that build over the years as a mutually beneficial arrangement.  I don’t ping-pong between vendors, and I’ll work hard to stick with a vendor when times get tough or the situation starts to deteriorate.  In return, I expect the same level of commitment in return, including good advice, solid support, and reasonable pricing.

I don’t like to waste salespeople’s time.  As you can imagine, I get dozens of sales calls a week.  Most get screened; a few get through.  When I do take a call with a new salesperson, I always begin the conversation the same way: I describe my vision of the perfect sales relationship and immediately set expectations with the new person.

For many initial sales calls, I am still learning about a company or a product.  In some cases, I don’t foresee an actual need for a product for a year or more, but I want to learn about it now so I can factor it into my planning.  If that’s the case, I’ll state that up front.  The bottom line is that I don’t want to waste time, either mine or the salesperson’s.

Salespeople waste a lot of time working with potential accounts who misrepresent their short- and long-term buying intent.  It is frustrating to work hard to win some business only to discover that the customer had no intent of buying all along.  That time would have been better spent with a more qualified account that would have yielded a real deal.

Conversely, I waste a lot of time dealing with salespeople who do not have a prayer of closing a deal with me but insist on not giving up.  Trust me: if I tell you there is no deal in the works for a certain time frame, I am telling you the truth for your own good.  Go pursue more promising accounts and come back later when we might be able to do business.

My best sales relationships last for years and result in success on both sides of the table. My company gets good products with great support at a fair price.  The vendor gets my continued business and a customer who will turn to them first when a need arises.  What more could you want?