Reports from the Knowledge Labs about our recent findings, research topics, and interviews with lifestyle leaders who are creating their own futures.
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How to stimulate your own powers of foresight. Consider the following thought provokers. Ask yourself, in these categories what are the brand new trends and forces? Which are the ones growing in importance? Which current forces are loosing their steam? Which have peaked or are reversing themselves? Which are the "wildcards" about to disrupt us in the future? POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL thought for food: Electronics, Materials, Energy, Fossil, Nuclear, Alternative, Other, Manufacturing (techniques), Agriculture, Machinery and Equipment, Distribution, Transportation (Urban, Mass, Personal, Surface, Sea, Subsurface, Space), Communication (Printed, Spoken, Interactive, Media), Computers (Information, Knowledge, Storage & Retrieval, Design, Network Resources), Post-Cold War, Third World, Conflict (Local, Regional, Global), Arms Limitation, Undeclared Wars, Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Governments (More/Less Power and Larger or Smaller Scale), Taxes, Isms: Nationalism, Regionalism, Protectionism, Populism, Cartels, Multinational Corporations, Balance of Trade, Third Party Payments, Regulations (OSHA, etc.) Environmental Impact, U.S. Prestige Abroad. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC Food for thought:
Labor Movements, Unemployment / Employment Cycles, Recession, Employment Patterns, Work Hours / Schedules, Fringe Benefits, Management Approaches, Accounting Policies, Productivity, Energy Costs, Balance of Payments, Inflation, Taxes, Rates of Real Growth, Distribution of Wealth, Capital Availability and Costs, Reliability of Forecasts, Raw Materials, Availability and Costs, Global versus National Economy, Market versus Planned Economies, Generations: Y, X, Boomers, Elderly, Urban vs. Rural Lifestyles, Affluent vs. Poor, Neighborhoods and Communities, Planned or Organic Growth.
Got Knowledge?
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The Journal of 2020 Foresight
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Sunday, October 15, 2006
“It’s Been a Long Road Behind Me, and It’s a Long Road Ahead”
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
The Journal of 2020 Foresight
Since beginning-less time people traveled to the ends of the earth seeking the foresight to know where life will take them.
Today with time running out, 78 million Baby Boomers ask themselves in the wee hours of the night:
- Who have I become?
- What will my life add up to?
- Do I want to be remembered as the person I have been up to now?
- Is it too late to put more meaning in my life?
- Where will I be and what will I be doing in the next five years?
- Will economic cycles support or defeat my plans?
- Will I be forced to live a lifestyle I didn’t choose or work in a job I hate?
- Will my energy, vitality and health slowly drain away?
What about you?
As you map out the rest of your journey, which direction will your life take? What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
And, will you finally follow your dreams?
“The painter stood
Before her work
She looked around everywhere
She saw the pictures and she painted them
She picked the colors from the air
Green to green
Red to red
Yellow to yellow
In the light
Black to black
When the evening comes
Blue to blue
In the night
It's a long road
Behind me
It's a long road
Ahead
If you follow every dream
You might get lost
If you follow every dream
You might
Get Lost.
She towed the line
She held her end up
She did the work of too many
But in the end
She fell down
Before she got up again
I keep my friends eternally
We leave our tracks in the sound
Some of them are with me now
Some of them can't be found
It's a long road behind me
And I miss you now
If you follow every dream
You might get lost
If you follow every dream
You might
Get
Lost.”
Neil Young, "The Painter"
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
7:02 AM
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Which Direction Will Your Life Take?
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
“Nothing is more important than the wisdom required to transform customers. Being in the transformation business means charging for the demonstrated outcome. Without wisdom people find aspirations difficult to achieve."
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. Here’s what they’re saying about The Journal of 2020 Foresight.
“A must read for every savvy Baby Boomer male and female. Assists Baby Boomers in a world where traditional expectations have been obliterated by lightening fast realities of the economy”
“It’s a goldmine of valuable advice and knowledge.”
“Original insight into the marketplace changes that affect the U.S. workplace in this new fast-changing economy.”
“A candid assessment of the trials and tribulations facing the Boomer family – from their elderly parents to their graying spouses, brothers and sisters to their coming of age children in their 30s and 20s and to their grandchildren.”
New life strategies for a flattening world you won’t find anywhere else. How do you:
- Become a master of your own fate?
- Locate your possibilities for growth and change?
- Discover what is missing and forge new directions for an engaging new life?
- Find new passion and purpose?
- Convert a job change or downsizing into previously unheard of opportunities?
- Redirect your life to leave the kind of inspiring legacy you want?
- Reinvent your life and renew your relationships with those most important to you?
“Discover new maps for a generation journeying through life at the same time. Confront the major issues of each life stage. Customize your own life cycle.”
“The Journal of 2020 Foresight is grounded in the career, business and life realities that make being a Boomer so complex today. Laid out in journal entry fashion are the facts, trends, myths and fears.”
“A work of revelation as an entire generation embarks into uncharted territories – from Gail Sheehy’s ‘Fearless 50s’ to the ‘Age of Integrity and Influence.’”
“The Knowledge Labs delivers insights borne out by extensive original research and application in the real world. Fresh findings that allow us to make sense of our own lives by understanding others like us.”
“Uncommon wisdom and guide to self-renewal.”
And in the end Grey Owl asks which direction will your journey take?
"After Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, arranged the other six directions -- East, South, West, North, Above, and Below -- one direction was still left to be placed. But since that Seventh Direction was the most powerful of all, the one containing the greatest wisdom and strength, Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, wished to place it somewhere where it would not easily be found. So it was finally hidden in the last place humans usually think to look -- in each person's heart.”
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
5:55 AM
Friday, September 29, 2006
New Lenses for 2020 Vision: Insights Turning Hindsight into Foresight
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"The individual buyer of the transformation essentially says, 'Change me.’ Elicitors may use any one of the four realms of experience for a transformation. When the offering becomes more intangible the value becomes more tangible.”
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. We’re bombarded with what seems like a 24-hour surround sound of noise – especially if you still live with teenagers. “CrackBerries” addict us to constant distractions.
We’ve become a society of barely functioning Attention Deficit Disorder multi-taskers. The half-life of an engineer’s knowledge -- to stay current without becoming totally commoditized and obsolesced in the marketplace – may soon be measured in months instead of years.
It takes uncommon sense to keep your wits about you.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: We’ve covered a lot of territory since we started this journey -- and this journal recording it -- barely seven months after our whole world was turned upside down on September 11, 2001.
It’s only fitting that we end it with more direct links to context, concepts, resources, tips and tools to help you find the right combination as you take your life out for an authentic SPIN.
Look for news about our Field Guide and up coming Book. Until then, share a FREE link with a Boomer, or someone who knows one!
INSIGHTS
Entering or Leaving Transformational Adult Passages
Welcome to the emerging demand for transformational coaches. The last wave of Baby Boomers in Gail Sheehy’s “Flourishing 40s” are navigating an “Early Midlife Crisis” on the way to their “Age of Mastery.”
The middle and advanced wave of Baby Boomers well into their second adulthood -- the “Fearless 50s” or “Flaming 50s” are journeying from “Mortality Crisis” and “Meaning Crisis” to their “Age of Integrity.”
Roughly 78 million Boomers over the next two decades will be asking – What will my life add up to? Is it too late to put more meaning in my life? Do I want to be remembered as the person I have been up to now?
You Are Not Alone
Here’s the paradox. In your life, you have to figure it out for yourself and, yet while highly personal, the struggle with meaning and mortality is itself a universal story that has been told throughout the ages. It is now experienced simultaneously by millions.
Lifework and Worklife
Today we live in a smaller and a more dynamically interdependent world.
While our spiritual and life experiences occupy the center of our own life, we are surrounded by forces that impact our home, work and community relationships.
The trick is to work through our “crises” at each life stage, extract some meaning from the experience and then apply what we’ve learned to mastering the challenges ahead.
Lifework
Now more than any other time before, the opportunities available to us for doing what we love in a community we prefer have never been better.
And, we now have a better understanding of the types of organizations the future will demand and how we can target them as employers, clients, customers, partners and alliances.
The UnInterview
Which means we can increase the probability of fit between our passions, values and experiences and their vision, mission, challenges and culture.
If you choose the employment route to do what you love, we’ve uncovered an intelligent approach we call the Uninterview.
It can be followed to create your own job – which is the most rewarding conclusion to your hard work -- even where no job existed before.
One critical way to demonstrate your value is to propose how a commoditized product or service can be reinvented to increase revenue and margins – especially in a destination resort of your dreams.
High Premium, High Value Offerings
By shifting the conversation away from the costs and your fees or the salary you command, you are better able to negotiate a better deal as a function of the value you bring.
How do you do that? You can spark creative ways to “experientialize” stale and underperforming components of your offerings.
And you can determine ways to increase customer experience on the front-end while streamlining ways of supporting those delivering the experiences by streamlining the back end operations.
Criteria for Choosing Your Ideal Community
Likewise, you can narrow down potential ideal communities you might want to relocate to by considering our list of factors.
But, remember every ideal location comes with trade-offs that don’t show up on the realtor or chambers of commerce websites.
Some become obvious when you visit or begin tracking news from and about the communities you’re investigating.
Others can be detected through inference by considering how outside forces will increase or decrease the attractiveness factor in the short-term and long-term.
Best Return on Resort Investment
In the western United States you might consider any one of a number of communities uncovered on our journey.
Depending upon your preferences for the best fit, you might consider communities in Colorado, Utah, New Mexico or California.
Worklife Demand for CROs -- Chief Reinvention Officers
The need for CROs in mature companies to reverse the slide driven by Flat Earth commoditization into a declining spiral will become more obvious.
CROs lead an eclectic team of competing tribes to reinvent products, service and experiences.
Developing Organizational Capacity to Trigger Competitive Breakpoints
CROs advocate knowledge creation, innovation and organizational learning as core competencies to guarantee ROI on its reinvention process – realignment, resilience and radical innovation.
Taking Advantage of Reversing Cycles
How do you lead the reinvention initiatives? By evaluating the market and industry indicators, diagnosing the current and next stage challenges and adapting leadership and management strategies.
78 Million 46-63 year olds at the Cross Roads
What's their secret for finding the right opportunities? By choosing among 3 sets of career options (11 total) and future-proofing 4 Personal and 4 Organizational Talent Scenarios using an 8-step methodology.
Which one fits you: 20 different Baby Boomer Lifestyles describing 46 to 63 years olds.
What do we have in common? Boomer family profiles living through an unraveling cycle followed by a crisis.
How do we select ideal communities for the right investment fit -- by the trend-setting lifestyle profiles they keep.
Fit: Sweet Spot of Overlapping Life, Community, Organizational, Economic and Generational Cycles
Finding your sweet spot by integrating lifecycles -- anyone can zero in on opportunities to do what they love in a business, social, and quality of life climate that they’ll thrive in.
Of course, shifting economic cycles, bursting bubbles and political events help or hinder our ability to capitalize on those opportunities.
In the 16 lifestyle neighborhoods, how do you evaluate six types of real estate opportunities -- when to buy, how long to hold, and when to sell?
Transplant your business, practice or knowledge company after evaluating seven market cycle indicators. Now, unlike in the past, you can develop multiple income streams that are not dependent upon the local economy.
Take the Mark Twain approach to escaping the Trapped and Permanently Temporary box for 50 and 60 year olds.
HINDSIGHTS
The Big Blue Marble’s Deep Past
Ultimately you come to appreciate that you’re just a particle of sand on a beach in the great expanse of time on planet earth.
Or, all you need do is to gaze at Hoodoos in Bryce Canyon-- the pillar of rocks beginning to form 10 million years ago when the earth was created to shift your everyday perspective.
Or, visit the Grand Canyon as many tourists do and reflect just on the layers of rocks demarking the Earth's history dating as far back as 2 billion years ago and to a more recent era nearly 250 million years ago.
Or read a report during a moment of reflection that scientists discovered 40,000 year old footprints in Mexico on Yahoo!
The Locals: 1200 B.C. to 12th or 13th Century
In “Four Corners Region” while Native American people were present in the region about 12,000 years ago, little remains to describe what they experienced, how they lived or what had happened to them.
The Anasazi lived for roughly 700 years in Mesa Verde, having migrated from the Four Corners region, but in the 12th or 13th century, over a period of one or two generations, the Anasazi vanished from this Mesa Verde region entirely.
First Illegal Immigrants: European Trade Routes, Voyages and Explorations
Maps show where the Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, English, and French staked claims to what today is the United States between 1513 to 1776. Native American maps show where tribes east of the Mississippi River lived before and during American colonization.
Following the conquistadors’ search for the cities of gold, Father Escalente in Colorado and Father Serra in California did their level best to spread Christianity to the heathens.
But, roughly 100,000 Native Americans early inhabitants were nearly obliterated by European diseases, colonization, settlers and prospectors over the 350 years of Western expansion across North America.
The Opening and Closing of the Wild West in One Lifetime 1803 to 1890s
Lewis & Clark launch the Corps of Discovery Expedition. "In 1802, Thomas Jefferson had read Alexander Mackenzie's published account of his journey across Canada to the Pacific in 1792-1793” which jolted the third president into action.
He put in motion the “training of (Meriwether) Lewis in the scientific and medical arts of the day and made a January 1803 request to Congress to provide $2,500 for the expedition.”
Between 1804 and 1811 competing fur companies follow the Missouri River and branched out into new (to them) territories bringing back lucrative furs, tall tales and maps and journals detailing their adventures.
Network of Trading Outposts Starting and Ending in St. Louis
For about 100 years, St. Louis, Missouri evolved from trading post for the early fur trappers to a launching pad for the river-based expeditions to a gateway for wagon trains, pony express and stagecoaches migrating to the Rocky Mountains.
Almost a decade after and Hunt's adventures and Henry's expeditions, on behalf of the competing fur companies roughly from 1820 to 1830, Jedediah Smith was the first to open the coastal trade route from California to Fort Vancouver on the Columbia River.
The golden age of expeditions in the 1830s to 1840s made American heroes out of John Fremont and Kit Carson. Less well known, Charles Wilkes also published his sea adventures, the “Great United States Exploring Expeditions”
In 1843, the Great Migration, a party of one thousand pioneers headed west from Independence, Missouri, on the Oregon Trail, guided by Dr. Marcus Whitman, who was returning to his mission on the Columbia River.
The Mother Lode and The Comstock Lode
Captain John Sutter received a large land grant along the Sacramento River and set up his outpost known as Sutter’s Fort. On January 24, 1848, one of Sutter’s foremen noticed a few shiny yellow flakes at the bottom of the South Fork of the American River.
In 1849 the gold fever spread to ship crews, farmers, and everyone else who dreamed of abandoning their mundane life in pursuit of their own “El Dorado.”
Roughing It Through the Tribal Territories
A decade before the coming of the railroad, Mark Twain chronicles his stage coach journey from St. Louis to Carson City Nevada and the Comstock Lode in his novel, “Roughing It”
Manifest Destiny: Native American Extermination Wars
In the mid-1840s, it became an "obvious (or undeniable) fate." Thanks to John O'Sullivan, a wave of propaganda described it as a “divinely-inspired mission to expand itself and its system of government from ocean to ocean and to the western frontier.”
As the Civil War winds down, military attention under “The Great Warrior” (as he was known to Native Americans) William Tecumseh Sherman turned to the “Indian Issue.” In 1862 General (“Star Chief”) James Carleton declares war on the Navajos as an overreaction to events that unfolded in the two previous years.
In Colorado, according to Dee Brown, “Through political pressures they persuaded the Indian Bureau that the Utes were a constant nuisance -- wandering everywhere, visiting towns and mining camps, and stealing livestock from settlers. They said they wanted the Ute placed on a reservation with well-defined lines, but what they truly wanted was more Ute land."
Utes Must Go! Agrarian-Based Union Colony Must Stay!
After the end of the Sioux wars in 1877 Governor Federick Pitkin and William B. Vickers, a Denver editor-politician who despised all Indians, especially Utes, began drumming up a propaganda campaign to have all Utes exiled to Indian Territory, thus leaving an immense amount of valuable land free for the taking. Nathan Meeker, seeking to convert Chief Ouray to Christianity took them up on it.
The Utes jumped the reservation to hunt in eastern Colorado. In response, the governor, then Alva Adams, sent the Colorado militia to punish the Utes. Even though Colorow's band returned to Utah, the militia wanted to finish what they had started. The only thing standing in the way of an attack on the reservation was the badly outnumbered Buffalo Soldiers, who managed to stop the militia.
The Ghost Dance Ends the Wild West, But the Show Goes On
In October of 1890 after nearly three decades of Indian Wars, after Sitting Bull's return from Canada, after his infamous speech cursing all whites in his native tongue in 1883 for the Northern Pacific Railroad's celebration commemorating the driving of the last spike in its transcontinental track, and after his triumphant theatrical tour with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, he receives Kicking Bear, a Miniconjou from the Cheyenne River agency and sets in motion a chain of events leading to his death.
Meanwhile, 500 Years of War Reveal Generational Cycles
William Strauss and Neil Howe detected a pattern tied to four generational personalities -- Prophet (or Idealist), Nomad (or Reactive), Hero (or Civic) and Artist (or Adaptive). Each responds differently to passages between an Awakening and a Crisis. They describe a High as an era between a Crisis and an Awakening. An Unraveling is an era between an Awakening and a Crisis.
Western heroes – Kit Carson, Jedediah Smith and John Freemont – and before them Benjamin Franklin of the Founding Fathers were the "first Boomers." However, the current 80-year cycle began in 1943.
American Archetypical Preference for Heroic Breakthroughs
The Western archetype formulated within the context of this history operates almost on a “DNA” level in our society today. Without consciously thinking about the premise, most people are in agreement about the common superiority of the United States. We want to make the big leap, to achieve the big breakthrough, to chase the impossible dream. It’s the stuff of heroes. You know – shoot-first-ask-questions-later.
Recent Past: 20th Century – Triumph of Second Wave Industrial Revolution
When a new technology is being used to do something more easily or efficiently or better than what is already being done without it is called classic use of the technology.
The alternative is to use the capacities of the new technology to do previously impossible things, and this second use can be called expressive. A truly new technology refuses to stay classic.
Even if it was first created for a classic function, it eventually becomes expressive and reshapes the function. The success of the automobile created so many new conditions that society had to be reshaped to accommodate them.
Bubbles and Economic Depressions
Post “bubble” recoveries in the past -- ending in 1901, 1929, and 1966 -- to the most recent bubble at the end of 1990s shaped the values and perspective of generations.
Automobiles were much cheaper and better in 1920 than they had been in 1905. The boom in 1929 gave way to very high government deficits, deflation and the great depression period of the 1930s.
Against that backdrop, the Bob Hope generation formed their values and adult perspectives. They fought and won World War II and birthed a generation beginning in the mid- 1940s and lasting until the 1960s.
After a depression that lasted a decade and a five-year war, the US economy enjoyed significant productivity gains from the late 1940s through the early 1970s
'70s & '80s Economy
Coming into the early ‘70s, US companies faced little foreign competition at home. The industrial revolution hit on all cylinders producing great quantities of products destined for the mass market. But supply outstripped demand, so prices fell with increasing competition.
The recession in 1970 didn’t help. It was a classic over-reaction to the over valuation of stocks. Not too long after the US encountered the first oil shocks when OPEC decided to control the flow of oil to the West.
And that period was followed by a long downturn--from 1973 to roughly the mid-1990s -- in profit and productivity in the US.
Trend Reversal of the Great Westward Migration
From the beginning of the 1800s when Lewis and Clark explored and charted the West, a broad migration pattern headed as far as it could go -- to California.
For the last 60 years, since officials started tracking the statistics, more people each year acted on their “California Dreaming” impulses.
This isn’t just a trend reversal, but as a scenario indicator, it signals something else is going on. Since the mid- 1990s most of the demographers – experts who track this kind of thing – had predicted outflows, but just assumed they would taper off.
But, more California signed up to join the other 22 million U.S. citizens who moved from one state to another.
Why should I care?
Will it continue?
FORESIGHT
The Future in 10 Sets of 10 Trends and Predictions
What are the brand new trends and forces? Which are the ones growing in importance? Which current forces are loosing their steam? Which have peaked or are reversing themselves? Which are the "wildcards" about to disrupt us in the future? From future work and social and economic drivers to the demographic migration shift to warm resort destinations.
Boomers Past, Present, Future – Spending Waves, Disruptions
Marketers have tracked the legendary Boomers as they redefined every age segment they passed through. The current stage for the boomers is the transition into the power structure of business and industry between ages 40 and 60. All the workplace rules and structure change to fit their tastes and values -- roughly a 20-year spread in age and a 20-year time frame for the last segment of the generation to exit the peak spending and earning stage.
Monitoring Indicators, Big Bang Decisions
Will the second half of this decade follow the same pattern as previous decades? Which sets up the projections for the next five-year period between 2009 and 2014. Will the pattern of growth and good times be followed by a recession? If so, will the recession last for only five years?
Arie De Geus' Scenario Approach at Royal Dutch Shell with 350 Year Old Company Case Studies
We can use the same decision making and scenario learning techniques adopted by companies that had been in business for 100 years or more. “As wars, depressions, technologies, and political changes surged and ebbed around them, they always seemed to excel at keeping their feelers out, tuned to whatever was going on around them.”
Short-, Medium- and Long-Term Scenarios: Track the Indicators
The current 5-year plan, for 2003 to 2008, is to acquire wealth and to figure out how to protect your nest egg for a decade, while you take advantage of buying opportunities in a prolonged recession lasting for at least the last two of our 5-year time frames: 2009 – 2014 and 2015 to 2020.
The terrain ahead isn’t smooth like on paper or in plans and in models. It’s more three-dimensional. Over the next two decades from 2003 to 2020, just in terms of an economic climate, we anticipate a correction, boom, bubble, burst, bust, correction, and that long bear / depression. More like another roller coaster ride. Taking us uphill, then screaming downward again for quite a ride, until 2020.
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
5:37 PM
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Finding the Right Combination for an Authentic SPIN
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"Welcome to the commoditization of experiences: 'Been there, done that ...’ HR departments must stage real auditions. Your success relies on picking the right people to play the parts. People take on roles, but they act out character. The individual characterizations must fit within the entire ensemble."
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. Your survey should yield the types of challenges you most enjoy and you’d love to sink your teeth into in the resort location of your dreams. Convincing your target decision-maker that you’re the one to deliver the results may require a little SPIN. By shifting the conversation away from the costs and your fees or the salary you command, you are better able to negotiate a better deal as a function of the value you bring.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: I have to keep reminding myself, that this survey is really non-job search-related. And, that it is conducted in a low stress situation that can help make you comfortable with the knowledge gathering process.
Explorer: And, let us re-emphasize that if you want, you can even take someone with you.
J2020F: So in a destination resort community, what happens next?
Eagle: After completing your survey, you should be able to describe your new career objective by filling in the blanks:
I would like to use the following blend of enjoyable and marketable skills ...
Using my present (or future) interests, experiences and expertise in (or with) ...
On projects with objectives fulfilling these goals and values ....
Working most closely with these kinds of people ...
In a work setting with these characteristics ...
At this level of responsibility and salary range ...
At an organization located in this geographical area ....
Explorer: When you either get called back because of something you uncovered in a survey interview with a potential decision-maker, or you decide to approach your target organization with a proposal, you can take advantage of SPIN
J2020F: Spin doesn’t have a positive association for many people.
Explorer: Many sales people put together a “Call Plan” before they contact their potential customer or client that is designed to advance a sale – which is certainly your goal in each subsequent meeting, right?
Eagle: SPIN refers to questioning techniques and agenda topics to cover in each meeting, described in “SPIN Selling” by Neil Rackham.
J2020F: So, it’s an acronym?
Eagle: Yes, coming from the broad approach known as solution selling or relationship selling. S stands for Situation.
Explorer: It may also be known as a situational analysis and some people spend too much time on this topic during a meeting, which is only natural because of how much investigative homework you've done in preparation for the meeting.
J2020F: How should you budget your time?
Explorer: Your goal is to spend more time with P and I, or Problems and Implications than on the situational analysis. More on that a little later.
J2020F: O.K. Fair enough. So what’s your goal in the brief situational section of SPIN?
Eagle: In the beginning you only want to discover any missing facts you need, to set up the problems and implications portion of the meeting.
J2020F: Problems, but “I don’t got no stinking problems.” What’s the focus in the problem section of the agenda?
Explorer: By Problems we mean problems that might exist and that we can solve (with our most enjoyable and marketable skills and expertise).
Eagle: We aren’t surfacing any other problems. Only the ones tied to what we love to solve. We only need one, but anticipate and question for three problem areas.
J2020F: So, like an attorney, you don’t want to ask a question on the witness stand, unless you know the answer?
Eagle: Right. Once you confirm with the decision-maker that a problem exists, then you want to coax out the indirect Implications.
J2020F: So while there’s no “I” in team, there is an “I” in SPIN? What are indirect implications and why are they important to the agenda?
Explorer: Well, for one usually there are costs associated with the problem, that ripple out into other functions and people dependent on the information, materials or products delayed or defective caused by your problem.
J2020F: So indirect implications means hidden costs. Kind of like opportunity costs or costs for not addressing the problem.
Explorer: You’ve got the idea. You go through a series of questions to identify key stakeholders who have a vested interest in the solution of the problem, are impacted by it and would be able to do their jobs and functions more productively after they buy your solution.
Eagle: One easy way is to surface the internal customer and supplier chain of relationships to identify critical interdependencies.
J2020F: So, you can then give them an estimate of what the total cost of inaction is?
Explorer: Actually, we’ve found they will resist a number coming from the outside as being inflated. By getting the decision-maker to guess what the total cost is for the whole supply chain they become your advocate.
J2020F: How so?
Eagle: They’ve stopped and figured out a cost – benefit ratio that they never had the time to calculate before. Often times the number they arrive at is much larger than the number you could have guessed at.
J2020F: And, the strategy must be that what they will offer you as an employee or as a consultant is a very small percentage of the total cost they’ve just arrived at?
Explorer: And that makes this whole advance-the-sale easier because you shifted the framework from cost to one about the value you bring.
J2020F: By following the situation, problem and indirect implications agenda, you cannot only advance your sale you’ve just changed to framework through which you’ll be seen as a highly valued contributor.
Explorer: That’s the general idea.
Eagle: All of a sudden the salary range you want, bracketed just under the upper limits of their range and extended to the figure you want, or the cost of your consultation or product seems more like a valuable investment than another cost to be justified.
J2020F: If the implications shift the initial problem's cost at say $100,000 to a total cost of $2 million, then what your asking seems more than reasonable because of the value you bring?
Explorer: And, by having the decision-maker come up with the estimates, not only are they more reliable, the total figure frequently is much higher than you could have guessed.
J2020F: If you had started with a figure like that in the situational analysis stage, you probably would have been viewed as just another job seeker or salesperson. I know I would have concluded that as a decision-maker. What’s next?
Eagle: Now, you've exposed an explicit “Need” which you hope to develop further.
J2020F: Talk more about that.
Eagle: A need that may have been lying dormant or less important and urgent until seen through the implications lens.
J2020F: How do you get ready for this approach?
Eagle: As preparation you can fill out a worksheet that asks you to take what you offer -- your expertise, skills, and talents -- and to break them down into characteristics like you would of a product, service or experience in one column and the problem that this solves for the buyer.
Explorer: Or you can work backwards to the problem by working on two columns -- explicit need and implied need.
J2020F: What is the difference?
Explorer: The explicit need is a description of how your solution is superior to the competition.
Eagle: The implied need is a list of problems that your solution could solve.
J2020F: And of course by addressing the agreed upon, serious and urgent need, you are in the position to offer customized benefits in the form of you, right?
Explorer: Exactly.
J2020F: Realistically the SPIN approach occurs over time. Are there any direct links to the context, concepts, resources, tips and tools to help you find the right combination as you take your life out for an authentic SPIN?
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
12:17 PM
Monday, September 25, 2006
Jargon Translations: the Last Thumb Filtering for Fit
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"Street performers draw people in, amaze them, and then ask for money. Seemingly improvisional, street performers in fact stabilize their scripts. Every performer must have practiced bits to use as opportunities arise. A street performer's bits cannot be picked fully formed out of a hat. Improv theatre involves new-to-the-world performances. If you're 'winging it,' you're doing improv."
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. In the UnInterview, you have to translate your skills and accomplishments into their dissatisfactions, their priorities, their values, and their jargon as their implicit needs surface within their concerns or problems. You can figure out what their challenges may be ahead of time by following six rules of thumb.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: One of the easiest ways of learning the jargon is to complete a survey of knowledge-gathering interviews, isn’t it?
Explorer: It sure is, because the last rule of thumb is all about translation – especially if you are changing careers or industry niches.
Eagle: Using their language you may refer to problems as "an area you probably are planning to move into" or "a concern of yours" or "a challenge facing you."
Explorer: Our survey approach is a way of gathering inside intelligence about a particular organization or career direction by talking to people.
J2020F: One of the things that I like about this approach is you are NOT looking for a job – and you truly mean it.
Explorer: And truthfully, by following our approach, you are narrowing your career search from the very broad to the very specific.
Eagle: And remember. YOU ARE THE SCREENER, here. Survey interviewing serves two purposes.
J2020F: O.K. I’ll bite, what’s the first one?
Eagle: First, it expands your network of contacts, and second, it provides you information about potential jobs and allows you to become more focused in your career goals.
J2020F: Whom do you talk to?
Eagle: Begin by identifying the organizations and people that at least appear to do what you want to do.
Explorer: You may start by finding somebody who does something close to what you want.
J2020F: How do you find the first one?
Explorer: You can obtain names from directories of all kinds -- online -- and in paper form, such as the Chamber of Commerce, newspaper and magazine articles, even your holiday card list.
Eagle: You already have a network of friends. If they aren't doing what you think you'd like to do, they may be able to refer you to someone who is. Or, when all else fails, try social networking services like Linked In.
J2020F: What do you do when you make contact?
Eagle: When calling someone you were referred to (your secondary sources), you may not get through to the person on the first try.
J2020F: That’s happened to me many times. How do you handle the screened call?
Eagle: If asked the nature of the call, just give the referral source and state that the call is personal.
J2020F: Then what?
Explorer: When you reach your party, cover these points.
1. The name of your referral source.
2. Your major interest -- the briefer, the better.
3. A face-to-face appointment you want to schedule.
Eagle: As a general rule of thumb you should ask for about 15 minutes of the person's time, although you will usually end up with more than this.
J2020F: How does the interview unfold?
Explorer: Be genuinely interested in the other person.
J2020F: Rather then only as someone who might have an opening now or can get me a job?
Eagle: Remember that this is a human being who has a career and may be passionate about their work – or, maybe just as importantly is dissatisfied. Either way this information can help you make decisions about what you want to do.
Explorer: So, in the interview ask:
1. How did you get into this field?
2. What do you like most about the job?
3. What do you like least?
4. What are your primary responsibilities?
5. Do you know anyone else I might benefit from talking to?
J2020F: Do you follow an agenda like the one you described with the decision maker?
Eagle: Well, here are some guidelines:
1. Plan a manageable agenda, with four or five key open-ended questions.
2. Let the person interviewed talk freely.
3. Ask answerable questions that are open-ended.
4. Focus on the person.
Explorer: People love to talk about themselves, and most want to help you out.
Eagle: We all feel flattered when asked for advice or for our opinion.
J2020F: I can see how in a survey framework, following up later with what happened when you followed their advice is very powerful.
Explorer: It almost always guarantees a second or third meeting without any awkward feelings attached to either party.
Eagle: And, remember that the world is really a dynamically changing set of events. Returning for a second or third time will almost always result in a new list of introductions or key inside information.
J2020F: What about follow-up to build the knowledge-sharing relationship?
Explorer: I’m glad you asked. Remember to keep a record of everyone you talk to in journal or contacts database, and ALWAYS send a thank you note.
J2020F: What if I feel intimidated. I mean I’m moving to a new resort location and I don’t really have a network already established.
Explorer: If you're shy try a practice interview by talking to a person who shares a mutual enthusiasm, like skiing or mountain biking or glass blowing or 3-D puzzles.
Eagle: You can also talk to somebody at a place that fascinates or interests you, such as a television station, museum or sports arena.
Explorer: Or, pick someone who works on an issue that fascinates or interests you like global warming or global heritage history sites.
J2020F: After I follow the six rules of thumb, how do I persuade someone that I'm the best fit for my ideal position?
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
7:14 AM
Sunday, September 24, 2006
CNN with Your Six Thumbs Agenda
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"Proper characterization turns service activities into memorable performances. No element is too small to contribute to contribute to the creation of character. Getting into character provides a sense of purpose. Acting 'as if' goes to the heart of characterizing a role. Understand how to turn every interaction into an experience. The act of acting differentiates memorable experiences from ordinary activity."
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. Whether you want or need to create a position or just want to gain the upper hand on your competition, pay attention to the career needs of the people in your survey. Find ways to circle back with progress reports and information – and better yet – inside business intelligence they might find valuable.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: If you are going after a known title, for which you might have any number of internal candidates targeting it as part of their succession and developmental plans, you lower your odds of succeeding, right?
Explorer: Not only that, but you face competition from any number of professionals -- hundreds or thousands -- searching for similar positions in the public job marketplaces.
Eagle: So, while it seems logical you spend your time more efficiently going after known positions, the odds are stacked against you.
J2020F: That’s why every traditional career manual and coach extols the virtues of networking.
Eagle: But, most people use that approach pretending not to be looking for a job, when in fact they may be desperately looking and hoping. How does your survey approach differ?
Explorer: Well, you get a better understanding of the marketplace. Think of it as being more like a CNN reporter on location following a story or like conducting a marketing focus group.
J2020F: In what way?
Explorer: Our survey helps define how you might fit the requirements as defined at other companies, so you have a thorough understanding of how to sell yourself.
Eagle: Of course don't overlook referrals from each of your interviewees, and do promise to circle back with the results of your survey, so they may benefit in their own career too.
J2020F: Circle back with business intelligence?
Eagle: If you pretend you aren’t looking for a job, you tend to think only about yourself and your immediate needs.
Explorer: That’s the fatal flaw of most networking schemes.
J2020F: How is the survey approach different?
Eagle: Remember, no one has all the time and energy to stay on top of their own daily problems and challenges and the time to get inside information from other colleagues in their field.
J2020F: So you represent an easy way for them to accomplish both?
Explorer: Right. And you have a reason to re-contact them even though you haven’t found a job.
Eagle: Which is a problem most people encounter with the flawed networking approach.
J2020F: What do you mean?
Eagle: I mean, most people feel uncomfortable calling people back when they haven’t found a job – which is the answer to the frequently asked question by someone – how’s your job search going?
Explorer: Contrast that to suggesting you meet again to update them on your survey, and to share some information they might find valuable because they told you about their career hopes and dreams and current challenges.
Eagle: And, when you return with your proposal, you can pitch it to them indirectly by asking for their opinion and advice.
J2020F: Why?
Eagle: Who knows, they may hire you. You are already a known commodity. Especially if you have been forwarding interesting articles and news items about your mutual interests.
J2020F: That seems like a more authentic approach.
Explorer: It is, and in the course of your survey it becomes easier to gather information about detailed needs and problems facing the type of organizations you target from people who know and trust you.
J2020F: What kind of information are you going after?
Explorer: Here are some rules of thumb to keep in mind. If it is a large organization that interests you, you don't have to discover the problems of their whole organization.
J2020F: You don’t?
Explorer: No. You only need to discover the problems that are bugging the person-who-has-the-ultimate-responsibility-to-hire-you.
Eagle: Don't assume that the problems have to be huge, complex or hidden.
J2020F: Really?
Eagle: Really. The problems bothering the decision-maker may be small, simple and obvious. All you may need to do is discover why the boss was dissatisfied with the performance by the person who vacated the opening.
J2020F: But don't have to educate the decision-maker?
Eagle: Instead your task is to read your potential boss or client's mind.
Explorer: Your bright idea may have already been tried and discarded because of politics.
J2020F: So the rule of thumb is not to assume anything.
Explorer: Right. You are there to test and to probe.
J2020F: So how do you do that?
Explorer: Here are six ways to discover what's top of mind. The first is by analyzing the organization at a distance and making some educated guesses.
J2020F: Tell me how you do that, and what you look for.
Explorer: If the organization is expanding, then they need more of what they already have; or more of what they already have, but with different style, added skills.
Eagle: Or other pluses that are needed; or something they don't presently have -- a new kind of person, with new skills doing a new function or service.
J2020F: That makes sense. What about the second?
Explorer: The second, if the organization is continuing as is, then they need to replace people who were fired -- find out why and what was lacking.
Eagle: Or to replace people who quit -- find out what was prized about them.
Explorer: Or to create a new position -- yes, this happens even in organizations that are not expanding due to old needs which weren't provided for, earlier, but now must be.
J2020F: Even if they have to cut out some other function or position or revamping present assignments?
Explorer: Stranger things have happened before.
J2020F: What about the third condition?
Explorer: If the organization is reducing its size, staff, or product or service then they have not yet decided which staff to terminate, i.e., which functions to give low priority to -- in which case that is their problem, and you may be able to help them identify which functions are "core functions".
J2020F: Really?
Explorer: Yes. Or have decided which functions or staff to terminate (in which case they may need multi-talented people or generalists able to do several jobs, i.e., functions, instead of just one.
J2020F: How about analyzing the problems of the decision-makers by talking to them directly?
Eagle: As we said earlier, you may place yourself in their path -- at a religious institution, restaurant, cultural event or recreational venue.
Explorer: You want to listen carefully and take what they say seriously as they discuss their problems.
J2020F: What else? I sense you guys are on a roll.
Eagle: How about analyzing the decision-maker's problems by talking to their counterpart in another organization similar to one that interests you?
J2020F: With your survey.
Explorer: Or, you might find the person who used to work at the organization and for the boss you want to approach.
J2020F: Obviously, nobody knows the problems bugging a boss so much as someone who works or used to work for them.
Eagle: If they still work for them then you need to be discreet.
Explorer: Ex-employees are not necessarily any longer under that sort of pressure.
J2020F: Can’t you use your network contacts to find someone who knows the organization that interests you?
Explorer: You can, or knows someone who knows; knows the decision-maker or know someone who knows; knows who their counterpart in a similar organization or someone who knows…. Linked In turns out to be a great source for this kind of sleuthing.
Eagle: Or who knows your predecessor, or knows someone who knows; knows your "opposite number" in another organization -- a competitor -- or knows someone who knows.
Explorer: Finally broaden your research from your target organization to one similar to it, the decision-maker, and their counterpart in another organization.
J2020F: So that leaves one more rule of thumb, doesn't it?
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
11:45 AM
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Creating a Position: the Most Rewarding but Hardest to Buy
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"Every action contributes to the total experience being staged. Business performances must rival those featured on Broadway and in ballparks. Theater is not a metaphor but a model. Whenever employees work in front of customers, an act of theatre occurs. Managers must leverage some service dimension to stage memorable surprises. Frequent purchase programs serve to commoditize offerings."
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. The most enjoyable job for you is one you create in the quality-of-life community you’ve chosen and now call home. You must do all the heavy lifting required to translate your passions and most enjoyable skills into a compelling ideal description, to identify emerging trends, needs and economic opportunities, and then to craft a proposal.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: What if there isn’t any job available in the resort community I’ve targeted – or for that matter in the second or third region I’m interested in?
Explorer: You may have to create it.
J2020F: How do I do that?
Eagle: The entire process can be summed up with the answers to six simple questions:
1. What skills do I have and enjoy?
2. Where do I want to market those skills, in terms of the highest premium value I can command – in changing industries, markets and types of customers, clients or users?
3. What kinds of organizations can I focus on in terms of my goals, passions and use of my skills in my geographical area of preference?
4. What are the names of those potential organizations?
5. What are their problems at the level I want to work?
6. Who there has the power to hire me? Who do I know in my growing “rolodex” who can introduce me?
Explorer: As you zero in with answers to those questions you'll find one of three options.
J2020F: One has to be that you can find a position in one of your targeted companies, right?
Explorer: And if not, you may find a position that doesn't exist in your target, but does at other companies, or better yet at one of their competitors.
Eagle: And one that doesn't exist yet but you can create. The hardest, yet most rewarding option is the third. We call it being an intrapreneur – an entrepreneur inside a company with a de facto internal customer base.
J2020F: Now that makes sense. But If I wanted to, how would I go about it?
Eagle: It’s a matter of timing. An executive team is in the early stages of recognizing the need for reinvention, but doesn’t quite know how to pull it off and wonders if they’ve got the right set of talent tribes in place, for instance.
Explorer: So, you’ve got to make a lot of educated guesses and dig deeper into information about your target organization to better customize your approach.
Eagle: And you'll need to think through how to present your strategies in a simple to understand (and buy) manner.
Explorer: And how to persuade the decision-maker -- often a visionary or early adopter -- to take a risk with you by collaborating on cost/ benefit calculations together.
J2020F: All of that research, presentation and preparation is for a build-from-scratch-job creation. Isn’t there another way you mentioned?
Explorer: For your second option, frequently in your survey of contacts, you will be able to find another organization that already has the type of position, by title, you want to create in your target organization.
Eagle: You still must convince the decision-maker to create a new position, but you can point to a competitor's success as a proof point.
J2020F: You said from a survey?
Explorer: Of course, you're looking for introductions to someone who is already doing what you plan to propose to your target.
J2020F: So, what you are saying is networking can turn into a survey of jobs already in other organizations, but not yet in the one you are targeting?
Eagle: Just change your perspective slightly as you interview for inside knowledge and business intelligence. Your role is to interview that person to identify specific challenges and problems that are currently being addressed.
J2020F; You'll want to find out what is working and what isn't, so you won't have to reinvent the wheel, if I get the point of this “survey”?
Explorer: Yes. And, most importantly you'll want to find out where they came from before the position, how they sold themselves into the position, and where they see their career going in the next several years.
J2020F: Why?
Eagle: You will still have to sell yourself with a proposal, but now you can frame your presentation based on the results of your survey.
Explorer: You can show how other organizations found the role less risky than they first imagined, so you bring value based on your survey to your target organization.
Eagle: You can also emphasize that you and your target will encounter less resistance when you implement your bright idea, because you know all about the landmines and pitfalls that the other company paid their executive to learn in their “knowledge lab.”
J2020F: I can see that the third option – finding a publicly advertised opening --feels more comfortable, but in reality has the most competition because it is known.
Eagle: Exactly. Creating a position is the most rewarding, but most difficult to sell. Finding someone else already performing it in another company you surveyed makes it easier and faster to approve.
J2020F: But, isn't all this networking stuff just a smoke screen? Doesn't everyone else know you're just looking for a job?
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
7:25 AM
Friday, September 22, 2006
Negotiating a Soft Close Takes a Village
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
“Collaborative customizers work with their customers to determine what they need and then produce it for them. Adaptive customizers offer one product designed to let users alter it themselves. Cosmetic customizers present a standard good or service differently to different customers. Transparent customizers provide a tailored offering without customers knowing that it is customized for them."
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. While not common, the following may occur on the spot so be prepared. Your target will want you even more and will be thinking in terms of the top salary he can afford. But, the top might not be adequate for you so your target might start informal negotiations to lower your expectations.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: What should you do? With your emphasis on long-term opportunity, your target begins thinking that you're the type that will come through and will naturally want more pay, or is that just day dreaming?
Explorer: Not at all. The more you produce the more your target will conclude there are not budget constraints on productivity and results. So your goal to stimulate that kind of thought process.
Eagle: Your target will already be thinking about bonuses, promotions, options, etc. Which obviously works in your favor.
J2020F: So, the three questions – ”Why are You Here,” “Precisely What Can You Do for Me” and “How Much Will it Cost Me” – all must be covered, right? And then you close?
Explorer: You must deal with them in any interview, since they are going on in the mind of your interviewer.
Eagle: However, your target won't be able to make you an offer right there on the spot.
J2020F: I knew there must be a catch. Why?
Explorer: Because the interview went so much better than your target expected, he or she will have to get the Human Resources machinery in place to make you an offer and will close by thanking you and telling you when to expect the next contact.
Eagle: Now comes the most important part.
J2020F: Oh no.
Eagle: You must send a written note that night.
J2020F: Oh, you scared me. You must have a boilerplate for this too, right?
Eagle: It is very simple: a line about thanking for the time, another one about what particularly impressed you about what your target said, and a closing saying you are looking forward with pleasure to hearing from her again within the time your target specified.
Explorer: One thing that goes without saying is to have your references already chosen and contacted -- five friends who can give a composite picture of you: your expertise, your values, your private life as a human being.
J2020F: What kinds of references? Who should they be?
Explorer: In the best case they are substantial citizens, well known in their community -- senior business executives, bankers and others.
Eagle: In this mobility-driven era, see if you can get a general-purpose letter of recommendation from them. More people have been using the endorsement feature of Linked In as a variation on this principle.
Explorer: And, I would add, to save them time, you can give them an outline of the kinds of things that will help them.
J2020F: And, then I schedule my start date?
Explorer: Not necessarily. After the interview, things will drag on and you must be prepared for the eventuality.
Eagle: A month isn't atypical due to travel schedules and all sorts of things over which you have no control.
J2020F: A month?
Eagle: Yes. If the time frame has already elapsed plus one week, then it is time to figure out a way of getting back in touch.
J2020F: By then, I can’t imagine what I would say to keep the deal alive.
Explorer: You might say, "I've of course been thinking further about our conversation, and it occurs to me you may be interested in the attached article on this subject."
Eagle: Or, "An additional detail on the proposal seems to me important enough to call to your attention...."
Explorer: Or, "I have had a change of address, and I assume that may be why I have not heard from you, so here it is....”
J2020F: So be creative.
Explorer: Be creative by circling back to your contacts who introduced you in the first place.
Eagle: You can’t rest on your laurels, so review your journal and list of other targets and potentials. Now is a good time to update your web of relationships.
J2020F: Things change, right?
Eagle: Exactly. It’s amazing how many opportunities can be discovered by applying “what you know now” to your early targeting strategies and initial research.
J2020F: What if there isn’t any job available in the resort community you’ve targeted – or for that matter in the second or third region you’re interested in?
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
10:15 AM
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Making it Easy to Buy Your Brilliant Ideas
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"To enter the Experience Economy, first customize your goods and services. Mass customizers modularize their goods and services. Companies can disclose, reveal, or conceal all combinations of goods and services. Customers don't want choice; they just want exactly what they want.”
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. As you present your proposal in the UnInterview you won’t know everything, because you are on the outside looking in. You will encounter new information about the situation and challenges that you hadn’t anticipated. But all is not lost. Probe. Ask intelligent questions. Uncover what they’ve already tried, but discarded as unworkable solutions.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: So the target decision-maker at this stage will want to see your mind in operation.
Explorer: That’s right and this is where you can't clam up.
Eagle: Just act as though you were already on the team.
J2020F: That sounds easier than when you are in the interview and fielding questions.
Explorer: The idea is to discuss your own idea. Ask where your target thinks there might be a problem, if any.
J2020F: Oh, I get it.
Explorer: You will learn more about the company as the conversation continues, so look for what factors that you didn't anticipate.
J2020F: What if the decision-maker asks touch questions about information I didn’t anticipate?
Eagle: Field them. What new light do they shed on your idea?
Explorer: And, remember, your expertise doesn't consist, at this point, in producing brilliant solutions, but in asking perceptive questions.
J2020F: So, the more intelligent questions I can ask, the better?
Explorer: Exactly. And, also remember that the longer the interview lasts the happier you should be.
J2020F: Why?
Eagle: Your target has the power to terminate it at any time.
Explorer: Hence the longer it lasts the more your target is attempting to sell you on joining the organization.
J2020F: So far I’ve endured the first phase – Why Are You Here? – and the second – Who Better to Carry it Out Than Me? -- what is the third phase?
Explorer: The third phase is, “How Much is it Going to Cost Me?”
J2020F: I should have seen it coming. Obviously, this is the next logical question.
Eagle: Equally obviously your target has no right to ask.
J2020F: What? Why not?
Eagle: When your targets want to buy they should bid first.
Explorer: So much, in theory.
J2020F: Now, you’re confusing me.
Explorer: In actual fact, of course targets successfully get away with reversing the roles because the whole human resource system in this country has everyone terrorized.
J2020F: So, you are going to have to give an answer?
Explorer: Before answering, however, you must have several things firmly in mind -- you must know what the general salary level is for the kind of position you're shooting at or asking your target to create.
J2020F: Got you. And?
Eagle: Or if your aiming to hired as a consultant -- what is the appropriate level for such services?
J2020F: Or?
Explorer: Or, if you’re viewing your target as a potential client or customer for some entrepreneurial product or service, what this should cost.
J2020F: So, you really must do your homework. You always want to find yourself at the highest differentiated and highest degree of relevance end of the range, so you can charge value-based high premium fees.
Explorer: There are no two ways about it. You must understand that your target doesn't have a flat figure in mind, but does have a range in mind.
J2020F: A range?
Eagle: It is important for you to bargain, therefore -- from $2500 to $5000 is worth bargaining for.
Explorer: If you don't you will be seen as naive at best.
J2020F: How does it work?
Eagle: You bargain by playing the range game right back at your targets.
Explorer: It consists in two parts of equal and overwhelming importance; and you cannot even draw breath between these two.
J2020F: So you must have a script, right?
Explorer: Using your own words, the first part goes something like this -- Well, based on my survey and as a result of looking at some other situations, almost as interesting as yours, I would be amenable to something between $___ and $ ____ (which is a range that overlaps the target's in the following manner: your minimum is just below the targets maximum.
J2020F: And the second part?
Eagle: And then you say immediately, however, I want you to know one thing. I am not half as interested in the starting amount, as I am in the intellectual challenge and the long-range opportunity.
J2020F: And, then I start on Monday?
Got Knowledge?
Copyright ©2002 - 2006 Aarnaes Howard Associates. All rights reserved worldwide.
5:21 AM
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The UnInterview: Presenting Business Intelligence to a Receptive Executive
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs
Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories
"A simple cue can heighten an experience through a single sense. Many experience stagers start with a list of impressions and then develop the theme. The transition begins when you give away experiences in order to sell existing offerings. You're not truly selling an experience unless you charge admission. Your experience won't be worth an admission fee until you stop giving it away for free. Not only retail stores but entire shopping malls will charge admission. The history of economic progress consists of charging a fee for what once was free. In business-to-business situations, stage experiences where customers pay you to sell to them."
B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, “The Experience Economy”
DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. You've been invited by a senior person -- a decision-maker who can employ you or purchase your products, services, experiences or transformations -- for a specific purpose. That purpose is to discuss the mutual interest you both share and to hear about your proposal based on solid information and your thorough research.
Journal of 2020 Foresight: If your agenda is an outline for presenting your proposal, how does it flow?
Explorer: Smoothly.
J2020F: If I follow your advice?
Explorer: Right! You've uncovered something you can do for the target, a problem you can help solve, some need the target knows about and doesn't consider a problem yet -- which you nevertheless can meet.
J2020F: Such as?
Explorer: How do we know, you did the research!
J2020F: Smart aleck!
Explorer: It might be: cost reduction, sales increase, growth, new applications of their services or products, bringing in an entirely new approach, increased prestige, efficiency, etc. or some opportunity you can create that your target has never thought of.
Eagle: Of course that something starts with your strongest and most enjoyable skills.
J2020F: Ah, I like this already. What happens first?
Explorer: You will encounter three phases in a quality interview, although no two will be alike.
Eagle: Within the framework of your general enthusiasm, what is the great idea that you have to contribute toward solving the target's problems?
Explorer: The target may decide the proposal is so sound it doesn't need much further discussing.
J2020F: So, that’s the first phase. I like it even more. In the second phase?
Explorer: You answer the question, who can carry it out?
Eagle: Who better than the person who thought it up?
J2020F: You took the works out of my mouth.
Explorer: Your target may be satisfied that you have the necessary functional skills to carry it out, so you won't spend too much time selling your specific experience.
J2020F: Really?
Explorer: Really, because you’ve already shown initiative by approaching her and doing your homework.
J2020F: Now, I’m loving this approach. What happens in the third phase?
Explorer: The third phase, usually meanders as if the target is beating around the bush. It is really about figuring out what kind of person are you.
J2020F: Like what exactly?
Eagle: He means like, can you work with others using imagination and creativity?
Explorer: Do you have a big picture of the world today?
Eagle: Are you conversant with changing technical and social trends?
J2020F: Whoa. That may be way too open ended for me.
Explorer: Not if you are prepared.
J2020F: Prepared in what way?
Explorer: Prepare for the interview by asking what does the target need to know in order to make an intelligent decision about you?
Eagle: Make it easy to buy you.
J2020F: Oh, I get it. If I were on the other side of the table doing the interviewing, I'd want to know the answers to some key questions, right?
Explorer: Right. Three types of questions: Why are you here?
Eagle: He doesn't want to hear because I want a job or because you invited me.
J2020F: Darn. That’s where I was going.
Eagle: She doesn't want to hear about you, he's only thinking about his own intelligent self-interest.
Explorer: She wants to hear a variation of the following script, but in your own words:
As you have learned from our earlier communication with each other, I am fascinated by what you do (if it isn't true, you shouldn't be there).
As is true for you, the _____ field (or market or industry, etc.) has been one of my passions all of my life.
During the last few years, I have become increasingly interested in (an aspect of the field, etc. that you want to talk about, and why).
J2020F: O.K. So I can see this is where the research about the community, the industry, the company all of it pays off.
Eagle: And, now you are beginning to set up your passions, experience, knowledge and interests in the form of a value proposition. The script continues:
I have, of course, kept a pretty close eye on developments in this, and the more I studied it the more convinced I became that the key to the solution lies in (here you introduce your proposal).
As this conviction grew in my mind, I began conducting an exhaustive investigation of every single leading organization that was active in our field, like (name others, name the targets).
Because while the key to the problem is, as I have indicated, relatively simple, it's going to take some extremely intelligent, open-minded, forward-thinking people to get it through.
The outcome of my survey was the discovery that in my estimation you and your people stand head and shoulders above everyone else in this field.
I believe you are the group best qualified to do it, and that is why I am here.
J2020F: Wow. On the one hand that seems like a very bold approach. And, yet on the other hand it seems very systematic and logical. Now what?
Explorer: You have to prepare for the next question – one that follows from the first: Precisely what can you do for me?
J2020F: Gulp!
Eagle: There’s no gulp about it. You effortlessly transition to the next script:
You say, specifically, your _____ needs tightening up, as we both know.
The type of thing that I think would be invaluable in (reducing costs, or whatever problem you are zeroing in on) is _______.
It would, I think, result in ______ (be totally specific here).
J2020F: What if you are self-employed and therefore offering a product or service instead?
Eagle: You will of course adapt the above to fit your particular situation. But the approach is basically the same.
Explorer: And regardless, if you've done your work thoroughly your target will be fascinated with this brilliant idea of yours.
Eagle: And the conversation will change its focus from you, to it.
J2020F: But what if they’ve already tried what I’m proposing and it crashed and burned in a big explosion?
Explorer: Hopefully, some one in the chain of introductions will have alerted you. But, you bring up a good point. There will, of course, be factors that you could not possibly have known about from the outside, and hence possibly flaws in your brilliant idea.
Eagle: But your target will be thinking: with a mind like that, based on the information you've gotten on the outside, what could you do if you were on the inside?
J2020F: By my count, you covered two out of three questions, what's the third?
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