Tuesday, 25 February 2014
A Survivor’s Guide to Bullies, Backstabbers and Bastards
As I survey employees about their jobs, one thing most of us say is we’ve all worked for our share of terrible bosses.
Some of these managers are Bullies: Controlling, picky and petty. Some are Backstabbers: Taking credit for your work and undermining you at every turn. And others are just plain Bastards: Mean, vindictive, conniving.
And, if we are lucky, we get all three in one package like my worst boss Voldemort (not his real name). A kindly grandfather-type before we began working together, he quickly became a dictator after his appointment over me—removing people who had worked for me for years without my input, taking huge expenses from other operating areas and putting them into my P&L, storming into my employees’ offices and screaming at them if they didn’t do his insane bidding. One morning at a private breakfast meeting, as I attempted to explain my frustration, he nixed any further discussion. I remember wondering what prison sentence I would have to serve if I stuck a fork in his eye.
Maybe you have had this
Now, to be fair, some of these folks are insecure because they are in over their heads, others have never been taught proper interpersonal and managerial skills, and some believe their harsh behavior is not only accepted but encouraged in the business world.
More often, unfortunately, these folks are just bad to the bone.
Over the last 30 years I have collected more than a few horror stories of such bosses, and a few strategies to survive the evildoers above us. First…
Don’t Lose It. If these jerks can get you to lose your temper they win. And they know it. No matter how tempted you may be to fork-stab your boss, don’t lose your cool. The irony: You will go to prison and he will become a beloved martyr. Take a deep breath and live to fight another day. As the Brits say, keep a “Stiff upper lip.”
Talk it Out. Never, ever go to war in public with a bad boss. In private, have a calm conversation with your boss about the type of direction you need, how you best react to feedback, etc. Be polite, positive, and focus on how you can do your best work. Telling the boss he makes Stalin look like a sissy will just create an enemy. This discussion may not solve your problems, but it’s a must-try first step.
Don’t Complain Up. Unless a boss’s behavior strays into harassing territory—when you’ve got to tell HR or the big boss—realize that if you get into a pissing match with your boss you will lose. These guys are survivors. And avoid the temptation to sit around in the break room venting with your coworkers. There are no secrets in a corporation. The odds of your bad-mouthing getting back to your boss are just about 100 percent. In the end, you’ll just earn a reputation as a “high maintenance complainer” who no other managers will want on their team.
Confide to an Outsider. Find a trusted confidant outside the company who you can talk to about the problem, either a family member, friend, mentor, religious leader, or therapist. If you let the problem fester it will drive you to anxiety and perhaps even depression, which will adversely affect your life not only inside but outside of work too.
Don’t Lose Confidence. Sad, but many bad bosses derive a sense of twisted satisfaction when they force you to doubt yourself and your abilities. To this end, they’ll pit their people against each other, yell or threaten, look down their noses at you, and let you know who’s really in charge. It is a power trip. To block the bad energy, buoy yourself. When I was working for Voldemort, I left a desperate voice mail message to an old colleague and asked him to tell me that I was great. His genuine email came a few hours later. He said, “You are not Chester, you are Spartacus.” Then he told me all the ways I was talented. It made me laugh and tear up a little. It got me through that day and many more as I read and re-read it.
Realize You Won’t Change Them. It is only once in a blue moon when bad managers change, and it’s typically only after harsh intervention from those above them, not below. So don’t expect them to suddenly become more touchy-feely or “get” you. If you are going to stay working for them, you need to make peace with your situation and find fulfillment elsewhere in your life.
Get Out of Dodge. There are times when, for the sake of those you love and for your own sanity, you have to transfer to another department or leave the company entirely. Do so on good terms (you may want to come back one day after the boss has been led from the building in shackles). Find a place to land before you bolt.
Move On. The best revenge is to live well. Take solace in the fact that when you wake up in the morning you are a good person. Forgive them their errors, and don’t spend a minute more thinking about them. Enjoy your life and your family.
Admittedly I broke every one of these principles during my working career, but this is the advice I give now to those I counsel with, and I think it can help save a lot of heartache and pain.
Let me know how you’ve survived a Bully, Backstabber or Bastard. Your advice may be the inspiration someone out there needs to feel just like Spartacus.
Follow Me On Twitter: https://twitter.com/arjunsantosh
Follow Me On Twitter: https://twitter.com/arjunsantosh
Saturday, 15 February 2014
Do Pivots Matter?
There’s a sign on the wall but she wants to be sure
’Cause you know sometimes words have two meaningsLed Zeppelin – Stairway to Heaven
In late 2013 Cowboy Ventures did an analysis of U.S.-based tech companies started in the last 10 years, now valued at $1 billion. They found39 of these companies. They called them the “Unicorn Club.”
The article summarized 10 key learnings from the Unicorn club. Surprisingly one of the “learnings” said that, “…the “big pivot” after starting with a different initial product is an outlier.Nearly 90 percent of companies are working on their original product vision. The four “pivots” after a different initial product were all in consumer companies (Groupon, Instagram, Pinterest and Fab).”
One of my students sent me the article and asked, “What does this mean?” Good question.
Since the Pivot is one of the core concepts of the Lean Startup I was puzzled. Could I be wrong? Is it possible Pivots really don’t matter if you want to be a Unicorn?
Short answer – almost all the Unicorns pivoted. The authors of the article didn’t understand what a Pivot was.
—
What’s a pivot?A pivot is a fundamental insight of the Lean Startup. It says on day one, all you have in your new venture is a series of untested hypothesis. Therefore you need to get outside of your building and rapidly test all your assumptions. The odds are that one or more of your hypotheses will be wrong. When you you discovery your error, rather than firing executives and/or creating a crisis, you simply change the hypotheses.
What was lacking in the article was a clear definition of a Pivot. A Pivot is not just changing the product. A pivot can change any of nine different things in your business model. A pivot may mean you changed your customer segment, your channel, revenue model/pricing, resources, activities, costs, partners, customer acquisition – lots of other things than just the product.
Definition: “A pivot is a substantive change to one or more of the 9 business model canvascomponents.”
Business ModelOK, but what is a business model?
Think of a business model as a drawing that shows all the flows between the different parts of your company’s strategy. Unlike an organization chart, which is a diagram of how job positions and functions of a company are related, a business model diagrams how a company makes money – without having to go into the complex details of all its strategy, processes, units, rules, hierarchies, workflows, and systems.
Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model canvas puts all the complicated strategies of your business in one simple diagram. Each of the 9 boxes in the canvas specifies details of your company’s strategy. (The Business Model Canvas is one of the three components of the Lean Startup. See the HBR article here.)
So to answer to my students question, I pointed out that the author of the article had too narrow a definition of what a pivot meant. If you went back and analyzed how many Unicorns pivoted on any of the 9 business model components you’d likely find that the majority did so.
Take a look at the Unicorn club and think about the changes in customer segments, revenue, pricing, channels, all those companies have made since they began: Facebook, LinkedIn – new customer segments, Meraki – new revenue models, new customer segments, Yelp –product pivot, etc. – then you’ll understand the power of the Pivot.
Lessons Learned
- A Pivot is not just when you change the product
- A pivot is a substantive change to one or more of the 9 business model canvascomponents
- Almost all startups pivot on some part of their business model after founding
- Startups focused on just product Pivots will limited their strategic choices – it’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight
Follow Me On Twitter:https://twitter.com/arjunsantosh
12 Outdated Web Features That Need to Disappear in 2014
To figure out what exactly agitates users the most, we asked 12 entrepreneurs which website features small businesses should avoid (or get rid of) at all costs. Here's what they had to say:
1. Irrelevant Elements
By far, the biggest issue I come across with new site launches is this: They use too many elements that bring no real value to the audience. In fact, these often just downgrade user experience considerably. There are too many crowded designs and too much text on one page. There are too many icons and photos. Does your site really need a search bar? Do you really need to show the tag cloud in your blog sidebar? Think hard. What are the 20% of elements that bring 80% of the results you're after? Start there. Always have a sound reason for adding new features, bells and whistles. Never add more stuff just because it seems "cool and hip."2. Flash Intros
Flash intros are annoying for the customer, take too long to load, don't work on Apple mobile devices and are not recognized by Google. It is best to avoid them entirely.3. Photo Carousel
A lot of sites still feature these, but the time it takes for users to cycle through photos and the often too fast (or too slow) settings on the auto scroll make this a vastly inferior element to a simple and clean introduction video, such as the ones on Kickstarter and most Strikingly pages.4. Large Hero Images
It astounds me how many company websites feature a massive hero image right at the top of the site. This pushes down key content below the fold. It is a navigational blunder, and I think site visitors appreciate a simple, to-the-point experience. Nix the big image fillers!5. Stock Photos
Authenticity and personality are more important now than ever. Customers want to interact with brands they trust and want to learn about the people behind the company. Rather than using stock photos for your website, try taking photos of your team or customers. You don't want a customer to see the same stock photo on your website and your competitor's website, which is a very real risk. Be real!6. Animated GIF Flags
Sure, animated GIF flags look cool. There is something about the seamless loop effect that can mesmerize a user for seconds. Now that we have had more than 20 years to test their effectiveness, it turns out they add value. I know what you are thinking — what about the flame ones? I am afraid those are no longer needed. With HTML5 popping up everywhere, I am sure a new generation of flags and flames will, too, and flags will flood the web again. Do your best to stay clear, and let them live only as a memory of the good old days.7. Autoplay Videos
No one likes videos that automatically start playing. Websites that try to push up video views with autoplay are effectively stopping users from interacting with their content and brand on their own terms. That is a recipe for high levels of site abandonment, an indicator of user frustration and ultimately a lost chance to build rapport with a visitor.8. Automated Popups
In this age of mobile, too many websites are still built with pop-up windows. Some are instructional and others are for email capture. Getting a pop-up when you want to read an article or buy something is annoying to the user. And while how-to videos have a place, if you need to explain how it works to people, do it front and center on your homepage. Focus on a site that is clear, concise and has a strong call to action.9. 'Hello World' Blog Post
If you're using WordPress, make sure the website is updated to delete the generic "Hello World" blog post. Nothing shows a visitor that your website shouldn't be taken seriously like an old-fashioned, auto-generated blog post.10. Sidebars
Does your website really need a sidebar? Don't you want people to focus on your core content and not have their attention drawn to a bunch of stuff that gets crammed into 300 pixels on the right side of your site? Sidebars don't often translate well on mobile, which will continue to be a growing problem for your business. If you insist on having a sidebar, at least do something different than everyone else. Work with a designer to kick it up a notch so it's happily married to the content you want people to stay focused on.11. Reloading Pages
Web 2.0 is nearly 10 years old by now, yet I still see that most sites require the user to reload full pages at a time to navigate the site. With AJAX or Javascript/XMLHttpRequest, it is not necessary to reload entire pages. As a general rule, unless a page requires its own URL for SEO purposes, we do not make it fully reload. Instead, only the portion of the page changing will reload. The desired content is loaded into an HTML element container instead of reloading the entire page. This makes navigation much quicker, and the site responds much more quickly.12. M.dot Sites
We call them "m.dot" sites, as in "m.facebook.com." You'll see this when a company redirects you to a mobile version of its site, rather than spending the time and money to design and develop a responsive website experience.Wednesday, 5 February 2014
What if what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas?
I have yet to attend CES (the Consumer Electronics Show), the world-famous technology and electronics trade show held in Las Vegas that’s been around for nearly 50 years. However, I follow the goings on at CES with a great interest.
I thought that this year there were some absolutely fascinating launches, presentations, and meltdowns (anyone see Michael Bay’s freak-out at Samsung?). Of course, there is still a day left, but for the moment I would like to share my top 5 favorite inventions from CES.
5. Buzz off!
According to the NYPD, 14% of all crime in New York is iPhone theft. The start upYellowJacket, seeks to remedy this problem. Their smartphone case looks unassuming. Like many of these plastic sheaths, it can charge your iPhone, however it packs a punch—950,000 volts of electricity to be precise. Yes, this stun gun smartphone case could be a new answer in preventing petty theft of smartphones!
4. Living the video game
Motion detection technology will continue to surprise us all. YEI Technology makes a compelling case for this with PrioVR a motion-sensor harness that does away with a joystick and allows the player to use his own movement to control the action in the video game. This creates a wholly immersive experience, and can make the games less sedentary. Although now in its infancy, I wouldn’t be surprised if in a few years time these motion sensitive harnesses become de rigeur for gamers.
3. Mother, May I?
Mother comes to us from the minds behind Nabaztag, the creators of the now defunct robotic rabbits. This Wifi enabled matryoshka doll monitors objects in a house thanks to a series of colored motion detecting “cookies”. If, for example, you place a cookie on your medicine box, it will be able to detect if you’re taking your medications regularly and alert you if you haven’t. There are countless other applications that the creators have imagined in the video below.
2. The end of Passwords?
How many passwords have you entered today? For me, I’ve entered 6 and I’ve only been at the office for a few hours! We are all juggling a multitude of passcodes that, for securities sake, are often complex and diverse. That’s a lot of information to keep in our memories. This is why I loved Myris, by Eyelock. This tiny device scans the user’s iris and encrypts its unique pattern. Once installed, you can use the scanner to unlock email, bank, and social network accounts. Small, portable, and secure, this can change our online security.
1. Wrist Wars
The battle for our wrists continued at CES, with ever more smart watches being launched. Although as the New York Times pointed out, wearable devices face many obstacles before they become widely adopted by the general public. Key among them are battery life, price, and aesthetics. Never the less, CES still showcased some impressive wearable prototypes. I was particularly intrigued by the June bracelet by Netatmo which in addition to measuring the wearer’s sun exposure and informing them, via a connected app when they should apply sunscreen, was also one of the first “fashion forward” wearable tech I’ve seen. Expect to see the June watch featured in the pages of fashion magazines alongside bathing suits this summer.
I also was very interested in the Lumo Lift, which like the June bracelet, has a single function which is to improve posture. This magnetic chip that attaches to clothing like a pin closely monitors the wearer’s posture. If the wearer slouches or adapts a “closed” position, Lumo Lift sends a light vibration, signaling to the wearer that he needs to correct himself. Much like the Fuelband, the lift also monitors steps taken and calories burned.
It’s the sheer quantity of outrageous inventions that makes CES so unique. I hope that the gadgets in the above list make their way into our daily lives. But if not, no big deal, we’ll always have CES 2015!
Follow Me ON Twitter : https://twitter.com/arjunsantosh
Follow Me ON Twitter : https://twitter.com/arjunsantosh
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