Tag: wall street journal

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BLG Leadership Insights Managerial Competence Proactive Leaders

Failing Upwards: Jeff Zucker & NBC

The New York Times reported today that embattled NBC Chief Jeffery Zucker has stepped down.  Zucker was instrumental in Jay Leno’s questionable move to primetime last season as well as several other high profile calamities (Ben Silverman anyone?) in the network’s core programming. In a scathing opinion piece by Maureen Dowd earlier this winter, she summarizes the structural problems plaguing NBC. Zucker, an able manager of numbers, main critical failing was that he lacked a basic understanding of what Americans like to watch and political competence required to keep creative principles content in their work environment.

Jeffery Zucker tenure raises important questions for those in the realm of organizations. Too often management becomes seduced by the information produced by “hard data” and fails to pay proper attention to the more central question: are our core businesses serving their consumer bases? Anyone with a television in their home could tell you that NBC’s nightly programming wasn’t up to snuff, yet executives continually rolled out shows that would succeed on the basis of “cost per hour.”  This neglect for the viewer has come back to bite NBC in the form of depressed advertisement revenues, which has reduced NBC’s operating budget to fund scripted shows. This self perpetuating cycle leads organizations to employ a Hail Mary strategy- this explains moving Jay Leno to ten.

Mr. Zucker is sadly not the most significant case of someone constantly failing upwards; shareholders and managers continue to be wooed by the promise of success through the magic of numbers. For further evidence of this culture look no further than shamans of Wall Street peddling mortgages with dubious payment schedules.  To be clear, I am not advocating a management approach that does not use statistical analysis to make informed business decisions.  However, it is important to note that number-crunching can never substitute for enterprise and adventure. Leaders should focus upon staying true to their core constituents. Execute and the numerical indicators will follow suit.

Photo Credit: Arnisto

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BLG Leadership Insights

The Maverick Mistake

In late September of 2008, in the aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse and the bailout bill finding tepid support amongst legislators; John McCain decided he needed to act. He suspended his campaign and rushed to Washington to broker a deal.

John Heilemann and Mark Halperin in their recent book, Game Change, argue that McCain’s actions might have over empathized his ability to construct a swift reconciliation with the Democrats and Republicans. They write,  “McCain’s instinct when he saw a problem was to charge straight at it and try to solve it. He started thinking I can do this. I can cut this deal.”

Vision alone will not mobilize stagnant forces to create and sustain action. What becomes important in this context is strategic agility.The ability to jump into action and capitalize on opportunities and networks with incomplete information and time pressure.

“In staging his return to Washington on September 25, McCain left a great deal to be desired. There was no careful coordination with House Republicans or the White House. There was no media strategy, no plan for a press conference. Nothing. McCain just showed up in his Senate Office and said, Okay let’s see what I can do to get something moving here.”

Before embarking upon Washington, guns blazing, the McCain team should have done a better job identifying potential allies and resistors, while considering how these actions would be interpreted by the media and general public. In failing to think strategically the McCain campaign ceded the ability to frame the issue and in the midst of a presidential campaign it’s no small penalty. This oversight coupled with the Palin debacle cast doubt on McCain’s most important claim to the White House: experience.

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BLG Leadership Insights Leadership On the Edge Leadership Videos

Proactive Leaders In the Kitchen: Cutting Costs and Maintaining Brand

The era of the celebrity chef is currently being overshadowed by the global economic crisis. Restaurant owners, managers, and chefs are realizing that survival hinges on the ability to save money, run an efficient kitchen, and cut excessive spending. They need to be proactive

Business leaders in all industries: take note.

Today’s Wall Street Journal article, Reality Check; Please, shows us another victim of the economic downturn: Fine dining…and it’s causing celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay to tighten their proverbial waist-bands.

Chef Ramsay, best recognized by his sharply worded TV shows and surprising British cooking prowess, is now “hemorrhaging” money since he owns over 17 high-end restaurants internationally. Tourism and business expense accounts are dwindling–leading to half empty dining rooms and tight-lipped dinners.

So What’s a Chef To Do?

Chef Ramsay, long extolling the virtues of task-master-leadership on his reality TV shows, is now listening to his own advice. According to the article, he cut 15% of his staff, designed prix-fixe menus, abolished expensive products, and encouraged his chefs to use economical ingredients. Chef Ramsey reports that his new strategy is working–but barely.

A top of the line restaurant, the article mentions, costs nearly $2 million dollars to outfit, design, and stock and that’s not including staff. The fine dining industry isn’t known for it’s fraugality. However, when a high-end restaurant begins to spend less on high end ingredients (like asparagus, caviar, and rib-eye steak) the quality of the food becomes harder to control and the reputation and the brand of the restaurant is held over a dangerous cliff.

…And What’s A Business Leader Going To Do?

The same principle applies to any organization. Cutting your marketing departments costs will mean your team won’t be able to reliably produce great material. Limiting your budget will make it harder to get certain things done. You can likely think of more examples from personal experience.

However, like in a restaurant, the ability to make a smaller budget and low quality supplies work requires talent and know-how. As Chef Ramsay points out–his restaurants’ success requires a great chef that can still turn lesser ingredients into 3 Michelin Star food. A good manager will be able to stretch a small budget over a long period of time, keep people happy, and save money.

Looking to the food & beverage industry for lessons in leadership is worthwhile. Chefs, in every kitchen, need to not only have the business ability to know what to buy and where to buy it, but they also require a specific skill which allows them to turn boring products into attractive dishes. Leaders sometimes needs to be passionate chefs–concerned about quality, reputation, and fresh ingredients.

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Leadership Videos Managerial Competence

Head in the Clouds: Businesses Must Deal With Cloud Computing

Cloud computing, a term originating from an old network designers’ icon, is really just the ability to access and use everything you normally work with and need on your PC–without your PC. In other words, it’s the ability to hop on the Internet, or hop in the ‘cloud’, and start working on your spreadsheets, updating your order-forms, and listening to your music without your PC, your flash drive, or your external hard drive. However, even the experts are having a hard time defining cloud computing’s scope, power, and use….

So what are the implications?

Everyone is trying to see this one coming. The New York Times suggests that cloud computing may lend itself to larger censorship. Business Week thinks more and more businesses will rely on it. Newsweek is guessing that the technology will help developing nations. And the Wall Street Journal is witnessing a trend every business is dying to get into.

The thing is…everyone is right. Cloud computing will be huge and it’ll be a boon for emerging economies, new businesses, and consumers. However, cloud computing also comes with its own set of problems: security and censorship key among them.

What does this mean for your office?

Cloud computing is neither swift nor capable enough to reliably support the files and data your business likely uses everyday….

Continue reading “Head in the Clouds: Businesses Must Deal With Cloud Computing”
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BLG Leadership Insights

Inspiring Innovation: Google’s Leaders Start to Listen

In late May you might have heard about Google’s new mathematical formula that helps managers identify employees who feel underused. The formula, still in its planing stages, is supposed to remedy, in part, Google’s recent retention woes by letting upper management know who feels left out.

Google is famous for it’s lax employee environment and envy-inducing office frills but now the company, with over 20,000 people, is in danger of alienating and losing some staffers and their new ideas. In today’s Wall Street Journal Google’s senior management are said to have started addressing the problem by opening up direct channels to top brass. The Wall Street Journal sums it up well:

Previously, its [Google’s] early-stage projects weren’t systematically vetted by top executives. Employees with a new idea would lobby their bosses for resources and time. Once approved, a project could linger or die without getting much attention form senior management.

Google is becoming big enough to potentially drown big ideas before they can make their way to the Google headquarters. There are lots of ex-Google employees who have moved on to create their own (or work with other) start-up companies, like Twitter, because they can avoid Google’s brand of bureaucratic hassle.

Still, Google’s technique of allowing employees to work on their own ideas for one day a week has lead to great innovations. Later this year we can expect to see the launch of Google Wave, a product claiming to change the way we all share information, which has been created by two brothers in Australia who were given resources, time, and creative control by Google’s upper management.

Innovation’s will continue to drive Google’s brand since fluctuating revenue growth, generated by U.S. advertisers, will make new ideas a growing priority. Google’s recent efforts to hear out more employees can help and it will hopefully give their staffers the feeling that they are not lost in a growing maze of open, designer, cubicles.