Tag: failure

Don’t make it difficult

FabrizioLeave a comment

When adding complexity to a customer experience, we should ask if we do so to deliver more value or to put a patch on some insecurity of our organization.

Having customers queueing on the phone just means we are not sure we will be able to handle their questions.

Sneaking an hidden price in the service just means we are not sure people would pay for it.

Asking a question that does not change the transaction in any way when the customer is at the counter and ready to buy just means we are not sure we have enough information.

Pushing ads when the customer is seeking content just means we are not sure the customer would pay for the content alone.

Needs and wants are often fairly simple and straightforward, and it is worth the effort to attempt to meet them on the same field. On the other hand, fears and doubts are often quite layered and complex, and it is delusional to believe we can push them to the customers by keeping their experiences worth living.

Side effects

FabrizioLeave a comment

At some point, we need to start asking ourselves what type of effect our work has on the world.

We can’t continue to celebrate a new way to keep customers glued to the screen, a new technology that allows whoever to spread a message with the face and voice of a celebrity, a new creative ad from a company who is indirectly promoting obesity, a tweak in the algorithm that dumbs down your social media timeline.

Perhaps these are innovation, perhaps they are groundbreaking in their fields, perhaps there’s creativity and execution to be rewarded in these and other pieces of modern work. And perhaps, the very same thing could be used for good.

Yet, we should worry about how things are received and interpreted by the public, how the things we have helped developing and bringing to life are impacting millions of individuals, whether that is intended or not. We need to factor in side effects when talking about the work we want to do, otherwise our story is but a chapter featured in a book that others will complete.

Anybody will do

FabrizioLeave a comment

We have spent the past few decades complaining so much about politics and politicians that now we have offered our countries to businessmen, comedians, men on the street on a silver plate.

Being disappointed with part of a category, or even with a category at large, should not necessarily mean discredit that category completely. And definitely it should not mean that somebody more similar to us and that speaks our language could do a much better job and give prestige back to the category. Honestly, that’s just a way to keep complaining about the category in new forms and fashion few years down the road. And to see the category destroyed once and for all.

We could instead try to take back ownership of the category, refine the definition in a way that is more appropriate to our age and times, be absolutely clear on how we want members of the category to behave and what we will or we will not accept of them. And then, be active in guiding the development of the category in the direction we want it to develop.

It’s all about responsibility after all, and particularly these days we should stop thinking that anybody will do for the job but us.

Early mornings

FabrizioLeave a comment

Of the people I get to talk to, there is not one who does not praise the effectiveness of working early mornings, late afternoons, and weekends.

Clearly, there’s nothing special with early mornings, late afternoons, and weekends. A part from the fact that it’s quite. That you have no meetings, no one calling to ask for a favour, nobody stopping at your desk to tell you about their last weekend, no system updates, no colleague Skyping that customer with a faulty internet connection, no need to sync or strategize.

Somewhere along the way towards openness, transparency and flatness, we have lost track of the importance of focus. Lack of focus is one of the main reasons why employees are not productive, creative and innovative. The way the organization structures their working spaces, their calendars, their updates, and their breaks is a major driver of all this.

Inside-in

FabrizioLeave a comment

Talking about deeply personal and emotional topics transcends the need for an outlet to release personal demons.

It’s much more about achieving higher levels of self-awareness, that I believe being the stepping stone for everything – yes, everything! – you want to accomplish in life. We are very much used to approach reality inside-out, looking at what’s around from our perspective. We are also pretty familiar with an outside-in approach, letting the facts of the world influence who we think we are and the things we think we can do.

Inside-in, looking within to find and elaborate on feelings, fears, failures, pains, delusions, desires, passions, thoughts, ideas, plans. Stuff that we project outside, and also let others magnify. That is far less common, and we need to train in that.