The Law Of Unintended Consequences

Wine, Cheese and Starbucks

At the beginning I thought it was a joke, but yesterday the news confirmed it: Starbucks is planning to sell wine, beer and cheese in some of its stores.  Even if the move is limited to just a few locations, the impact on the Starbucks brand can be significant.

Even though Starbucks has been trying to move away from coffee for quite some time (they even removed the word "coffee" from its logo) the truth is that the Starbucks brand is first and foremost about coffee. 

There's probably a real need for a Starbucks-like atmosphere where instead of coffee you could enjoy wine, beer and hors d'oeuvres while relaxing, listening to music or working on your laptop, but I think the best way to address that need would be with a new, different brand.  What do you think?

Going Through The Motions

One

Yesterday RIM, the maker of Blackberry mobile phones, announced the resignation of its two co-CEOs.

I'm not suggesting, by any stretch of the immagination, that having two CEOs is the reason for all of RIM's woes, but it couldn't have helped.

If you want to establish accountability and get things done, put ONE, and only one person in charge.

Leadership by committee is never a good idea.

Image credits: arrayexception

The Special Occasion

Today I was thinking of how sometimes we postpone enjoying certain things in order to save them for a special occasion (perhaps we could call it reverse instant gratification).

I'm not talking about real, legitimate special occasions like a graduation, an anniversary or some other important milestone, but rather those "special occasions" that exist only in our imagination and that are just excuses to needlessly postpone enjoyment.

For example, that nice bottle of wine that I bought several months ago and still haven't opened, or the high-end camera that would add so much value to my trips, that I can easily afford but still haven't purchased... waiting for a "special occasion", I guess.

These thoughts came to my mind after eating a light breakfast and riding my bike through the tree-lined streets of my neighborhood under gorgeous 75 degree weather. Not a special occasion, just a regular Sunday. And yet, it doesn't get much better than this.

And then it hit me: Every day we wake up is a special occasion.

So go ahead and open that nice bottle of wine, bring out the fine china and wear that expensive shirt, because today (and tomorrow, and the day after) is special. Carpe diem.

The Best Time

The best time to take a cruise or send a Fedex package is probably now. Yes, some people may be apprehensive to set sail after the recent Costa accident, just as some thought it twice before Fedex'ing a package after a video of a careless delivery guy grossly mishandling a package went viral a few weeks ago.

Think about it, though:

Businessmen (and politicians) are very good at reacting. They may be clueless about a lot of things, but once something happens they usually step into high gear to make sure that "it (whatever it is) doesn't happen again".

This means more training, stepped up oversight, better safety standards, etc.. It may also mean a better deal for those who manage to keep a level head. As Warren Buffett likes to say: "be greedy when other people are fearful..."

With Or Without Slides

Yesterday I attended an offsite corporate meeting. A European colleague was speaking in front of 200 people, when the computer suddenly froze and he couldn't forward his slides.

Instead of panicking, he just walked toward the audience and continued his presentation without slides. Two curious things happened: his delivery was more fluid and natural, and the audience appeared more interested and engaged. It was great.

However, most of us wouldn't have been able to pull it off. We've come to rely so heavily on slides that they've become a crutch or a teleprompter of sorts. It's not that slides are inherently bad, but slides should support the presentation, not become the presentation.

Perhaps a good starting point to learn how to give more effective presentations, with or without slides, is Garr Reynold's book The Naked Presenter (I skimmed through it a few months ago but will now read it in more detail). The rest should be just preparation and practice.

Constraints

Some people believe constraints are a bad thing. The world, however, is full of stories of people and companies that started with very little, and somehow found a way to achieve more than others who had everything in their favor.

Having many resources and few constraints can make us complacent and take things for granted. Constraints, on the other hand, fuel our creativity.

Constraints are what makes Japan produce wine out of rice, architects fashion houses out of shipping containers and Ignite presenters give riveting talks in just 5 minutes.

They are also the reason why most innovation comes from cash-strapped start ups rather than well funded multi-national corporations.

Complaining of not having enough money, time, resources, connections is easy. It is also a waste of time. Harder, but much more effective, is to embrace constraints and ask: "how can I make this work?"

Image credits: lorigami

Waiting For The Right Time?

Start.

Image: Art Basel, Miami from my Flickr stream

Jumping To Conclusions

Last Sunday my wife and I were jogging through our neighborhood when a small but very aggressive dog came charging toward us from the front porch of a house. For very tense three minutes, it stood just a couple of inches away from us, barking, growling and showing its teeth, before it finally decided to go away.

Furious, I walked to the house and knocked on the door. When they finally opened, I lashed out at them for their carelessness before they walked out to get the dog.

There was only one problem: it wasn't their dog (they did have a dog but it was inside). It was the neighbor's dog, that for some reason had wondered into their property. Based on the information I had (the dog was at their front porch) I had just assumed it was theirs.

Boy, did I feel like a fool...

This small incident reminds me of similar situations at work. Many times we jump to conclusions based on superficial facts.

Before we get angry about something and opt for the nuclear option (sending an angry email with lots of people on copy, or complaining to somebody's supervisor) we may just as well take a few minutes to find out what the real problem is. The manifestation of a problem is often just the tip of the iceberg, just the visible consequence of underlying, more complicated problems.

Note-to-self: when faced by a tough or unexpected problem don't get angry, check your facts, and act (in precisely that order).