StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Strategy|Want A Better Strategy? Don’t Talk To The Same People.

Want A Better Strategy? Don’t Talk To The Same People.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Strategy|Want A Better Strategy? Don’t Talk To The Same People.Alan Gozdalski has taken care of the landscaping on my property for over 20 years. He treats my property like his own. When a devastating fall storm hit Buffalo, NY in October of 2006, Al was one of the first people who called me to check on how his (my) yard fared. I am pretty sure that we both had tears in our eyes when we walked the property and found ourselves shoulder-high in a sea of broken trees.

Al is one of the most creative entrepreneurs I know. He pioneered residential ponds in Western New York, and since 1997, he has installed over 1,000 ponds in the area, including one in my yard. Every year I host a holiday party at my house. I invite clients, friends, students and interesting people who have become friends. Al comes to the party.

I was at Al’s store recently, and he introduced me to another customer. He made a point of telling them about my parties. “I met a plethora of interesting people at Roger’s party. In five minutes, I talked to five different people with different ethnic and work backgrounds. I met a nun, a cardiologist, a rock musician who is in the Buffalo music hall of fame, a Pilates instructor, farmers, branding experts, website designers, entrepreneurs, corporate presidents, college professors and some of Roger’s graduate students who are different ages and nationalities.”

Al loves my party. Why? Because at the party, he is exposed to people who don’t think the same way he does.

One of the most effective ways to get creative is to interact with people from varying backgrounds who have a variety of interests. This isn’t always easy to do, for most of us find it more comfortable to spend time with people familiar to us. To our own detriment, we often don’t make the time or effort to meet new people.

I am pretty sure that we violate the fire code by packing so many people into the house at the holiday party. You can’t help but meet new people when you come. And, if I know two people who would enjoy talking with one another, I make a point to pull them aside to make an introduction.

Research conducted on communication networks determined that the best source of new information is NOT from the people you see regularly. Why? Those people usually have the same information that you do.

The best source of new information is from other networks — people who run in circles different from your own. In technical terms, this is known as non-homogeneous groups. To stimulate your creativity, it is important to tap into groups of people with whom you usually don’t interact.

I offer a program called Breakthroughs Lab, designed to help clients work through tough problems. When I’m hired for these projects, my clients are stuck and facing an obstacle that even their most competent people can’t solve. They often tell me, “We need to have all of the technical experts on this.” I ask them this — “If the technical experts haven’t been able to solve the problem, then why would we have more technical experts work on the problem??

Instead, a Breakthroughs Lab consists of a client and five to seven “creative catalysts” — industry experts who are also highly trained in Creative Problem-Solving. I find people who know very little or nothing about the client’s problem. By nature of being new to the problem, they will have new information that the client does not have. It’s sort of like coming to my holiday party, but the focus is on creating a breakthrough.

The same is true for developing strategy. You will get a much richer result if you include people who are NOT working the business all of the time. They bring the fresh perspective that can set you apart from your competition.

Seek out those people who you might not usually connect with. Talk to them. Learn from them. And if you are in Buffalo, NY in December, give me a call. There might be a party brewing.


About the Author

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Strategy|Want A Better Strategy? Don’t Talk To The Same People.Dr. Roger Firestien has taught more people to lead the creative process than anyone else in the world. He is senior faculty and an associate professor at the Center for Creativity and Change Leadership at SUNY Buffalo, author of Create in A Flash: A Leader’s Recipe For Breakthrough Innovation and President of Innovation Resources, Inc.
For more information please visit: https://rogerfirestien.com/

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Looking After Staff|Looking After Your Staff

Looking After Your Staff

StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Looking After Staff|Looking After Your StaffYour staff are the heart and soul of your business, and if you want your business to run in the best way possible, then you need to look after them. Looking after staff is more than just money, although offering an excellent salary is a good start. The focus has shifted in recent years and it is about a combination of things.

Happiness

Happy staff are higher performers. They work harder just because they want to. It is your job to find out what makes your team tick. Is a beer on a Friday afternoon? What about having regular staff days out? It might be something as simple as good coffee in the machine. If you make their happiness a priority, then you will see an increase in their productivity. Good things all around.

Money

It is essential that you pay fairly. While you might not be in a position to be paying a significant 6 figure salary, your staff should be compensated fairly for the work that they do. So when you are hiring, you need to have an honest conversation with your potential hires. If you know you can’t meet what they are currently earning, then see what the perks would need to be to make it happen.

Experiment

No, not on your staff. You will probably have so many new ideas than you want to try out, sow when you are building your team you are going to want to talk to them about all of the new ideas that you have. Let them know from the beginning that you have a vision for the company, and you want to move forward in a creative way. If your staff share the vision, they will feel closer to the company and you, and like they play a part in moving the company forward.

Just because most companies go for a Monday to Friday 9-5 doesn’t mean you have to. It might be that you hire a lot of people that work better in the mid-afternoon and evening. In which case, it makes sense to make the most of their natural rhythm and shift the working pattern.

Insurance

It doesn’t matter what type of work your company does, there are things that can happen to your workers. Trips, falls, and chemical burns. It can happen to anyone at any time. If you make sure that you have worker’s compensation you will protect your company from going bankrupt should they be sued. If a worker has an accident, they might have some injuries. The injuries may mean that they can’t work for a short time, or perhaps forever. Workers’ compensation will mean that your staff is taken care of and so are their medical expenses.

Hiring

The people that you hire will have an impact on everything that you do. And when you hire you need to make sure that you are stick with all the rules and regulations. You should always be looking for the best person for the job. Employment discrimination lawyers will hold you accountable if you aren’t acting with respect. Something that is important to remember is that you can look at a skills base over experience in some cases. You have the freedom to create a talent pool that really drives your company forward. And that is exciting. But, as the saying goes, hire slowly and fire quickly.

Personal

When you know your staff on a personal level, you will be able to cultivate a close relationship with them. A great leader will be alert for a change in the demeanor or work of their staff. It doesn’t need to be a space for everyone to share their personal issues, but if there are external factors that are having an impact on their work, then a conversation and support matters.

Learn Together

As well as providing as many learning opportunities as possible for your staff, you should be taking them with your staff. The more that your knowledge aligns with theirs, the more of a cohesive team you will be able to create. There are new techniques and technology in every sector, and you as a leader should be in the mix off all of it. There will, of course, be higher up networking events and training that you should take. Keeping your finger on the pulse of your sector is great, enabling your whole team to gain knowledge is fantastic.

Make Time

There is nothing worse than trying to make an appointment with someone who is always busy. And if you are running a company and have zero time for your staff to come to you, you will soon feel a disconnect happen. It will become increasingly apparent, and your team will begin to feel less like a team. Projects can get weighty and take up a lot of time, but there needs to be time to catch up and grab a coffee. Showing your people that you value and respect them is going to make a big difference.

Opportunities

Aside from the training and the nice cohesive team, there should be some opportunities for new experiences. For example, if you have a copywriter that is particularly interested in dabbling in graphic design, give them some space on a smaller project to learn from the design team. Letting people work outside the lines of their role will provide them with an opportunity to grow in a way that training usually doesn’t.

Manage Expectations

People who are starting companies, or just have the cashflow to be able to hire are often very enthusiastic – and sometimes over-promise. Before you hire, people to spend some time thinking about what is realistic for you. Promising them big clients, a big bonus and a lease car, when they are your first hire, and you’re okay really able to stretch to a laptop and come excellent coffee isn’t cool. Although the latter will be great, it isn’t going to feel like the bonus and car would.

Be honest with your team when things are good or bad. Remember that they are going to be as excited by your business as you are – treat them well, and you’ll all grow together.

StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | Increasing Trust: Engineering Autonomous Vehicles that Are Safe and Secure

Increasing Trust: Engineering Autonomous Vehicles that Are Safe and Secure

StrategyDriven Risk Management Article | Increasing Trust: Engineering Autonomous Vehicles that Are Safe and SecureThe concept and aspiration for fully autonomous vehicles has been around for at least 40 years. The reality in 2019 depends on who you talk to; it’s either here today, a few years away, or a decade or more before they truly become mainstream.

The Society of Automotive Engineers has defined six levels of autonomy from level 0 – 5. While manufacturers have been working hard on the development of autonomous vehicles, the reality is that today the vast majority of vehicles for sale are only capable of providing level 2 assistance features. Level 2 automated driving is defined as systems that provide steering and brake/acceleration support, as well as lane centering and adaptive cruise control. The human at the wheel must be driving and constantly supervising the automated features. A few OEM’s in-market today have been working towards Level 3 & 4 automation, meaning the car can take over most driving functions , but the driver must still be able to intervene at any time.

For most automakers, in order to reach this goal, incremental technological and commodity changes will not be enough. Instead, to achieve the full road map of autonomy will require a transition to a complete automotive platform inclusive of AI-enabled microprocessors, software, new architectures and levels of performance to be deployed scalably.

Navigating the Path to Pervasive Autonomy

Because of the emphasis on commodity-based engineering, workflow in a typical OEM has a very long lead time and cycle. Worst case cycle times have ideas begin in the research factory maturing over several years leading to product engineering where they take around 3-4.5 years.

For these main reasons and many smaller ones, this approach is not scalable nor cost effective as we move into the 21st century.

One of the cornerstones of the new architecture is the concept of a layered software-based platform which allows for the addition and deletion of software defined capability in each layer (see below). This facilitates features to run as “applications” executed on top of the service platform like PC or mobile phone which provide the ability to change (extend or restrict) the performance.

The impact of these rationalization and transformation initiatives are providing significant value for the OEM as well as the end-consumer:

  • The amount of wiring can be reduced (cost)
  • This allows further weight reduction of the car
  • Increased performance and/or driving range (performance/emissions)
  • Reduce manufacturing cost and time.

The end-picture and future benchmark to consider is provided by Tesla. Through digital connectivity within the car an ultimate level of rationalization will bring cabling requirements from about 5 km of wiring today to 100 m in a Tesla Model Y.

Tesla also recognized early that hardware rationalization and connectivity capabilities outside of the vehicle system would be paramount to unlock and accelerate the uptake of the ACES (Autonomous, Connected, Electric and Shared Mega-Trends) trends, which would ultimately not only provide the revenue streams of the future but also leverage AI benefits across the different functionalities inside and outside of a vehicle.

The commercial confirmation and practical demonstration of this flexibility can be seen at Tesla where they have already established this software working environment and pushing new autonomous and AI benchmarks as announced in April 2019.

In a world of static automotive features, closed systems and changes made through recalls and other legacy methods, such an architecture is viable. However, to achieve the three automotive pillars of being safe, secure and smart, fully autonomous vehicles need to have a more open, integrated hardware and software systems architecture vs. siloed and disconnected. Autonomous vehicles must possess architectures that allow subsystems to work together to harness and exchange data in real-time to make intelligent decisions.
The sooner this transformation happens, the sooner Level 5 autonomous vehicles will become a reality.

Solution for Autonomous Driving

Wave Computing, for instance, offers a full range of SoC solutions designed specifically for the automotive industry. The company’s MIPS technology-based ISO-26262 certified processors enable OEMs to design, develop and scale their vehicle software architectures in a secure environment. The architecture includes hardware multithreading with support for up to four threads and the ability to run two instructions simultaneously during every clock cycle. And Wave Computing’s TritonAI 64 IP platform enables developers to address a wide range of automotive AI use cases with a single comprehensive platform, including optimized AI libraries.

Whether next year, five years or a decade, the dream of fully autonomous driving will become a reality. To fulfill that dream, however, automotive manufacturers must make major changes to their automotive architectures and supply chains. Transforming what was once a rigid hardware platform of siloed features and functions, to a fully systems-based software platform won’t happen overnight, but it’s a critical component to delivering Level 5 autonomous vehicles that are safe, secure and smart.


About the Author

Steve Brightfield, Senior Director of CPU and AI IP, MIPS Machines Div, Wave Computing. For more information, please visit www.wavecomp.ai.

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Passive Income|How I’m Retiring In Style and How You Can Do It Too

How I’m Retiring In Style and How You Can Do It Too

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Retirement Planning|How I’m Retiring In Style and How You Can Do It TooToday I am one of a small group of investors that owns several Commercial Real Estate (CRE) properties valued at over $50 million.

The First Leap to Financial Freedom: Starting my own business

In August of 2003, I made the great leap into the unknown when I went into business for myself. It turned out that starting Marshall Commercial Funding was the single best career decision I have ever made.

Financially, things changed quickly and dramatically.

For the first time in my life I was making good money. I was able to sock away money into savings which was good because we all know what happened in 2008 – The Great Recession. I was able to weather the economic storm because I had enough money in savings to make it until the real estate market turned the corner. And when the economy improved I was able to pick up right where I left off before the recession hit.

The Second Leap to Financial Freedom: CRE Investing

So in 2007 I made the next biggest and most financially rewarding leap in my career. I approached one of my long-time clients to see if I could invest with him.

He had everything I was looking for in a real estate sponsor: He was competent, he was trustworthy and he had a proven track record. I asked him if he would be willing to take me on as an investor when he purchased his next rental property and he readily agreed.

Do you remember where the real estate market was in 2007? It was at the absolute peak of the last real estate market cycle. My timing couldn’t have been any worse. Nevertheless, I have invested with him nine times.

Retiring In Style Is My Goal

Today, not only could I retire at this very moment, I could retire comfortably. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to retire comfortably. I want to retire in style. I want to see and do all the things I’ve always dreamt of.

Currently I have seven sources of passive income generated from my real estate investments. I estimate if I wait a few more years I may have as many as two or three additional sources of passive income. And when the passive income from my rental properties coupled with my future Social Security checks consistently and significantly exceed my monthly personal expenses, then and only then, do I plan to retire.

At that point I’ll be able to retire in style. And although I haven’t quite gotten their yet, I’m ever so close to doing so.

If I can do it, so can you!

Why am I telling you about my journey from financial distress to hopefully retiring in style? Because I believe that 90% of you reading this, if not more, are in the same predicament I was in. You’re either currently in financial distress, as I was for the first 24 years of my CRE career, or you are financially prosperous but realize that unless things change dramatically you’re not going to retire well.

I’m here to emphatically tell you if I can go from serious financial distress to being on the verge of financial freedom, SO CAN YOU!

Follow the Road Map to Financial Freedom

Simply put, by investing in commercial real estate you can slowly, but steadily build real wealth and grow passive income from your rental properties. It’s not a myth. And it’s not a get rich quick scheme. It actually works.


About the Author

StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Passive Income|How I’m Retiring In Style and How You Can Do It TooDoug Marshall, CCIM, founded Marshall Commercial Funding, Inc., a commercial mortgage brokerage firm located in Portland, Oregon in 2003. He has more than four decades in the commercial real estate business. His new book is Mastering the Art of Commercial Real Estate Investing: How to Successfully Build Wealth & Grow Passive Income from Your Rental Properties. For more information visit: www.Marshallcf.com.

StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article |Leadership|5 Leadership Traits You Didn’t Need 50 Years Ago

5 Leadership Traits You Didn’t Need 50 Years Ago

StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article |Leadership|5 Leadership Traits You Didn’t Need 50 Years AgoThe role of a leader is always evolving, so it makes sense that the traits of a modern-day leader may be different from the leaders of half a century ago.

Of course, some traits have remained pretty consistent throughout the years, such as being a role model and having strong communication skills.

The following are some of the leadership traits that are important now that might not have been in the past.

1. An Ear for Employees

Perhaps one of the most drastic differences between modern-day leaders and leaders from the past is that today’s leaders are interested in what employees want and need.

50 years ago, managers simply had to be charismatic enough to bark orders at their employees to get the job done.
The goal was always to satisfy the company’s owner without paying too much attention to the employees. Leaders weren’t too interested in complaints, concerns, and feedback from their employees. That kind of leader will not work with today’s empowered workforce and may even be counterproductive.

Today’s managers encourage employees to express their points of view and discuss or bring up tough issues.
Leaders in the past would not talk about mistakes, but today’s managers are expected to highlight mistakes along with employees so that everyone can learn from them.

2. Ability to Change

CEOs, managers, and any other type of leader of today cannot be the kind of person who sticks to what works but rather a person who can change at a moment’s notice. The reason today’s authority figures cannot stay stagnant deals with the nature of modern-day business.

The internet has been creating all sorts of changes that affect business almost at lightning speed. A new internet-based concept could cause a chain of events that could break a company that refuses to change with the times.

Take video streaming, which basically has defeated regular DVD rentals and is taking a serious bite out of the entire movie-making business. Leaders in the past were taught not to rock the boat too much because it could disrupt a well-oiled machine, but that kind of leadership could sink companies today.

3. A Reflective Spirit

Another thing that is unique about today’s authority figures is their ability to be reflective. This sense of self-awareness is unique to modern-day leaders, and it helps them improve their leadership skills and work on weaknesses.

This skill also allows modern-day directors to hire employees that will actually complement them by looking for individuals that are strong where they are weak.

Leaders from the past were not too concerned about finding individuals who might help them become better because that kind of collaboration simply did not exist back then.

StrategyDriven Management and Leadership Article |Leadership|5 Leadership Traits You Didn’t Need 50 Years Ago4. Aware of the People’s Heart

Generation X and Y employees are a different kind of workforce. These individuals know how important they are to companies and use that as leverage to get what they want.

This workforce does not mind jumping from job to job and a workforce that values experience more than pay.
A leader from the past might just alienate today’s employees so much that it might be hard to fill certain positions.

This is the reason contemporary authority figures need to be able to keep employees happy by listening to them and finding ways to create a good corporate culture.

Company culture actually helps keep employees in their positions and helps employees feel more invested in their positions, which increases productivity.

One way modern leaders do this is by rewarding the entire team instead of individual efforts, which makes employees collaborate better rather than compete with each other.

5. A Focus on Diversity

Another trait that is quite important for modern overseers is the ability to connect with all sorts of workers. The new age workforce is filled with all sorts of people as the country continues to become more diverse.

Being sensitive to all the cultural differences is important in order to make individuals feel welcomed and to respect other people’s customs. This is a trait that simply was not too important in the past.

Yesterday’s authority figures barely communicated with their workforce; the only thing that was important was getting the job done.

Leaders back in the day could have been offensive, yet they might have still been valued by their employers.
Well, new age authority figures definitely need to be more sensitive because failing to do so could not only alienate employees but could also put the company at risk of lawsuits.