marginally subversive

"The Dip" by Seth Godin - One Year...

One year ago, I stumbled upon The Dip by Seth Godin.

I wrote earlier about it (but well, deleted it together with the rest of my old blog, Organized Chaos) - and how I got something new out of it each time I read it.

Without knowing that it's been a year, I recently started rereading The Dip again.  Somehow, I felt compelled to re-read it as part of my attempt to understand and discern (a 'deep' word these days in this phase of my life) whether I should make a move or not.

And again, I got something new out of it:  If you can't be the best in what you do in a certain situation, either re-create and redefine the situation such that you can be in your top form or get out.

That's exactly what I did - I tried to redefine the rules with the hopes of redefining the situation I was in so as to get a sense of accomplishment, or being remarkable at the end of each day.

I failed.

So I got out.

A lot of my friends and even colleagues and former bosses told me I was making a stupid move.  It was - in one of my ex-bosses' words - what every one was looking for.  It was, as Nigel and Emily from The Devil Wears Prada (yes, that movie again) defined as "the job that a million other girls (and boys) would kill for".

And I could see where they were coming from:  I come in at 9am, I plonk myself in front of the PC and do my work, I log off at 6pm, head to one of my evening activities - Spanish classes, readings in Stats and Econometrics, readings in Philosophy, visits to the library, dinner with friends, partying and a little bit of drinking, and gym (not on the same night...).

But that, I told my ex-bosses and colleagues who still work 12-15-hour days, how I want my life to be.  I want to be able to use whatever talents I have been blessed with - and make full use of all the learnings I have gathered from 12 years of working with other people (making mistakes, perfecting processes, perfecting the art of asking questions and quantifying them, making sure that things are "perfect enough").

Anything short of that is, well, not for me.

Sure, it's also about the money.  But it's not just about the money - or even tenure or security or whatever else you can think of.

It's personal fulfillment - and the chance to be good and remarkable.

Seth Godin made a request - "take it off the shelf and lend it to someone".

I am sorry, Mr. Godin, I can't.  It just is too useful for me.  Don't get me wrong - it's not the best book I have read.  It's amongst the better books, for sure.  If I were to be stuck in an island for a year and can only bring 10 books, it sure will be one of those 10 books (alongside those books by NNTaleb and Mark Buchanan, and ET Jaynes).  I tend to be very protective of my books (you should see my apartment shelves - they're full of books).  I am happy, however, to tell others about it.  In fact, I have bought a couple of friends copies of your book.  And I would even gladly buy some of my friends one for their birthdays and anniversaries and farewells and all.  But sorry, I just can't part with my copy just yet.  Perhaps next year.

Of PowerPoint(R) Presentations...

I have always been a tech-geek.  Not the "programmer" kind - but the one who maximizes all possible shortcuts there are in the software that I use.  My philosophy is completely opposed to RTFM - for me, the best way to learn something is to do it.  Experiment.

I never had PowerPoint training in the past.  When I first started working in 1995, PowerPoint was just starting in the Philippines.  I remember that I was still using Quattro Plus back then to do my spreadsheets and my charts, and print them on a "dot-matrix" printer.

(Okay, I am that old.)

But I immediately caught on.  I spent a whole week learning the in's and out's of PowerPoint - and how I can make it a support tool for me to communicate my ideas.  I learned through feedback from clients and colleagues that "anything smaller than 16points is really bad" - and "too much color on a screen is confusing".  I also learned that "people don't go beyond the title" - and "tell a story, stupid - not what's on the charts... people can read".

I also began to develop my own story-telling style - and in spite of my chart- and numbers-heavy charts (in succession, sometimes), I believe that I do manage to deliver a compelling story.

And the key to it all is having a story.

My former bosses would ask me to send over the presentation file to them - and then they would critique it.  And I wouldn't hear of it.  I would rather that I get them seated in front of my PC, and tell the story - why this chart precedes this chart and why this slide precedes this conclusion.

It's a story - and you can't get a story out of reading slides and numbers.

Of all my former bosses, it was only my latest boss - Jon T. - that actually 'got used' to my style.  He would see the file and immediately find loopholes in the story, suggesting how to further strengthen a case or whether a certain slide is not necessary to the story or is a different story altogether.

As I am mired in PowerPoint presentation preparations right now, I cannot help but admire people who present other people's presentations.  They get others to craft the story, get the file, and re-tell the stories themselves.  I am not sure how effective they are or how close the stories they tell are to the stories that I wanted to convey - I have not sat in any one of their presentations.

But it is quite interesting.

Some people, I believe, are able to craft stories out of nothing (well, not nothing... but out of the morass of numbers and charts).  And some people - upon seeing mere outlines and slides - get it and could retell it.

Frankly, I am not one of those who could retell another person's story - whenever I get a deck for presentation, a deck that was prepared by someone else, I always allot time for me to go through the entire thing - and rejig it.  The objective:  tell the story my way whilst keeping true to the spirit of the story.

Sometimes, I remove slides.  Sometimes, I do different things with the order.  And still sometimes, I add in my own interpretations.

But I can never present another person's deck.

I guess it's a talent that I don't have.

Time to get out...

"How do you determine if you have been in a company for far too long?"

Jack and Suzy Welch talks about decision-factors that one needs to consider when answering the question.  And surprisingly - at least for me, because I always thought that Jack Welch is very traditional - the same old answers come out:  Do a gut-check.

Is it fun to work at?  Does it feel like you're making a difference?  Do you dread going to work?  Does it drive you crazy?  Do you keenly watch the clock to reach 6pm? Is it a drag?  Do you like your co-workers?  Do you like hanging around with this people?  Do you like working with them since you spend 1/3 of your day - or perhaps even more - with them?  Would you want to spend a weekend with them?  Is it meaningful?  Is it something worth working for?  Is it wringing the best out of you without you feeling shortchanged?  Are you selling you out?  What are you going to look like in this company a year from now?  Will I be where I want to be - in this company, in this life, in this cubicle?  And do I like that?

Interesting thoughts - but more importantly, interesting questions.

Things that I miss, things that I would like to do

I miss going to company leadership meetings and presenting my viewpoints - presenting results to things that I had worked on for five nights in a row and making business cases and debating the pros and cons of decisions that are being made.  I miss the philosophical and "principles" debates - and the perennial question "But will it make money for us in the long-term?".  Either with clients or with other leaders in the company.

I miss presenting my viewpoints about how training and tools and employee-development should be managed.  I miss arguing with my peers who amongst the team has the highest potentials - and what we can do to maximize those potentials and keep them loyal to the company - or at least happy.

I miss the voice of my former peers - those passionate voices that sometimes fill the boardrooms at 7pm when we all just finished back-to-back meetings and teleconferences.  I miss the arguments - inane or otherwise - but nonetheless, fruitful.

I miss the announcements of new businesses - no, not half million wins, not 1million wins, but 2.5 or 3 or 4 or 5 million wins.  High-profile or low-profile wins.  Wins that make a difference to the company's bottomline - and wins that you know - I know - made a dent and made it possible to deliver bonuses to deserving people in the company.

I miss working late 2-4 days before a major pitch - against 2 other competitors, against 2 more powerful competitors.  We may not win it - but we knew we wouldn't go down without a fight.  We will give our best - even if it all boils down to price and relationships.  We believe in strategies - my peers and I.  We believed in processes - beyond the tactics and shortcuts into real business solutions that went beyond the media plan and discounts and negotiations.

I miss the things finishing worthwhile at 11pm at night or 1am in the morning - knowing that at 9am in the morning, I will be taking this presentation - "hot off the oven" - and present it and make a stellar presentation, answering questions that are sometimes inane ("How much discounts will you offer?") to the visionary ("So ten years from now, how do you think this brand will look like against your vision of the media and communications landscape?").

I miss going to meetings - representing Asia Pacific and the different countries that this region encompasses.  From the "emerging" to the "developed" to the "high-pop" to the "high pop-density".  From the "then-tiger" to the "new tigers" to the "elephants and dragons" to the "kamikazes".  I miss working inside a metal tube for 18 hours, not sleeping and knowing that when I get to the hotel on the other side of the world, I was expected to act as if I were in my natural world - my 'own' timezone, my 'own' rhythm, my 'own' life.

I miss going to Starbucks - or at least, getting the Concierge to get me Starbucks ("Quadruple Shot of Espresso Hazelnut Latte - the biggest cup that they can offer, whatever it is... please!") - as I go through last minute over my notes and my documents and my index cards which contain my agenda, my itinerary, my goals:  "What can I do for my region, for my markets, for my clients that I could take home from this series of meetings?"

People think I am soft - patient - kind.

I may be.

But I am a lot tougher than they think.

It's just that I don't believe in freebies.  I don't believe in politics.  I declare my thoughts even if it puts me at risk.  I come up with rational explanations - even if it runs counter with the accepted norms.  (And yes, I may not go far with these beliefs.)

I have proven myself - to others and to myself.  I have delivered businesses - and more importantly I have paved the way for others to build their own businesses and reputations.

That - I am proud of.

That - I would like to do.  Again.

In a big company - or in a small company.  In a for-profit company - or one involved with non-profit.

Will sleep be soon a thing of the past?

From WIRED.COM, they report about the possibility of replacing sleep by snorting a chemical.

In what sounds like a dream for millions of tired coffee drinkers, Darpa-funded scientists might have found a drug that will eliminate sleepiness.

A nasal spray containing a naturally occurring brain hormone called orexin A reversed the effects of sleep deprivation in monkeys, allowing them to perform like well-rested monkeys on cognitive tests. The discovery's first application will probably be in treatment of the severe sleep disorder narcolepsy.

The treatment is "a totally new route for increasing arousal, and the new study shows it to be relatively benign," said Jerome Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA and a co-author of the paper. "It reduces sleepiness without causing edginess."

Orexin A is a promising candidate to become a "sleep replacement" drug. For decades, stimulants have been used to combat sleepiness, but they can be addictive and often have side effects, including raising blood pressure or causing mood swings. The military, for example, administers amphetamines to pilots flying long distances, and has funded research into new drugs like the stimulant modafinil and orexin A in an effort to help troops stay awake with the fewest side effects.

What do have to say about this?  Give me one of those, please!  Soon!

Well as long as there are no side-effects, I'm in.

Withdrawal symptoms...

A challenge, I would say, is emerging. 

I am used to seeing lots of zeros in planning, learning, and project engagement briefs (unfortunately, those zeros don't get filtered down into my pocket.)

I am also used to being able to work independently and sign or initial invoices for endorsements.  Or give advice on pressing business issues about the strategic direction of the office.  Or be heard about what my thoughts are with regard to where the company should be headed in the next 3-5 years - and what the risks are.  Or be consulted by the staff. Or approve forms. ("Approve now, inform later..." was my mantra; "it's easier to rationalize and apologize than seek permission" was my other mantra.  Of course, within reasonable bounds.)

Or stay up late to finish one report or presentation needed by the client for a very crucial meeting that could make or break the business.  Or stare at the screen in search for stories amidst a plethora of numbers - and scratching my head every time a hypothesis bombs.

Suddenly, I have to scale down.

Significantly.

And my body - and my mind - is suddenly undergoing "withdrawing symptoms" with all the changes that are happening in my new environment.

I know - I should be thankful.  And be careful of what I ask for - as I just might get it.

Well, that gives me more time to do more of my academic and charity work, and more time to spend with my significant other [albeit electronically].

But I wonder how other agency-execs feel and cope when they move to the client side?  Did they feel the same as I do now?  Or is mine a spurious case - an outlier?

Dumbing it down is making it boring...

I just wrote about boredom in a previous entry.  And right after I hit "publish" on my Windows Live Writer, my RSS reader told me that Seth Godin just wrote something about "dumbing it down".

He writes about pandering to the masses and dumbing things down - and argues that hey, give me smart customers anytime because they are far more profitable, far more energetic, far more engaged.

Why?

The thing is, when you dumb stuff down, you know what you get?

Dumb customers.

And (I'm generalizing here) dumb customers don't spend as much, don't talk as much, don't blog as much, don't vote as much and don't evangelize as much. In other words, they're the worst ones to end up with.

I honestly don't think there dumb customers (and I believe that Seth Godin is being sarcastic...)  Ogilvy said that "the consumer is not a moron; she is your wife".

I have sat down in so many client-agency meetings where clients go "That's too sophisticated for our customers; they wouldn't understand that" or "It's nice and witty - but won't it be too witty to our consumers" or "Just tell them the specifications of our products - that we have GB of storage that could store X thousands of songs and videos" or "just plaster the brand logo there - and we'd be fine".

In other words, "dumb it down because consumers don't understand it".

This runs counter to my belief that we are overly underestimating our customers and our target consumers.  If they were "dumb", then we wouldn't have all these things called FaceBook, Wikipedia, and other tech wonders that were dependent on these "dumb" customers.

Simplify it, yes.  But don't dumb it down.  That's what I would say.  Simplifying it is not necessarily dumbing it down.  Simplifying it is all about making things intuitive, for example, in a computer software. 

(And this is why I like XLSTAT and XLMINER - they're advanced stats software but they're not assuming I am dumb; they just made how I use their software easier and faster.)

Anyway, the same is true with people:  Don't dumb people down.  When you explain things to your subordinates or your peers, don't dumb it down.  Simplify it.  But don't dumb it down.

Here's Seth's Blog on Dumbing down.

Boredom

I have been trying to deal with boredom in the past couple of weeks.  I guess it's a remnant of the holidays, when things slowed down significantly.  If there is something more behind it, I am not sure.  Things are not what they seem to be these days.  (And I am always on my guard; it's tiring, believe me, but it comes with the territory.)

I guess I am blessed (or cursed?) with an active mind.  I can't count how many ideas and thoughts for work questions and problems whilst showering in the morning, whilst doing my laps on the pool or simply watching cartoons on TV.

Yesterday, I told my smoking cessation therapist (yeah, there is such a thing - and I am pretty successful so far) that I always hated it when I was bored that's why I can't seem to relax.

And his response struck me:  "It's understandable.  An idle mind is the devil's playground.  Boredom is the devil's best friend, you see."

I agreed.

The worst decisions I have made were made out of boredom - and the resulting impatience.

Well.

There is something about boredom marketeers should consider.  Ogilvy summed it all up elegantly (as always):  "You can't bore your consumers to buying your product". (Or something like that).

One can only excite them.

And if your message is boring, nothing new, not visionary enough, not relevant enough, then they won't move - they won't shift.

It is the same with employees and employers:  Look at the most productive people, the most innovative people, the most involved people in your company.  They are the ones who are not bored - they are excited about things that they are doing.  They are not just doing it for the sake of doing it.

The challenge is to get them excited and engaged and involved.

With regard to my boredom, I will not succumb to it.  I will always find a question to fill in my boredom - whether it is a C++ program to analyze or an algorithm to scrutinize or a calculus theorem to solve or a sudoku table to fill in.

Or a PowerPoint(R) document to create.

 

 

Technorati Tags: Communications Planning,Office Life,Employee,Marketing Planning,Strategic Planning,Managing Life,Lifehacks

Playing Small versus Playing Big

I received an email from a friend.  He's one of those who writes "personal updates" about his previous year, publishes them on a word document, and distributes it to his friends and family members. 

(I know of families that do this - and mostly, they talk about how the kids have grown and how the Christmas play was - complete with kids in costume.  But a single guy doing these updates?  You gotta give it to my friend - he's got lots of drama to write about in his life.)

Anyway, one of the things that struck me was one of his resolutions for 2008:  This year - 2008 - will be the year when I start playing big.  I will aim for the stars and the sun.  I may end up not hitting the sun, but who knows - I might end up on the moon.

Which got me thinking about playing small and playing big.

I never believed that playing small will get my anywhere.  It will probably get me through the day unscathed - and perhaps, give me a night or two of complete peace.  But playing small would make me more bored with my life.  And boredom is bad - always bad.

But lately, I have been asking myself:  Must one always play big?  Must one always want, strive, dream, work hard to become the CEO of the company?  Must one's voice always be heard?

A part of me - the competitive side - would assert that things are not good if things are smooth.  It would assert that if it isn't broken (yet), then break it and rewrite it.  Reinvention, it would argue, is the mother of innovation.

But a part of me also argues against playing big:  Playing small makes one nimbler, faster, more flexible, and more at peace.  Playing big also means being a big target of others who are as competitive as one's self.

So the question - which may sound existential to some (if not everyone) - is For this year, will it be a year of playing small or playing big?

And the answer is...

It depends.

I am sure that I am going to be playing it big in my personal life.  The relationships that I value - the ones that cannot be "monetized" but are very important to my life - will definitely figure strongly this year.  At the same time, there will be relationships that I will dump - relationships that suck the life out of life, relationships that do nothing but destroy other aspects of my life.

In my career, I am also sure that I will play it big.  The competitive spirit in me still remains - but it will be tempered.  This year will the year that I will be playing responsibly.  The game will be played seriously - but there will be aspects of the game that I will give up on because it is not worth winning.

I guess it comes with age - this ability to discern what is and what is not worth playing for.   Not that I have mastered it - but the years have led me to this realization:  That not all games need to be played, not all games need to be won, and not all games need to be special.

Some games are worth playing big for - and some games are not.

My executive coaches will probably kill me for saying this - but nobody's last words were ever "I wish I delivered that presentation or report better". 

There are some things that not even stocks and stock options can buy.

 

Technorati Tags: Personal Journeys,2008,New Year,Views,Personal Views,Playing Big,Playing Small

My Ten Most Favorite Digital Things...: Part 2

This is part two of my ten most favorite digital things.  In the first part, I listed down in no particular order five digital things that I really loved.  I had the Yahoo finance pages with the advanced charting techniques, the Windows Live Services, my MacBookPro and OSX Leopard, my Nokia E90 phone, and the New Outlook and OneNote 2007 - all of which I really loved and enjoyed using.

Now, I am off to name the second set of the digital things that I really love - and I start off with...

Number 6:   C++. I know, I know.  It's not really something that I am good at - and it's not even something that I can see me using in the next couple of years.  But I am hinging on the possibility that with the more information coming my way - in the form of usage patterns, raw data on how people are using information on the net and how they are interacting with different sites - I think C++ will come in handy.  I have finished the first five chapters of my book - and am now into learning more about classes and objects.

Now some will probably say that C++ is too old - and that there are far too many other, more important and more up-to-date programming languages.  But for some reason, I have some affinity with C++.  It's probably because it's easy to understand - and from what I gathered, Office was built on C++.  (I could be wrong - don't shoot me!)

So I think that C++ will remain to be one of my favorite things - even if its applicability remains to be seen.  At least, I will have learned something.

7.  XLSTAT and XLMINER

I have personal subscriptions to XLSTAT and XLMINER - and when embedded into the new Excel 2007, XLSTAT becomes a real power-house.  I have not tried XLMINER on Excel 2007 - but the ability of Excel 2007 to manage so many rows and columns makes it easier for me to analyze different sets of data.  Back then, with Excel 2003 which I think accommodates only about 255 columns, I had to break down all my files into different sheets.

These days, I work and run my XLSTAT with ease on big files.

XLMINER, which still runs on my Office 2003 at my old personal PC, is still a gem.  Its neural networking capabilities, logistic regression, and classification routines are simply good and easy to navigate.  It's one helluva of tool that every data miner should have in their PC.  And I would gladly recommend it to someone interested in the field of datamining. 

My only gripe with XLMINER?  It can't manage much of the qualitative variables - or at least, I have not unlocked how to use qualitative variables just yet.  But all in all:  thumbs-up to both software programs.

8.  Apple Airport

I bought it, unboxed it, fired up the Mac, and set it up - all within 15 minutes.  Me the klutz when it comes to wires and setting up things managed to get it running.  And yes, it's now linking two personal laptops and two mobile phones in my apartment.

9.  Live.Com

Friends have been encouraging me to use Google Reader - but for some reason, I find it too ... blah.  Perhaps, it's just my personality.  I need some colors, some photos, some life in my news reader.  And Live.Com gives me that.

It allows me to customize my site (yes, I know - iGoogle does the same thing - but still... it's... bland!)  I like Live.Com:  it's now the default home-page on my laptop both at home and at work.  It summarizes the days news for me in various tabs - and the good thing about it:  I can preview the contents of the different subscriptions I have (and I have lots!).  If indeed the abstracts of the things I read intrigue me, then I would go off and read them.

10.  Lifehack.Org

OK.  I am one who does not really want to be told.  But seriously, LifeHack.Org gives me so many ideas on so many things.  Some of the articles I really like - like the latest entry on what to do if you're not really celebrating Christmas.  Others are way-off my field, I guess.  But that's the beauty of LifeHack.Org - it touches on things that are important to you directly, on things that may not necessarily be important to you now but could possibly be in the future.  My Del.Icio.Us account is full of LifeHack.Org tags.

I don't think any other website has been as cool LifeHack.Org.

Additional Stuff that I really liked...

I know the title says 10, but I need to mention two other services that I really liked:  LinkedIn.Com and PickTheBrain.Com.  You are probably very familiar with LinkedIn.Com - and if you are not, better go to LinkedIn.Com now and create your own profile.  I think of the different networking sites that I have joined, LinkedIn.Com perhaps was the most profitable in terms of generating "returns" on my efforts.  I have had several  requests for interviews and consulting projects through LinkedIn - all of which I had to turn down due to some reason or another. 

PickTheBrain.Com is rather a different breed.  It's more of the personal-development site, minus the preaching.  I am too hard-headed to be preached to - and I guess too cynical to even consider the "field" or the "spirituality that surrounds us all".  But PickTheBrain.Com is quite interesting as it focuses on achieving balance.  Their latest entry as of this writing talks about Self-Actualization and exercising, which I thought made sense.

I am sure there will be more useful stuff coming around and bubbling up in the near future.

My needs?  They're very simple, really.  Anything that would get me going and make me more efficient in managing my life and achieving that balance between work and personal life - that's good with me.  (Oh, Facebook is cool - but for now, I guess I don't really see the value in it for me save for wasting some time in the office when there's a lull in between projects - or mass-broadcasting everybody to leave me alone as I am trying to beat a deadline.)

That's it for now!