Get the Myopia Out of Your Ear.

   Is it important to listen? You betcha. But listening is a 101 level skill. Listening alone isn't nearly a world class skill. It is the foundation of a larger skill we'll call "Creative and Open-Minded Listening". Perhaps the difference is apparent. But just in case it's not, here are two imaginary examples of listening gone awry...

   An astute Native American repeatedly refined the bow and arrow based upon feedback from his customers. He continually tested new versions of the latest bow and arrow technology, and based on that information he consistently produced unparalleled bow and arrow quality. Every military leader in the region awaited his latest versions and paid handsome sums to keep an "edge". Which was awesome, until some dudes showed up with guns. 

   Benedict was an extraordinary hunter. His tracking ability and marksmanship were far above anyone within 500 miles of his town. A lifetime of learning from the great hunters of his region had earned him a place at the top of hunting culture. He earned tremendous sums of money from trading pelts and meat to people from far and wide. Which was awesome, until some guy started farming cattle near his village. 

   Now you might think, "well you're talking about major shifts in technology, or lifestyle". Perhaps, but in the first example someone other than the "good listener" had figured out that launching a projectile with greater accuracy and less bulky ammunition would be far superior. And, of course, they were correct. 

   In the second example, the hunter focused his attention and questions on being the most amazing hunter ever. But that gave him nothing close to the edge of the farmer who could, through less guile and more routine effort, have a predictable supply of meat and leather.

   Though these may seem obvious, they both circle around the idea of avoiding listening "myopically". When you are asking the wrong question (though it may have served you for years) you can never get the right answer. What to do?

   The best way to avoid this is to use the BIGGEST MENTAL FRAMEWORK possible when thinking about a particular problem. Don't make a better bow and arrow, make a better hunting tool. Don't be a better hunter, be a better food provider. Don't train your horses to be faster, think of a better way of being transported. 

   Improve your listening so you can see your client's problem directly, within a broader potential context. This leads to durable advantages, and profitability. Get the myopia out of your ear, and you'll put more money in your pocket. 


 

A one word suggestion for improving your life? LISTEN.

  When I was a boy, I used to cut grass in the summers to make extra money. One of my clients was my father. On a pretty routine basis I'd cut the grass (what I thought I was hired to do) only to have my father dissect the job with his engineering mindset (I imagined him with a T-square examining the edges). In short, he was disappointed, and I was annoyed. 

   A classic case of poor agreement on expectations. To me "cut the grass" meant running the mower over the yard to reduce the general height of the lawn. To my father "cut the grass" meant running the mower over the yard until it looked like a putting green. Nobody was right or wrong. Just badly matched ideas of the job in question.

   I hadn't listened well, and he'd fallen short in explaining. Thus, the problem.

   That listening could fail so completely in such a rudimentary task is illustrative of the problems we all encounter in trying to foster meaningful clear communication. My use of lawn cutting is deliberate; many of our daily communications are on much more complex topics.

   This could be a complete book (and perhaps that's a thought) so let me outline a few suggestions:

   1) Listening requires more than remaining quiet. If you aren't positive you understand, even by a whisper of a hint, ask for clarification. 
   
   2) The more specific the communication, the less room for misunderstanding. Over- communicating is faster than reworking. (Even when lawn cutting!)
   
   3) Listening includes CULTURE.  Active listening is a CULTURE. A valuable one at that.
   
   4) Listening includes demonstrating your comprehension by using some of what you hear in your plans. Even if the information is marginal, the payback for using a suggestion is in opening the pipeline for future information and suggestions.

  5) Be sure you are truly open to ideas and comments. When people are busy calibrating their message to accommodate your "demanding personality", you may lose the point. 

  6) Remember, often the most important message is the one left unspoken.

   In the end, my father and I sorted things out. Once I understood clearly what he wanted, I increased my price 250%. After an initial hesitation he accepted. I got more spending money, and he got his putting green. 

   Listening is a profitable, sanity preserving, exercise that everyone should actively practice on a daily basis. Of course, listening isn't mandatory, but neither is success. 

PS - Tip of the hat to Tom Peters for getting me fired up about this. Thank you sir. 

Ideas are great. Except when they're not.

   Back when I was running Omega I had a brilliant idea. If we offered recorded statements on our investigations, we'd pick up a nice chuck of extra revenue and profit on many of the assignments we got. I did my best "idiots math". If we only get assignments on 20% of the cases, it will be so awesome, because 20% x the number of investigations x the $$$ for each statement is BIG MONEY. Duhhh. 

   In fairness (to me of course) this was a line of business related to what we did (investigations) and would be pretty easy to sell to our clients. The problem was pretty simple. We sucked at doing recorded statements. Add to that a complete lack of a coherent training program, as well as no real software tools to monitor quality, and you have a classic business screw up. 

   Obviously we should have had all those pieces in place BEFORE we launched. But we were blinded by overconfidence and seduced by the money. Everyone, including some very smart people (not me) were all on board for this idea. In the heat of the moment (or the meeting) it's easy to let enthusiasm get the better of you. People truly assume someone is thinking about the downside, unless nobody is, which can easily happen.

   A secondary screw up is the attention this diverted from what we were already expert in, surveillance. We could crank out surveillance. We had rapid quality recruiting, awesome training, great investigators, superb software. We had it all. Ramp up the demand for it, and we'd meet it. 

   If we'd devoted our time to selling more of what we were good at, we would not have failed. We'd have made an almost certain increase in both sales and profits. So why didn't we? 

   We were looking for adventure. Excitement. The thought of simply expanding our existing offerings was subconsciously boring. So boring that it wasn't discussed. Conversely the new business was so exciting, we assumed our competence would extend through osmosis to this new line of work. WRONG.

   From small businesses to large businesses this situation is common. People selling B2B decide consumers would be such better clients...or vice versa. The ease with which we drift from our circle of competence is frightening. You might ask why I didn't know better. I thought I did. Really. I wasn't THAT guy. 

   The lesson to me is very clear. Stick with what you know until sticking is stupid. Tread into new waters with the absolute greatest trepidation. There will be opportunities, and they should be taken advantage of, but put someone in charge of figuring out why you're wrong. Really. Make it someone's assignment to shoot a torpedo in any new idea you have. 

   While I agree with, and frequently post quotes about, the thinking that it is trying things and making mistakes that lead us to grow, it's good to balance that with some deliberation and caution. There is an exhilaration of the "new" that is very seductive. So it's important to remember: Ideas are great. Except when they're not.