Who builds teams? Does it have to be the Quarterback? Why not the center? Does it have to be the CEO? Can a member of middle management take the moves to create a great team without destabilizing the leadership?

Some teams look like they have a weak leader but when you dig, the real leadership is just hidden… Take our country for example… Can a weak leader like George Bush have a great team? Part of the reason his team seems to succeed is that he is such a dolt it is hard to bring an issue up in serious discussion. BUT, there are team members (agree with them or not) who carry real power. Cheney, Powell, Rumsfeld… Evil and strange maybe, but by putting a dolt like Bush in front, they never have to discuss their decisions…

How about business, or back to sports. Is it true that team builders don’t always float to the top, as the cream? There are always the cases where the wrong person is promoted, but in reality, the team knows who the leaders are and in the end, the leaders are successful, aren’t they?

Just pondering some things that may, or may not, be relevant…

Nature’s Extra Mile,
originally uploaded by btallman.

I was at dinner last night (AMAZING PIZZA) with a group of friends and somehow the topic came around to employees and hiring/firing. A friend from NY was in town and talking about a Sales Manager that he hired (and fired) for his 5th avenue furniture boutique. He let him go because he caught him copying information from the company rolodex into his personal address book, but that was only part of it.

Here we were at a restaurant that insists on the very best. This place is truly special. They only make a fixed number of pies each night and insist on the very best ingredients. Nothing but the best. Basically they have sacrificed quantity for quality and there is always a line. Every night!

So Robert, the friend from NY, was describing his disgust with his employee. The man had put “initiative” on his resume and wasn’t showing it. That was the real reason for firing him. While stealing the addresses was the legal reason, it was the lack of initiative that really did it.

I have friends who like to think that they do just what is required, but it isn’t really true. They take it the extra mile. What about me? Call me at home on a Sunday with your business problem and I’ll get people out of bed. I make your problems my own problems. And it works. Not every time, but more than 80% of the time. That is the extra mile. Think about your favorite restaurant. Do they go the extra mile? How about your accountant? Your doctor? Why not?!?

Just some thoughts to ponder…

Cape Falcon, OR,
originally uploaded by btallman.

As I drive (or rather ride) across Ohio and Kentucky, gazing out the windows at the rolling hills and the farms, I realize why someone would want to live here. It begins to seem almost wild. Then I remember that it is 100 degrees out and the humidity is at least 90% and I come to my senses.

I don’t know if I’ve posted here before about this, but in my professional life I run into many people who I admire and many companies with good people, but I remain skeptical that good management makes a company more likely to suceed. Here is an example.

I am visiting a great company this week, assessing their eCommerce needs. This is a very well managed company. I don’t have much evidence yet, but I am beginning to see that they take things one step at a time and excercise logic. They plan ahead and give things time to work to fruition. Of course they have their problems, but this is a well managed company, and they are doing VERY well. I LIKE the people.

Contrasted with last week and another sucessful company. We won’t talk about the people OR the management. My conclusion is that I MUCH prefer the well managed company. Other than that, I’m not convinced that it matters!

Cheerio…

PS – Oh yeah, I also decided that I much prefer the coasts and not so much humidity!

How do we change peoples minds. Isn’t that the essence of a sale? Seth and his purple cows! He has so many great ideas, but more importantly, he has mastered the art of convincing us to change our mind, or at least is head and shoulders above the rest of us.

He is so right about getting people to start changing. When you are facing a group of people in the conference room it is SO key to get them started small. Get them to change from water to coffee. From Monday to Tuesday’s. In fact, if they won’t budge on the little thing, hold off on pushing for the big change. As people dig in, they dig in hard. Don’t pull hard and they have trouble digging in.

Once again, Seth is on top of it…

Push,
originally uploaded by btallman.

I read a post from JoelOnSoftware that got Slashdotted about great programmers and it really got me thinking. I’ve ALWAYS been a proponent of hiring great programmers.

The rule of thumb is that a good programmer is 10 times as productive as an average one and a great one is 10 times more productive than a good one. We won’t even begin to bring up what happens with bad programmers. It isn’t only the programmer’s fault though; it is also about what happens when you have larger teams and the coordination and management that have to occur as well.

BUT. BUT, I say. Joel articulated something new for me. I have always felt this way, but when I read it, it “clicked!” His point is that a good programmer might be productive, and he might, given 10 times as long, produce as much, but he is NEVER going to produce the same thing. All the good and average programmers in the world, together, aren’t going to have the creative flash that creates a great product. They aren’t going to have the backbone to stand up and fight for the creative simplicity that makes a great product.

I only disagree in one area though. And that is that I know that it doesn’t only affect shrinkwrap software companies. I regularly fly Continental, and those guys have it DOWN! I fly enough to get upgraded and they still give GREAT service. Not one but two meal options. Drinks before takeoff. They are ON it.

Now I was on my way home from Minneapolis last Friday and that is a Northwest flight. These guys are GOOD. Once again, I get the upgrade, but this time, not quite the service. They are polite, but not quite there. One meal option. Water before takeoff and I have to say that I miss the hot towel that Continental gives me.

Sound like not much? Well, maybe not, but it truly does figure in to how I travel. Do I fly on Alaska? Well, they don’t give me the upgrades. In fact, they would rather sell upgrades for $50 than give them to their own frequent flyers. And if I do pay the $50, I’m not guaranteed the meal. Apparently they don’t spring for enough meals for the entire first class cabin, which implies that they don’t really care about me.

What am I saying? Maybe I’m just flapping in the breeze, but really, why are CostCo’s customers so affluent? How does Target beat Sears/Kmart? And isn’t my daughter the cutest?

Cheers…

Wow!,
originally uploaded by btallman.

Summer hits and I don’t have enough time to blog anymore? Hmm, is that what blue sky does to me? Well, at any rate, I have been enjoying the summer. New friends, birthday parties, fun with a camera… Generally working hard, enjoying a new relationship, a growing daughter and eating well.

I had begun to forget cooking good food with good ingredients. Two weeks in a row now we’ve been to the farmer’s markets and gotten fun stuff to grill up. Fresh salmon one weekend and saturday we had oysters on the grill. MMMMM. With good solid bread, wonderful salads, good wine and great company. And the little one (TWO NOW!!!) has become a foodie. She LOVES shrimp. Has a feel for strong cheeses, likes to munch spicy stuff and is at home with unsweetened ice tea! So much fun…

Work has been much more relaxed lately. In fact, I haven’t been away from home in several weeks, although that will change this week. I get to hop a lift to Minnesota and back where I get to talk about eCommerce and SAP for up to FIVE hours! A stretch you say? I agree, so I’ll be thinking hard…

I do so love blogs. While I am a dedicated reader of just about anything that will make a plane ride go faster, I have to admit that I was REALLY happy to find that Firefox and Bloglines had conspired to leave me with almost 50 great entries open on the way home from Houston the other night! The movie was over (early in the month, so I hadn’t already seen it 4 times) and I decided to get a bit of work done.

Well, one thing led to another and there I was, reading my some of my favorite writers on Bloglines! So much for work. A good chuckle and on I went.

Today though. My daughter is sleeping in the other room (late naps are always dangerous) and I find myself looking at a top ten list and there it is… Shoe Fly Pie and then I know! The urge to listen to the blues. First Ella. Maybe some Louie. Might even listen to Krall. Why not. Out comes Napster. And now I’m listenin! Oh, yeah. Very happy.

One thing leads to another and I’m writing this! Thanks Lauren (Feministe).

When I first heard about it (You have, haven’t you?), the rejection of all Harvard MBA Candidates who attempted (with success) to see their admission results early, seemed kind of boring and obvious. Then I began to think about it. Didn’t really seem to make sense at all. I admit to having forgotten about it over the last month or so. Today it came out that several other schools including Stanford had done the same and rejected to group who broke in.

That is a lot of powerful, up and comers to arbitrarily reject. In fact, unlike at Harvard, these applicants were asked to write letters justifying their actions. Having worked with, hired and yes fired, many MBA’s over the last 10 years, I have to say that this might be the best thing that could have possibly happened to them. I haven’t found that any of them have an edge at anything except being overly ambitious and ready to take advantage of their peers.

They tend to be highly intelligent. Incredibly ambitious. Not afraid of hard work. In addition, they tend to lack much in the way of common sense. Life has yet to catch them. Given 5 or 6 years on the street, these people become leaders. Some of them anyway. And they have a hard time discerning right from profit on a regular basis.

But in this case? As something of a web security expert (I once was in charge of systems that contained more than 700,000 credit card numbers.) I would have been intrigued by the possibility to find out about my results. More importantly though, I would have been curious about a system with huge holes. I would have been curious about the world. And I would have “manipulated” the url to gain access to my own account.

An obvious case of rejection could be made if the manipulation of results had occurred, but in this case the simple act of exploration has caused major upheaval to fragile lives. These people aren’t used to rejection. 20 seconds has changed their lives forever. I’m going to ignore that however.

What I haven’t seen in the news is the repercussions to ApplyYourself and individuals that chose them. The real culprit is the people at the Universities who chose ApplyYourself without properly auditing their systems. A case can be made that it is a fine line about rejecting or accepting these candidates, but if you land on the side of rejection, then out with the current admissions teams as well.

If we are going to get rid of the grey areas and flat out reject those individuals who let their natural curiosity get the best of them, then we have to translate EVERYTHING into black and white. Time to fire a LOT of people. Yes, lives will be ruined. Families will even lose their homes. BUT, fair is fair. No questions asked. The people who chose ApplyYourself must go. NOW!

I do so hate arbitrary!

I find myself not sure if this is a blog about business, a blog about whining? Actually, this turns out just to be a blog for me! So far, few seem to read, but I have realized that I write this for me. Some day, I may have an audience. But I’m not writing for others.

I write to write. I write rarely. But I have realized that the common thread is my life, not the blog. I started out talking about a notetaking application. I have written about Friday afternoons and whined about our health insurance not covering travel immunizations. So far I haven’t talked about relationships. I HAVE posted pictures of my daughter.

How has our great country come to the place it finds itself today? How has the party of unthinking devotion to business interests and exclusionary scare tactics come to be seen as the party that stands for family values? How have we come to the point where abortion rights are a political issue? Abortion is terrible. But how can we worry about abortion when we can’t feed the kids we already have? How does a pastor in the south justify actually kicking members of his congregation out for not supporting bush?

Since when is it any of HIS business who they vote for? It his job to provide spiritual LEADERSHIP! He isn’t a manager, he is a leader! Where did we lose sight of the difference. A leader provides examples. A leader expresses concern. A leader argues a cause. If nine people chose not to blindly follow, then it is HIS problem. If he so choses to view it that way!

Now don’t get me wrong, I find bush to be short sighted, not very intelligent, and a serious follower. I feel that he picks someone early on to listen to, and once a choice is made, is happy to lead (manage) us right off a very visible cliff in the interests of not confusing the issue with valid arguments.

He seems able to blindly follow his own thoughts long after even his own party has begun to question him. He talks about the moral leadership of his party, but he is willingly able to support people to abuse their power. I actually think that once in Iraq, we have a duty. But his leadership is SO blind. (Wow, writing this is SO depressing)

Oh well. Back to the church thing. That idiotic baptist minister doesn’t have a CLUE about separation of church and state! DUH! Our country has always had difficulty with this. Since day one. Our forefathers did many things unintentionaly. What they really meant was that as long as you believe in a Christian God and Jesus Christ you are allowed your own view! Well not really, but we sure are heading that way!

Fine line. Very fine line this idiot is treading. He is telling his congregation not to think independantly. He is saying he is right. I don’t pretend to believe in his god, but let me tell you, under his own rules he has some answering to do. If he turns out to be right, then his day of reckoning is sure gonna suck!

OK, maybe this is enough. Have I offended enough people? Maybe he SHOULD be allowed to kick those people out. It will sure improve nine lives!

ME!