Dare to be different

Editor's Notes

• #2: Dare To Be Different. Being different used to be a bad thing. Today there is an unceasing desire to know more. Perhaps you are seeking solutions instead of worrying about what you can’t do or can’t control. Most of us work in an environment where everything has to be out the door 20 minutes ago.   We all need brand new ways of problem solving. Today, unless you dare to think differently you competition will. Managers must come up with new ways to manage daily tasks and routines. So what am I telling you that you don’t already know? Find a better way by discovering innovation that makes you more efficient in doing what you have always done, by improving your innovative approach by being different. How about something simple like writing a thank-you notes. People don’t take the time to write anymore. Simply taking the time to thank somebody who waited on you, some one in your industry or even a fellow employee means you are different. Simple? Not really! We all know what to do.   Books, tapes, TV shows, seminars all tell us how to lose weight so why are we the heaviest country in the world. The answer is simple…we are all the same. Don’t’ follow the crowd. The crowd is gaining more weight each year. Today little time is spending planning a meal when you can grab a ‘supersized’ burger on the way home from work. How do you fight back…Dare To Be Different?   Less than a decade ago if you said you were going to check your Blackberry the quizzical looks would have been prevalent. The rate of progress is doubling every decade. Soon computers will outperform the brain in almost every category of logic, problem solving, and conclusions. You must take the initiative.   Call your Guests and ask them what they need. Ask you suppliers what they see their products being used for and ask how they would use them to make new products or create new services. Create mavericks…people that ask “What If?” Find a better way to do something. Cater to client demands because they will tell you what they need that is not being fulfilled by your competition. All you have to do is ask and then simply do it. Remember to create something that will have an impact on people’s lives-whether personal or corporate.
• #3: Do the Math! When we are told to “think outside the box’ the problem is that our perspective is lost. We are outside of the problem and not immersed inside of it. Go into the “box.” Move the components around. Use simple math. Add, subtract, multiply, and divide up the parts to see if you can make something new.   Look at some of the most innovative ideas from the past to create new ideas for the future. Simple arithmetic allows us some innovative problem solving without the introduction of new components or resources. For example, use addition to replicate components and add to the over all solution. How many tires on a car? How many in a set. Four? Five? Nope…two… a set is two yet most of us would say four or even five. Two is all that is needed to make a car a hot rod or a truck a tractor. Simply change the rear tires and you have a new use for the same chassis. And when you buy snow tires they sell you two, not four or five.   Start by using your established products as a starting point from which you re-innovate by creating new products that add to profitability by using your existing distribution channels, marketing, and sales resources. Guests like to do business with companies that understand their business. Don’t try to sell something but offer a solution to a problem…cost becomes less of an issue and higher margins are yours. Do the unexpected. Most solutions are as simple as rearranging existing components.   Remember the answer to most problems is found in the components that make up the problem.
• #4: What’s broken? Many of us see what wrong in an organization or specific problem. The issue is not the vision but the ability to change. Shift Happens! ® yet we are not always the reason for the shift but the unwilling participant. If you see what’s broken you must invest time in getting away from the ‘we have always done it this way before’ to selling the organization on why your innovative approach is the best solution.     In 1895 traveling salesman King Gillette continually nicked himself when shaving. His old straight edge was old and could not be strapped to a sharp edge. After thinking about the problem he reasoned that the problem was the inability of the steel to hold an edge for a long period of time. What, he thought, would happened if the razor was ‘disposable? What contributed to the change? By giving away free samples it became an inducement to get more people to try it and then buy it. Old habits die-hard. Think about what you can do to get more people to try your hotel.? Can you offer “Granny” rates? When someone who lives in your town books the reservation for the visit to “Granny’s house” they get a preferred rate. Like the razor your product is disposable. You can’t get back yesterday’s unfilled room. Find a way to fill it even if it means giving it away .It’s time to think differently. Think ‘inside the box.’ And if it’s not broken, break it. Your competition is working hard to make a hotel product that is better than what you now provide. Don’t wait for them to take away some of your Guests.   Remember not only do you need to have an open mind and vision but is able to champion your idea to others.
• #5: Use little ideas to develop bigger ones. The problem with most problem solving is that more time is spent on solutions than defining the problem itself. If you do not define the problem accurately then you are working on a solution that does not solve the real problem. Sharpen the focus of your definition by gaining conscientious from a diverse group of Guests and business associates. Don’t allow anyone to use negative or idea killing behavior. Try to have as many opinions as practical and build trust within the TEAM.
• #6: In 1895 traveling salesman King Gillette continually nicked himself when shaving. His old straight edge was old and could not be strapped to a sharp edge. After thinking about the problem he reasoned that the problem was the inability of the steel to hold an edge for a long period of time. What, he thought, would happened if the razor was ‘disposable? What contributed to the change? By giving away free samples it became an inducement to get more people to try it and then buy it. Old habits die-hard. Think about what you can do to get more people to try your hotel.? Can you offer “Granny” rates? When someone who lives in your town books the reservation for the visit to “Granny’s house” they get a preferred rate. Like the razor your product is disposable. You can’t get back yesterday’s unfilled room. Find a way to fill it even if it means giving it away .It’s time to think differently. Think ‘inside the box.’ And if it’s not broken, break it. Your competition is working hard to make a hotel product that is better than what you now provide. Don’t wait for them to take away some of your Guests.
• #7: Watch TV For many of us television is a distraction. For others impetus from change: changing the channels that is. Creative thoughts often need silence. Many of my best ideas come from taking a long hot shower or better a steam bath. Noise keeps us from hearing our inner voice and the often very quiet “AHA.”   Omaha Steaks has been a family business since 1917. Successive generations realized that steaks were being bought through distribution channels they didn’t service such as stores, phone orders, mail or Internet. In reality it was the same product they simply had to address the specific needs to sell is specially meat to traditional users such as restaurants and hotels. How did they get the idea of selling differently? Television. They watched a program on the emerging technology of Internet selling and determined that instead of doing expense direct mail they could offer products to Internet users and reach a broader audience. Through mail order and catalog campaigns, Omaha Steaks has grown to become the nation's largest direct response marketer of steaks and other frozen gourmet foods.    If you are watching TV then really watch it. There are ideas there…you have to look and listen…but the ideas are there for the taking. Today companies like Google and Apple are continually developing ways to marry the computer and Television experience .How about your business? Are you watching TV or should you turn it off? Either way think innovatively about what you can do to make your services available to a wider market.    Remember that television gets its ideas from some of the brightest minds in the world. Learn from their success by figuring out how to apply their message to your business.
• #8: Don’t Listen to Detractors. Don’t believe in what you or your associates did before or what has to be done because it limits your thinking. Using satellites instead of landlines CNN was able to accomplish what independent stations had wanted to accomplish for years…break the network hold. By locating their bureaus in the same buildings as the Western Union satellite uplinks CNN was able to negotiate with RCA to carry their sign to cable viewers. In his book, Me and Ted Against The World, Reese Schonfeld shows how he found the big three networks to give viewers news 24 hours a day.   Include people from outside your organization. If the same people are doing all the ‘creative thinking’ unison is created…and that kills innovation. Look at other organizations and try to apply what they do to what you do.   Less than 20 years ago most brick and mortar stores regarded the internet as a passing whim. Unlike the old days, venture capital is no longer available for companies with untested products or businesses.   Find your market by serving your Guests or finding Guests looking to be serviced. Martha Stewart was able to build on her book business by taking the information to the TV, Internet, magazine, and branding related products. Redefine your products and services in the broadest sense. Find new uses for your property’s meeting space. Offer it to churches, student groups, others that can use the space on days and time when it would otherwise be empty.   What can you do with the existing resources you already have in place?   Remember ideas come from seeing a need no one else is filling.
• #9: Schedule Nothing. Addictions to schedules, to do lists, and other time constraints often result in absorbing the creative juices. If you catch yourself doing either, or thinking about what needs to be done instead of what needs to be accomplished stop it. Stop the Stupid Stuff. We are not animals…animals are trained, people are educated. Follow your passion not your Day Timer or PDA.   If you want to succeed have confidence and faith in your ability to be creative and focused on your goals. Have the courage to go your own way. Schedules are different than goals. Goals are different that results. Focus on results and the path is more clearly created. But hard work is not enough to achieve your results. You have to be willing to work harder and sacrifice. Do your own research and experimentation but sometimes going outside of your own company resources may be cost and time effective. Take a chance. Schedules often prevent risk taking. Try to maintain momentum from you initial successes.   Go to your schedule for the next 30 days and look at the notations. Are they meetings? Reviews? Or result oriented goals? Change or move the non-productive tasks to very early or very late in the day. I prefer late in the day because less time is wasted. People want to go home, they have plans, so they stay focused on the tasks at hand. Have an agenda and timetable for every meeting. Set a definable goal that results in an action that will result in doing something better, faster, more profitable or even better simply Stop The Stupid Stuff. Don’t have a meeting because ‘we always met on Tuesdays.’ Keep pushing for the next breakthrough. Reduce your schedules to one, most important, results oriented goal that can be achieved within 30 days. Take small steps but focus on the big results. Innovation often comes from small groups not individuals or from management. More often innovation comes from the group that is charged with the process itself. The more people have control of their own destiny the more effective they are.   Remember schedules are made to be broken, results are not. It is not the size of your organization; it is the existing organization itself that is the impediment to innovation. Give new projects room to grow not schedules to maintain.
• #10: Here are some thought starters as reminders of what we discussed in our time together. Each page contains one image and a single, focused thought that may help you to think differently. My goal is to offer you some new tools, new insights for the solving the problems you face. The best way to understand creative problem solving is through examples. When Xerox corporation began manufacturing photocopiers, the marketing people were disappointed by poor sales. Xerox had the capacity to manufacture more machines than they were selling. The focused on the “product of the product.” Instead of selling machines they offered to place their machines in businesses that were willing to pay a few cents for each copy their machine produced. Often traditional approaches are not always the most effective. All innovations begin as creative solutions, but not all creative solutions become innovations. An innovation is a creative solution that’s used by people other than the person that created it.   We are now, again, in an entrepreneurial boom. New ideas, new products, new channels of distribution all point to unprecedented growth. Don’t think of yourself as an innovative firm but a company with innovative solutions to your Guests’ problems. As companies grow they get ‘fat’ and lazy and ultimately crash and burn. Chose your battles. Stay in touch with your Guests and be aware of what you competition is doing for them. Keep your Guest needs in mind and forget about trying what seems to be a good idea to try. Do your homework. Pursue ideas that respond to needs and sales will follow. Don’t let the sales marketing guys give you bells and whistles without substance or breakthrough. Find new ways to package what you have to offer. “When they give you ruled paper…turn it sideways.”
• #11: Here are some thought starters as reminders of what we discussed in our time together. Each page contains one image and a single, focused thought that may help you to think differently. My goal is to offer you some new tools, new insights for the solving the problems you face. The best way to understand creative problem solving is through examples. When Xerox corporation began manufacturing photocopiers, the marketing people were disappointed by poor sales. Xerox had the capacity to manufacture more machines than they were selling. The focused on the “product of the product.” Instead of selling machines they offered to place their machines in businesses that were willing to pay a few cents for each copy their machine produced. Often traditional approaches are not always the most effective. All innovations begin as creative solutions, but not all creative solutions become innovations. An innovation is a creative solution that’s used by people other than the person that created it.   We are now, again, in an entrepreneurial boom. New ideas, new products, new channels of distribution all point to unprecedented growth. Don’t think of yourself as an innovative firm but a company with innovative solutions to your Guests’ problems. As companies grow they get ‘fat’ and lazy and ultimately crash and burn. Chose your battles. Stay in touch with your Guests and be aware of what you competition is doing for them. Keep your Guest needs in mind and forget about trying what seems to be a good idea to try. Do your homework. Pursue ideas that respond to needs and sales will follow. Don’t let the sales marketing guys give you bells and whistles without substance or breakthrough. Find new ways to package what you have to offer. “When they give you ruled paper…turn it sideways.”
• #12: As Vesta Hospitality finds a new sustainable growth path, while struggling off considerable headwinds, less than encouraging government policies.
• #13: Human Capital..it’s all about the team members that perform and deliver. a) Provide employee training and development b) Raise employee engagement c) Improve performance management processes and accountability d) Increase efforts to retain critical talent e) Improve leadership development programs
• #14: a) Sharpen understanding of Guest needs b) Enhance quality of products/services c) Engage personally with key Guests/clients d) Tailor marketing, promotion, and communications campaigns to key Guest needs e) Broaden range of products/services
• #15: Excellence is the minimum standard. Every improvement is the result of ‘shifts’ or changes
• #16: Create a culture of innovation Continue to apply new technologies (product, process, information, etc.) Engage in strategic alliances with Guests, suppliers, and/or other business partners Encourage the development innovation skills for all employees
• #17: Operational Excellence a) Seek better alignment between strategy, objectives, and organizational capabilities Improve our organizational agility/flexibility Raise employee engagement to drive productivity
• #18: I am sure we all agree that Human Capital is in essence, the thread that runs through the other four challenges I mentioned and together they form the basis for strategic action. After all, without a talented, engaged, and properly motivated workforce, achieving progress against these challenges is impossible. It's all about The Journey To Bright Ideas and how we get to the top of that mountain.
• #21: Start Name Calling. If you think you are not creative it is time to change your mind. Quit worrying about a label…creative or not. Think about how you will achieve your end results by the way you look at challenges. Look beyond the problem and into the results instead. Instead of being the architect of a single building think about creating a neighborhood, parks, transportation, etc. Instead of being a hotel can you be a meeting place, convention, ramification place.   Create a city and then the single building is merely one of many projects that make up the whole. Sometimes the bigger picture is easier to envision. Then start making the first change in how you stop worrying about what people call you or what you call your self, instead focus on the results. Donald Trump may not be your favorite real estate developer but his ‘name’ is everywhere. His accomplishments are everywhere. He branded his name; no matter what anyone call him.   Brand your products. Make sure that no matter what you call yourself, product, or service the name has oomph. IPOD is now used to describe every MP3 player on the market whether made by Apple or not. Smartphones are referred to as either IPHONE or Androids   Blackberry was used to reference most handheld PDAs even though was launched as Pocket Link from RIM that name change resulted in a very powerful image and recognition. Today Blackberry continues to lose market share because they lost sight of what the business Guest wants. They should merge with Apple so they can provide their network to Apple. And with the loss of Steve Jobs, Apple has lost it’s innovative edge to Android, especially Samsung. Shift Happens! Think big. Think about building a brand name that defines a market or what you really do. TIVO means what? No one cares because it resulted in defining all digital recorders. Name-calling is similar to great PR…all of it is good as long as we remember where to find it. How can you make your hotel the ‘go to’ place to stay?   Remember great companies not only prosper from great products or services but also the uniqueness of their name.
• #22: Question in Technicolor When the first Pocket Links came out nobody raved about their ability to connect a mobile workforce. BlackBerry with its color touch screen and mini keypad permitted road warriors to check flights, email, today’s headlines, make phone calls, receive faxes, and schedule appointments. The product was introduced in black and white but its success came when color was added. Blackberry hit the shelves in 1999 and over the years it became touted as one of the most powerful brands on the market. Yet until the color screen women did not like it, many companies saw that it was simply one more digital device that included pagers and cell phones. By not keeping a close pulse on the need for ‘apps’ and ‘cameras’ and ‘GPS’ Blackberry has lost it’s cutting edge and now fights for it’s life. In less that 15 years Blackberry’s fruit has spoiled and there is no recovery in site. Shift Happened.   Companies have been blind sided by innovators with spectacular concepts. Akio Morita lead a disruption in electronics and called his company Sony. For years Sony was the ‘electronics leader.’ Today they barely hold on to many of product categories they invented. Discounters that warehoused products in a sparse display environment like Wal-Mart and Costco overturned traditional department stores. Mom and pop diners were displaced by fast food providers like McDonald’s and Steve Jobs continued to launch new products that change the way we work and play with our IPODs.   It was color that brought photography to the world and television into our homes. Color is omnipotent. Technology met fashion. Think in color so you see green not red.   Remember to keep launching new growth products even when you don’t need growth. If you wait until your sales flatten or profits drop, the game is over.  
• #23: Think About The Desired Result First A pilot creates a flight plan prior to getting into his plane. The captain of a ship plots a course and creates alternate ports in case of in climate weather. Yet each of us thinks about a new product or service and fails to find out if there is really a market out there that will pay for it. In 3D Thinking I discuss the Depth of your Knowledge, the Distance you can take it, and the Determination you have to see the product to completion…which means sale to the end user. Very often a better mousetrap is not the key to success if you don’t consider the Guest. Get out of the office. Talk to your Guests. Ask them what they need, not want. Segment your audience and don’t buy into the emotional influence that many demand. It takes self-confidence to create a new product or service before anyone else. Watch what your Guests are trying to get done and determine how you can help them get it done faster, cheaper, or more efficiently. It’s time to WOW your Guests.   Remember once you understand the end results creating the path to get there become very clear.
• #24: Reduce, Reuse, Reinnovate. The way to solve a problem is to get straight to the root. You can boost your profits by thinking about other uses for the same product or service. Baking soda is now used as a deodorizer in a refrigerator, salt is used to remove stains and melt ice, water which was once a commodity and often free now sells for more than many other liquors, soft drinks, and beer. Look around and see what products you have that can be repackaged and resold for new uses. Reduce inventory and overhead by re-innovating using the same products.   The airline industry is suffering. They don’t know what to reduce their prices so they reduce Guest service, local ticketing offices, and on board meals. Part of the issue is that Boeing and Airbus are locked in combat with building bigger planes to carry 500 passengers in a no growth market while Bombardier Aerospace and Brazil’s Embracer have changed from building jets with 30 seats to 50-100 seats. These planes now fly passengers at half the cost per passenger mile and continue to see record years of growth. The airline industry has figured out how to charge for all the services that used to be free. They have stopped bundling. In the hospitality industry bundling is growing. Set a rate for Internet access and then offer it for free. Doubletree gives Guests a warm chocolate chip cookie. Late check outs are no longer charged a fee by many hotels. Don’t allow your organization to have so much at stake in terms of fixed costs that you must continue to build something you can’t sell.   Remember to reduce wasted time and reuse existing resources to discover opportunities not being served currently. See a need. Fill a need.
• #25: Start Acting Like A Champion Build your reputation first. Often we get caught up in what we think we can do and fail to do it well. If you don’t over promise but over deliver you will be a champion. Lance Armstrong has won 6 consecutive races. He was able to choose if he wanted to try again. Then we learned that he took drugs and his career plummeted. Lance has ‘fallen and can’t get up.’ Tiger Woods has won and lost and now struggles to regain his leadership role as Champion. If you want to be a champion you have to act like one as well as perform like one.   Champions see themselves as winners. Most original ideas are not completely original. Look at your organization and your competition and evaluate ideas that work in one context and apply it to another. Can you sell a ‘6 pack’ of your product, where perhaps the 6th night is free? How about offering a ‘test drive’ prior to purchase. Offer a day stay or overnight stay on your slowest days.     People will pay for results, outcomes. Do the same in your business by charging for results not promises. Find out what products or services you can offer to your business guests. Change what you offer on weekends for your leisure visitor. Focus on the experience. Act like a champion. Sell your wisdom not your knowledge. Knowledge you get from books…anybody can find a book. Wisdom you get from experience. You don’t go to the new doctor or dentist because you are afraid they don’t have experience but you accept they have knowledge. Be a champion by leading your employees. Employees really follow champions..   Remember to offer demonstrated outcomes and price your self as a champion not just a player in your field.  
• #26: Balance Your Worry To Fun Correlation After you have finished worrying about your overhead, interest rates, and your dog, stop it. Stop The Stupid Stuff!® Stop worrying and starting enjoying life. Enjoy the sunset or watch birds in flight. Listen to your favorite music, paint, read, and simply call your favorite ‘joke telling’ friend and laugh. Forget what I said in #5 and watch something on the Discovery Channel or A&E. Learn a language or take up a new hobby or revive an older one. Don’t talk about how much stress you have in your life but how much you have in your life. Creativity comes at the strangest times and in wonderful ways.   Have fun. Most of us focus on the day-to-day and not ourselves. Find time to enjoy the successes. Educate your self. Spend time with a book or learn a language. Take up cooking or photography. Organize your workshop or sock drawer. Give yourself little rewards of accomplishment.   Never stop learning and acquire new skills. Go bowling. No one knows how to bowl well and you are going to have fun. Most of us chip away at problems using methods that are hundreds of years old but no longer effective for today’s issues.   Look at companies like Disney or Apple. They are idea machines. They create visions that change the world. They don’t look for affirmation but look ahead to see trends and move in front of them and ask, “how will this idea perform with our target audience?’ Tear the idea apart but have fun doing it. Remember the example of simple math? Multiple, divide, subtract the various components and make different shapes and results like a Lego set.  
• #27: Enough said.