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Wrestling With Chaos

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by Gary Monti

56 episodes

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Finding Simple Solutions For Complex Situations

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8/21/2018

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Recent Episodes

April 6, 2023

0063 WWC Urko Wood: Jobs To Be Done

In this episode Urko Wood, with Reveal Growth Consultants, discusses how business-to-business (B2B) companies can grow in a predictable manner using a method — Jobs-To-Be-Done — which also sustains value and profitability. The process is described in the seminal book, Jobs to be Done: From Theory to Practice, by Anthony W. Ulwick. Urko also has a free white paper, 3 Steps to Consistently Fill Your New Product Pipeline with Only Good Ideas, you may find quite beneficial for developing new products. The discussion opens with the reality one can’t just prepare to do Jobs-To-Be-Done (JTBD) via a major in college. His initial contact with the method was with improving existing products and services. At the time it was not necessarily good at discovering new products and services that could be offered in new markets because the method was limited to existing products and services. Eventually he read an article in the Harvard Business Review and connected with Ulwick, the CEO and founder of Strategyn and became a part of his team from 2005 to 2012. From there Urko founded Reveal Growth Consultants, working mostly with small to midsize B2B companies. The conversation switched to VOC (the Voice of the Customer). The problem with that approach is it tends to focus on products that are already in place. With JTBD the opportunities lie with unmet needs. And in line with that it is important to separate the need from the solution, per Theodore Levitt, because “customers don’t want to buy a drill, they want to buy a hole.” A laser may do a better job than a drill. The customer wants to get the job done! The key is shifting from what we know how to do to what it takes to get the customer’s job done. The #1 reason for product failure is not understanding the customer’s needs. With JTBD the first goal is to discover the customer’s unmet needs. In line with this Urko approaches the customer defining 7 key terms: 1. Innovation 2. Customer need 3. Customer unmet needs 4. Opportunity 5. A Market 6. A Market segment 7. Creativity All terms need to be defined with the customer for innovation to occur. The client team must have a consistent definition of these terms. Innovation is first discovering the customers unaddressed needs and then integrating ideas to address them. THE SEQUENCE IS CRITICAL! The need must be defined separate from any possible solutions. This increases the odds of achieving a breakthrough. Failure to put solutions first can create real problems. The example was given of the cell phone industry switching from analog to digital and being disrupted due to analog leaders focusing on solutions first. This also occurred in the image industry with the switch from film to digital. The flow then is to first discover the customer’s unmet needs then evaluate those needs with the client’s team using concepts such as strategic fit, time to market, relative advantage, etc., in order to win in the market place. Innovation always comes before products in order to avoid being tied to existing products/services, e.g., an accounting consulting firm purchasing a digital security firm since most of their clients had that need. Most growth comes from discovering unmet needs, eliminate phantom needs, and then matching solutions with the important unsatisfied needs. The challenges of product management and innovation are often reflected in the company’s internal politics, diluting the focus on relevancy for the customer. In such situations it’s key to have an objective metric against which one can make good decisions. In other words, use the JTBD approach. JTBD uses market statistics to determine a prioritized list of needs, increasing the odds of success in terms of product development. The discussion may take some time and massaging the metrics give a good starting point rather than, say, the CEO’s pet idea. To get this information the conversation turned to methodology. A simple place to begin is asking customers what they are trying to accomplish with your product or service. It’s important to be qualified in terms o knowing what questions to ask. If it turns out the customer’s needs are best met with new technologies your company lacks then it’s best for the CEO to set up a new group separate from existing ones in order to avoid to avoid being “contaminated” with existing methods that may not meet the customer’s needs. The need to adapt and be disruptive is shown by the fact that most companies are bought out within 12 years and during that time they will have to reinvent themselves several times. Disruption is becoming the norm. Failure to do that can lead to disaster, e.g., Palm going under in the PDA/cell phone market. Funds were diverted to dividends that would have been better spent in JTBD. To keep clients “on the same page” Urko work on alignment in terms of uncovering customer’s needs, determining how the customer measures success, and then determining how much of a solution can be put into a solution. The focus is on asking not only what customers want but what they want to avoid, e.g., safety issues with hand tools. It’s important to avoid confusing needs with requirements. There should be a clear mapping between the two. Urko refers to himself as an innovation guide, totally focused on serving his client who usually are dealing with a threat and need to grow by creating new value through differentiation. What is key is having everyone who will be involved at the kickoff meeting — getting everyone on board in terms of innovation. Because of potential change management issues it is best to create a culture of innovation so people aren’t attached to one particular solution. Modeling innovation throughout the company is critical, i.e., get a clear definition of the problem or solution needed before doing any design efforts. So when submitting and idea the presenter needs to identify: 1. Who is the target customer? 2. What’s the job they are trying to get done? 3. Where are they struggling on that job? 4. What’a the opportunity for value creation? 5. What’s your idea going to do to mitigate or increase/create new value? 6. What’s your evidence that shows it’s a problem? 7. How broad is this issue in the market? Gary referenced the similarity of this approach to the one presented with regards to implementing solutions in the 12 Steps to Flow, which has a supporting series of podcasts (WWC podcasts 0037, 0042, 0043, 0045, 0046, 0047, 0049, 0050, 0051, 0053, 0054, 0055). Flow emphasizes the need for openness throughout the organization both vertically and horizontally when solving problems relating to innovation -always having a focus on the client’s problem that needs to be solved. The value of JTBD and finding hidden markets was the next topic. It’s important to know what inputs to get and how to get them from target customers. Must know how to create the needs statements so that they are accurate and unambiguous, and validated in order to go into a survey of the representative sample of the target population to rate for how important it is and how satisfied are you with your ability to implement. With a sufficiently large population segmentation can be used to see if the same valuation is placed by a sufficiently large segment that it is worth one’s while to develop solutions for that segment because they are underserved. This is superior to demographics in terms of assessing shared values. It’s all about being in the realm of causality rather than correlation. Urko explains the criteria and mechanics of putting an accurate and valid survey together — it’s a specialty. Surveys aren’t the first step - qualitative interviews are. It helps establish: 1. the target customer 2. what they want to accomplish 3. what steps they have to go through 4. what criteria for success 5. and where do they struggle and why Surveys don’t penetrate to this level of information. Surveys tend to focus on sales methods. For more information contact Urko on • LinkedIn or • e-mail to uw@revealgrowth.com, • on Facebook see Reveal Growth Urko also has a white paper, 3 Steps to Consistently Fill Your New Product Pipeline with Only Good Ideas that is quite beneficial to learn more about Jobs To Be Done CHANGE MANAGEMENT WHITE PAPER LINK. Need help dealing with complex situations? You can download CMC’s free e-book MINDSET – 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO LOOK AT COMPLEX PROBLEMS and learn how to find a simple vantage point from which you can resolve challenges. Your feedback is important. Choose from the following options: • place a review in iTunes, • send any comments along with your name and the show number to support@ctrchg.com Listen to future episodes for our reply.

February 13, 2023

0062 WWC Kent Johnson: Family-owned Business

In this episode Kent Johnson, CEO of Highlights for Children, a family-owned business with a majority of independent Board members, discusses a series of topics ranging from his sudden take-over of the CEO position at age 36 due to the death of the incumbent to how the company started to the different avenues of childhood development Highlights pursues. To compound the situation he actually did not want the position since he was working successfully in biotech. Kent refers to the great mentorship he received from the Board of Directors which helped insure assuming the CEO position would be successful. A real plus was governance in terms of having sat with the Board for 2 years prior. The challenge of juggling a wide range of stakeholder populations was achieved by first focusing on the employee population since they were the main determinants of whether or not Kent would succeed, a key determinant of any leader’s success. As to general traits of being a good CEO Kent felt working hard and a willingness to listen are two key character traits. Kent’s father’s work as a scientist and his mother’s work as a politician working in the community contributed immensely to the foundation needed to succeed as CEO. It provided key lessons in diversity and its value in succeeding in meeting everyone’s needs. Humility is key. Fortunately, people are focused on the mission and avoid major, internal political struggles. To support this Kent will tell people, especially when asking a detailed questions, he just needs to know. His scientific training can creep in because he was trained to question everything…details, details. His training does help growth since promoting experiments is key to finding opportunities. Risk Management! In terms of income, Highlights for Children, is not their major source of income. Zaner-Bloser, professional development for teachers, etc. help create an environment where the organization can succeed especially by marketing to government agencies in order to gain sponsorship for their children. Chaos- and complexity theory come into play because there is a constant balancing act required to keep the company balanced, fresh, and appropriate for the markets they serve. Financially, grounding work in risk management is essential because a sunk-cost frame of mind is needed to determine whether or not continued investment in diversification strategies is essential. In turn, these efforts are grounded in a belief of what they can do for kids that will help them flourish. Consequently, a balance is struck in deciding when it is best to stop a highly-desirable project that is failing to show the necessary return potential. This is especially true as the world moves faster and faster. In line with this speed of business the criticality of maintaining balance in a constantly-changing environment is critical. In other words, Kent has to focus on, “How do we need to change in order to stay relevant?” As a middle-market company managers are expected to help in terms of looking at the outside world and how it is changing along with keeping existing workflows moving forward. This includes managing conflict through rules of engagement, e.g., assume a positive intent when there is conflict, work to provide solutions, examine assumptions, examine clarity of rules, examine possible consequences. This leads to clarity and alignment of goals from the Board to the employee. Managers must “translate” from one level of the organization to another. This alignment is critical especially when working with outside partners. Motivation can be a major task encouraging employees to work on change, stay focused on the problem-at-hand, and maintain respect for each other, i.e., an egoless team — hammer the idea, respect the people. Trust is critical. Debate in a trustworthy manner rather than attack resulting in interpersonal conflict. Conflict and fear crush innovation. Trust and discipline lead to thriving. Inclusion is vital since different personalities come at a situation, problem, or opportunity differently. A straightforward example is Extroverts want to jump in immediately and get “out there” right away vs Introverts who need time to go back to their space and think about things in order to explore and then come out with their ideas/proposed solutions/etc. A solutions-oriented frame-of-mind rather than attack/defend - that’s the key. Some of the challenges facing Highlights for Children is, as mentioned, is keeping up with the changing environment and staying relevant in developing the whole child. Another includes the business models used, e.g., the “magazine” part of the business is challenging but it is essential to go beyond just being a magazine for children. High Five is a good example — it focuses on being a part of a child’s development (preschoolers and kindergarteners). This leads to “Highlights Habits,” a range of products within which the child can explore. So “Highlights for Children” becomes the spine from which products flow develop that achieve the goals within the mission strategy of the 4 C’s - Creative, Caring, Confident, and Curious - and how the child goes through their day. This includes curriculum development for the influencers in the child’s life. An example of this is “Hidden Pictures,” which helps with critical thinking for children by doing puzzles. It helps children learn to use different tools and processes. I commented on how this helps with developing the child’s Axis Mundi — creating a space where the child’s “insides” meet the world’s “outsides.” The child is offered an experience. At “Highlights” this is expressed in their slogan, “Fun With a Purpose.” Childhood is a short, sweet season where they learn to love engaging with the world. The children can engage with the characters in the tools. Instead of tools alone, children are taught to have a sense of right and wrong and the tools to apply that sense in their life and change as they see appropriate. The hope is teaching children how to immerse themselves in the 4 C’s can help them solve major problems as they grow older and go out into the world. This is all grounded in ideas that started with the founders of the company, Kent’s great-grandparents who founded the company in 1946 when they were 61 & 59 - starting on their own new careers at that time! Being flexible and change while being faithful to core principles is the constant challenge while also trying to move faster is the challenge Kent faces — surfing the edge of chaos. This all leads to a fascinating work stream frame-of-mind challenge which imagines there is no magazine and no existing business, “What activities should we pursue to achieve our mission?” I pointed out that whether conscious or unconscious this gets to practical applications of Complexity Theory and Chaos Theory, necessary for moving through a changing world by promoting healthy child development. This means the company works at a meta level with a focus on child development through the creation of an ecosystem around “Highlights for Children” that supports achievement of their mission statement. The content may change, e.g., the magazine may have changing relevance and will just shift to its proper place in the ecosystem where certain needs for relevance are constant, e.g., touch being important with activities such as sitting on a parent’s or grandparent’s lap and reading “Highlights” together. Kent’s profile can be found on LinkedIn. Need help dealing with complex situations? You can download CMC’s free e-book MINDSET – 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO LOOK AT COMPLEX PROBLEMS and learn how to find a simple vantage point from which you can resolve challenges. Your feedback is important. Choose from the following options: • place a review in iTunes, • send any comments along with your name and the show number to support@ctrchg.com Listen to future episodes for our reply.

February 9, 2023

0061 WWC Jim Bruner: Child Development - STEM vs STEAM

In this episode I talk with Jim Bruner who works in child development and who draws on his long history of mentorship to develop diversity, specifically combining the arts with technology. We started with Jim introducing the importance of diversity - turning STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) into STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math). He and his husband bought a farm and with is half Jim dedicated it to gardening and technology. He realized without diversity technology is a destructive component causing isolation and destruction. With diversity technology can be unifying. He works with anthropologists, sociologists, and ethnographers to apply diversity to “gardens” of people! This helps with his search for diversity of skill and talent among his students, working to elevate the individual while promoting team spirit and behavior. A big breakthrough occurred when he realized there was benefit to be gained when the mentoring went outside a focused purpose - the children are unique “gardens,” themselves! Children need to be in an environment where they can thrive and grow, realizing for themselves what they can and can’t accomplish. Ask about their dreams, look at their art, etc., and let them talk about it. This helps children understand they don’t need permission to be who they are. The conversation moved into STEM vs STEAM. The arts are critical to every stage of technology because without a sense of wonder and beauty there is no technology. Art is needed to move technology forward. THERE ARE NO SOFT SKILLS - technology moving forward is about people interacting based on mutual respect. It is grounded in creativity. With STEAM children are challenged to push their own limits to solve problems. This turns creativity on, which is art. Learning to do this within a group and build mutual respect is key. With the “A” for Art, STEAM turns STEM into creativity. It’s teaching children to lean through empathy and understanding. One problem mentioned was the movement from “natural philosophy” to “science.” “Natural philosophy” is a frame of mind about connection across all areas of human endeavor which encourages art to be connected to technology - STEAM. On the other hand, removal of art in order to have STEM (as was done in the industrial revolution) risks dehumanizing and fragmenting the individual thus creating problems for and within children. Jim, himself, lives a diverse life, from his farm, Mezzacello (https://mezzacello.org/) where children study food, technology, and learning, to the PAST foundation (https://www.pastfoundation.org/ ) which partners anthropology with science and technology. “We don’t need more kids to work in factories. We need factories that can work with passion and creativity to reach new horizons.” Maurice Sendak in his book, “I don’t care, Pierre,” discusses how a STEM frame of mind leads to demotivation - absence of love. Technology flows from creativity which is forged in art, history, poetry, literature, love, laughter, and tears. People are the beautiful strange attractors that create chaos leading to invention and technology. But what about kids who don’t care? Kids who are outliers? They need mentorship both from adults but also peer-to-peer. They need to be empowered by learning to trust themselves and others. It has to do with vulnerability and dealing with the associated challenges. We discussed how Apollo 13 reflects what is being spoken. (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/apollo13.html, 13 Factors that Saved Apollo 13) To reflect all this Jim teaches algorithms to children via Tai Chi - 11 movements tied together by a story. He can teach the algorithm to children in 3 weeks! The problem with algorithms arise when they are dedicated to a single purpose, e.g., profits. People then become devises meant only to achieve the goal - their humanity is subtracted. People are multi-dimensional and for children to thrive they need to learn how to explore and express all their dimensions both individually and on the team. In other words, have children who are successful sooner teach those needed more time and input. In business, then, what is best is focusing on human capital and a culture based on wanting each other to succeed. Jim goes on to talk about ignorance, stupidity, and fear along with how a CEO is best suited to deal with them and gain respect of employees. • Ignore stupidity • Eradicate ignorance • Use knowledge to replace ignorance • Care about what people feel about each other • Then, care about what they think about you He summed it up with a quote from Maya Angelou, “People don’t remember what you did, they remember how you made them feel.” Telling people, “I appreciate you make my bottom line stronger and I am stronger because of you,” is much more powerful than, “You have to make my bottom line stronger.” The topic switched to Invention Convention and the Invention League. At one point the judging panel comprised 2 adults from a given industry. The children couldn’t take the criticism! Eventually, all critique was changed to 2 adults + all the kids in that particular group with the kids opinions ranking as important as the adults. Success ratios went through the roof! Rather than critique the students saw their peers’ judgments as being a “plus.” It built empathy. It promoted honesty, openness, and vulnerability. It supports the understanding that people are power and that vulnerability is a key component for a successful team. It teaches children to blossom. “Innovation is rented, not owned and the rent is due today,” is a poster on Jim’s office wall. You surf the edge of chaos, go back and implement, and then get back out to the edge of chaos to gain new information and insight as well as helping keep one sharp. Reinvent the journey! The conversation switched to the importance of just being yourself rather than trying to have a face for each situation. This includes “not just sitting there,” which lead to discussing the difference between homeostasis and stability. Homeostasis is an “alive” situation which takes energy and commitment to maintain, e.g., holding a body temperature of 98.6° F. Stability is a dead state - everything goes towards maximum entropy. When children start to cry Jim reminds them they are an emotional supercomputer. The brain functions on emotions - what one feels can appear more real than what is. Consequently, teaching children to respect but step away from letting the emotions rule is important. While emotions can be genuine they can mask a reality that is key for the child to learn to be successful. How Buddhism works into generating this frame-of-mind was discussed. Briefly, the need for social media to be “more human” was discussed. Humility is a character trait that is profoundly missing in today’s business leadership. Rather than throwing people a rope, Jim teaches them how to make their own rope. A potential next podcast is the intersection between technology and people discovering themselves. If you think this is a good idea, send us a comment at support@ctrchg.com. Jim’s profile can be found at LinkedIn His two websites are the Past Foundation and Jim Bruner. His e-mail address is jbruner@pastfoundation.org Need help dealing with complex situations? You can download CMC’s free e-book MINDSET – 5 SIMPLE WAYS TO LOOK AT COMPLEX PROBLEMS and learn how to find a simple vantage point from which you can resolve challenges. Your feedback is important. Choose from the following options: • place a review in iTunes, • send any comments along with your name and the show number to support@ctrchg.com Listen to future episodes for our reply.

56 total episodes available

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What is Wrestling With Chaos?: Finding Simple Solutions For Complex Situations
How often does this podcast release new episodes?: This podcast updates daily.
Where can I listen to this podcast?: This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
Does this podcast accept guests?: Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.

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