The advantage that talented people have
From The Two-Second Advantage by Vivek Ranadive and Kevin Maney. Copyright ©2011 by Tibco Software Inc. and Kevin Maney. Published by Crown Business (www.crownbusiness.com).
Wayne Gretzky truly was able to understand what was going to happen an instant or two before anyone else on the ice — and skate to where the puck was going to be. That was his famous line: He'd say that he doesn't skate to where the puck is — he skates to where it's going to be. Commentators would often say that Gretzky seemed to be two seconds ahead of everyone else. That capability drove Gretzky's phenomenal success in the NHL. Gretzky went on to lead the Edmonton Oilers to four Stanley Cup championships.
Like Gretzky on ice, the most successful people in various fields make continual, accurate predictions just a little ahead of and a little better than everyone else. It is the one common denominator of almost all consistent success. Talented people don't need to have a vision of the future 10 years out or even 10 days out. They need a highly profitable prediction just far enough ahead to see an opening or opportunity an instant before the competition. That's true for athletes, artists, businesspeople, or anyone in any field.
Metaphorically, the prediction only needs to be two seconds out — though the actual time may be hundredths of a second or several minutes, depending on the situation. In other words, talented people have a two-second advantage. (In his 2005 best seller Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking, author Malcolm Gladwell describes how judgments made in two seconds are often more accurate than those made after months of analysis. “It's a system in which our brain reaches conclusions without immediately telling us that it's reaching conclusions,” Gladwell writes.)
Vivek Ranadive is the founder and CEO of Tibco Software Inc. and the co-owner and vice chairman of the Golden State Warriors NBA franchise. Kevin Maney writes for Fortune and other publications and was the technology reporter at USA Today for more than 20 years.
If you want to understand China…
From Becoming China's Bitch by Peter D. Kiernan. Copyright ©2012 by the author. Published by Turner Publishing Co. (www.turnerpublishing.com).
In the late seventies, I moved to Tokyo as director of Asian business development for American media conglomerate Capital Cities Communications. No matter how lofty the title sounded, it meant traveling solo to countries like Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China in the hopes of peddling trade news to emerging Asian nations.
As with many directors of business development in Asia back then, most of my work was done on my own. I would check into the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, or the Mandarin in Hong Kong, or the Les Suites Taipei, and I would be the only Cap Cities employee for thousands of miles. Self-reliance was a job requirement. And I learned the value of curiosity . . . especially when dealing in Asia.
One day in the Republic of China, after a series of disastrous meetings in Taipei, I consoled myself at the resplendent Buddhist Longshan Temple. I was blessed back then with a mop of blonde hair and a crowd of youngsters was captivated by it. A hundred children swarmed, all reaching out to touch me, pat my head, and occasionally yank at my hair. The bronze dragons on the right and left pillars of the main hall did little to protect me. Despite being outnumbered, I never felt threatened.
It was like swimming in a sea of warm Asian faces, benevolent and curious, not aggressive — a stark contrast to my abortive attempts at Chinese commerce that week. It dawned on me wading through those children that my innate lack of curiosity was to blame. In the end my lack of understanding had been an insult.
Those dozens of Chinese young people were more interested in me than I was in them. My whole approach to
experiencing Asia changed in that moment.
Just a short stroll from Longshan is the notorious Snake Alley. It was a Friday evening, and everything was wriggling. To prove that I was Chi-curious I downed shots of snake venom, bile, and blood.
If you want to understand China, drink the venom.
Peter D. Kiernan is CEO of venture firm Kiernan Ventures LLC and a former senior partner at Goldman Sachs.
A business leader's greatest leverage
From Grow by Jim Stengel. Copyright ©2011 by the author. Published by Crown Business (www.crownbusiness.com).
When I look back at the greatest business leaders of the past, people such as William Procter and James Gamble, Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard, I see amazing similarities with today's most effective business leaders. Procter envisioned the way people come together in a business in almost spiritual terms. Hewlett and Packard never talked much about brand, but they were both consummate brand and business artists whose ideal of making a contribution to society through technology was an essential element of their success. IBM has been devoted to making business and technology systems work better since its beginnings in 1911. IBM's founder, Thomas Watson Sr., and his son and successor, Thomas Watson Jr., also exemplify the central lesson of this book: that a business leader's greatest leverage lies in rallying employees and customers alike to an ideal of improving people's lives.
Jim Stengel is president and CEO of The Jim Stengel Co. LLC, a marketing consultancy (www.jimstengel.com). He is the former global marketing officer of Procter & Gamble Co., and serves as a director of AOL Inc. and Motorola Mobility Inc.
Entrenched myths, contrary findings
From Great By Choice by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen. Copyright ©2011 by the authors. Published by Harper Business (www.harpercollins.com).
The core of our analysis always rested on comparing the 10X cases — a 10X company beats its industry index by at least 10 times — to the comparisons across time and asking, “What was different?” This method of inquiry proved particularly powerful for not only developing insights but also shattering deeply entrenched myths. In fact, many of the findings ran absolutely counter to our intuition. Here is a sampling of myths undermined by research.
Entrenched myth: Successful leaders in a turbulent world are bold, risk-seeking visionaries.
Contrary finding: The best leaders we studied did not have a visionary ability to predict the future. They observed what worked, figured out why it worked, and built upon proven foundations. They were not more risk taking, more bold, more visionary, and more creative than the comparisons. They were more disciplined, more empirical, and more paranoid.
Entrenched myth: Radical change on the outside requires radical change on the inside.
Contrary finding: The 10X cases changed less in reaction to their changing world than the comparison cases. Just because your environment is rocked by dramatic change does not mean that you should inflict radical change upon yourself.
Entrenched myth: Great enterprises with 10X success have a lot more good luck.
Contrary finding: The 10X companies did not generally have more luck than the comparisons. Both sets had luck — lots of luck, both good and bad — in comparable amounts. The critical question is not whether you'll have luck, but what you do with the luck that you get.
Jim Collins is a consultant and author or co-author of six books, including Good to Great and Built to Last (www.jimcollins.com). Morten T. Hansen is a management professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and at INSEAD.
In ‘local vs. global,' bet on local
From All Business Is Local by John A. Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz. Copyright ©2012 by the authors. Published by Portfolio/Penguin (www.penguin.com).
Experts and observers are always quick to point to the changing business landscape and to predict the demise of old ways of thinking. Digital will displace physical; global will displace local; and new will displace old. But trends are rarely that black and white, and the movement toward one does not always mean the demise of the other.
Marketers face a complex landscape in which no customer can be purely global or purely local in outlook, and no customer can be purely physical or purely virtual in the way he or she buys.
The forces of globalization have not yet come close to rendering place irrelevant. Nation-states remain the organizing structure for the world's population. Modern communications may enable individuals to build and join virtual communities that cross borders, but we are much more likely to use those resources to connect with our neighbor next door than a person on the other side of the world. Even those who are most global spend the bulk of their time within a small geographical area. The sense of place that comes with being part of a community — not the global village but the local village — remains an important part of our psyche, and, its continuity, a source of comfort and well-being.
Our place-based instincts remain more local than global. The more interconnected the world becomes, the more many of us wish to emphasize the local over the global. Such trends offer opportunities for marketers large and small.
John A. Quelch is the dean, vice president, and distinguished professor of international management at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS). Katherine E. Jocz is a consultant and writer on marketing.
Does your business need a more careful shave?
From Running the Gauntlet by Jeffrey Hayzlett with Jim Eber. Copyright ©2012 by Jeffrey Hayzlett. Published by McGraw-Hill (www.mhprofessional.com).
I was riding the subway in New York City one afternoon when a 60-something gentleman sat down across from me. At first glance, he looked successful — nice tie, jacket, and slacks; a distinguished head of white hair. But then I began to process the details. Everything about this guy read success … 10 or 20 years ago. Today his look read “better days behind me.” His shirt and tie may have been expensive when he bought them, but now they were frayed and spotted. His pants and jacket were worn, if not threadbare, in places. He needed a haircut and a more careful shave.
Did I know this man? It doesn't matter. I made the same assessment of him that your employees, customers, and vendors make of you, your other employees and your business every day. Sure, there could be any number of reasons for this guy's state. Maybe he was wearing his lucky outfit. Maybe he got into a rut long ago and stopped making that extra effort. Maybe he thought he looked great and no one in his life had the heart to tell him the truth. None of these reasons matter to me.
No matter what your age, your business should look and feel alive. Mood is everything. That's why presentation is one of the key areas change agents attack first to transform a bad mood. Any business and its people can be changed to make a better presentation. I like to literally clean a business when I start working there or take it over, because presentation is both the easiest of those areas to change and the easiest to dismiss or ignore.
Jeffrey Hayzlett is a consultant in change management and marketing (www.hayzlett.com). Jim Eber is a business writer.
Bribery better be on your compliance radar
From Bribery and Corruption by Brian P. Loughman and Richard A. Sibery. Copyright ©2012 by Ernst & Young LLP. Published by John Wiley & Sons Inc. (www.wileyfinance.com).
For many, many years the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) was the only game in town. Even then, most businesses either hadn't heard of it or didn't see it as a significant deterrent. Enforcement was rare, and when heard about, usually involved exotic locales and large payments to government insiders. And so was the case of the FCPA for many years. Bribery and corruption remained global scourges, and there were additional attempts to level the playing field and reduce their effects.
As the new century arrived, the tide began to change. The FCPA had always had teeth —too many teeth, argued some. But it was enforcement and the advent of modern corporate compliance programs that began to turn the tide and start a wave of focus on bribery and corruption that still surges forward. Billions of dollars in fines, penalties, disgorgement of profits, and professional fees signal that we are in a world that has bribery and corruption firmly in the center of any international company's radar. The United Kingdom passed a law that many believe surpasses the FCPA in its breadth and limitations. Whether viewed as the beginning of a new era of shrinking bribery and corruption or simply as regulatory enforcement stepping over the line, the current regulatory environment demands attention.
Brian P. Loughman and Richard A. Sibery are partners at Ernst & Young LLP and are leaders in the firm's Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services Practice.
Turmoil and tragedy in the entrepreneurial DNA
From World Changers by John A. Byrne. Copyright ©2011 by the author. Published by Portfolio/Penguin (www.penguin.com).
An often common though little noticed trait among many of the most successful entrepreneurs is personal tragedy. Carlos Nuzman, the Olympian volleyball player who helped bring the Olympics to his home country of Brazil, lost his mother at the age of ten. Oprah Winfrey was sexually abused from the age of nine to thirteen. Ted Turner's father crawled into his bathtub and shot himself dead when Turner was 24 years of age. Steve Jobs was unwanted by his parents and given up for adoption at birth. Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus were unceremoniously fired.
It is as if their singular pursuit of achievement was a refuge from the pain of some tragic loss. “They have often faced adversity and have shown an ability to survive and thrive,” says Maria Pinelli, global vice chair of strategic growth markets at Ernst & Young. “There's this desire to overcome every obstacle. It comes from their belief in themselves, but so many of these entrepreneurs have in common this fundamental adversity. If there is turmoil in their lives, there seems to be a vision to move far beyond it.”
John A. Byrne is the founder of C-Change Media and is the author or co-author of eight previous books, including Jack: Straight from the Gut, with Jack Welch.