What happens when you don't have a vision : Michael Bay and the Transformers debacle

I wrote this blog a fair while ago - and never published . The timing just didn't seem right.

Transformers : The Last Knight is terrible.

There I said it.  As a die-hard fan (since childhood)  the movie was painful to watch, excruciating to dissect afterwards, and in a last cathartic attempt to get some value out of the dollars spent on a 3D IMAX ticket ... I am throwing down some thoughts and lessons for business owners and entrepreneurs.

I've written a full review which I may never publish, it is so vicious and unrelenting in it's criticism. Yes, that's how much, I , a lifelong fan of the franchise disliked this movie.

The Main Bullet points are this :

  • The editing is shockingly bad
  • The story-line is disjointed, lacking a single coherent narrative
  • The script is so bad, I'd be tempted to say they filmed on Improv Night right after legalising good ole M-J
  • The "Strong Women" ( a la We're so Over the sexist 90's ) are ham-fisted and clumsy.
  • The only female 'baddie' is a sexy-as Great Deceiver. Very telling boys, very telling.

The real question is what this has to do with business owners ?

The business of running a business

The latest transformers is a chilling, and blunt example of what happens when there is no vision at the top ( i.e. from the founders) .

We have a couple of possible scenarios

  • Michael Bay and the Producers had different visions for this movie
  • Michael Bay and the Producers had a vision but didn't communicate it properly
  • Michael Bay didn't have a vision for this movie

In the context of this movie, The Vision would a single compelling story-line.

Whichever of the above are true doesn't really matter much - because the outcome is the same. A big messy movie, with gaping plot holes, terrible editing, horrendously disjointed scenes that don't propel any kind of coherent narrative.

In the world of business - you pretty much have the same deal to get around. Your vision is your internal narrative, from which springs the narrative that feeds and informs your pitch, your marketing, your business stories (you always have multiple stories, especially in sales) - and - the language and tone of your communications, in real human terms, with your clients.

You need to know it.  You need to own it. You need to live it. You need to breathe it.

You also need to coherently, succinctly, repeatedly, and with a great amount of grace and sincerity - communicate that single vision and story to your team members, your clients, your partners, your vendors, and anyone else that comes into your sphere of business.

Yes - you can run a business without giving this vision stuff much thought.

 

Yes, you can make widgets and sell them cheaply, and cut costs and get operational efficiencies --

You can never, however,  achieve the dizzying heights of Facebook, Amazon, Google etc without having, communicating, and inhabiting your vision. Your vision should infest and inhabit every single aspect of your business operations.

So how do you go about this whole process of infesting your business operations with your vision?

2 things really, and they sound so simple. But don't be fooled, they are as difficult to do as they are easy to write.

First up - you need to Be the vision.

This is not the same as telling it. It's not instructing staff on what to parrot back to clients when they ask about service. It's not sticking up signs around the the office saying "Our vision and mission .... ". Although that last one is pretty helpful as an affirmation and lends itself to beautiful social media fodder.

You also cannot hire a consultant to define the vision for you. You can hire a consultant to help you identify it, but they can't do it for you. It's also why your vision absolutely cannot be "Make Money". If your internal narrative is all about money. Well, we know what the world thinks of those types of people.

Making money is a given. Working towards profitability is a given. Unless you're a charity, in which case making money is a necessity,  to sustain the ongoing ability to Do Good.

Every other business needs to make money in order to continue existing. There is nothing unique in that.

You are the vision of your company;  in every word you speak, and every piece of work that leaves your hands. If that is consistent then it will infect and spread through every single bit your business. You can tell people WHY you do things, but if you show them with your actions that it is true; that is so much more powerful and credible.

The second thing is you need to write down HOW you want things done.

In corporate speak - you need to have processes and procedures.

Sounds like an onerous task. Well, it can be if you do it the corporate way. It doesn't have to be.

Once you have settled on a process for something, then write down 3-5 steps of WHAT to do. No more than 5, no less than 3. If you need more steps, it's either too complicated, or more likely, you're jamming in more than one process into a single document.

Take each WHAT step and expand out sub-points of  "how to do this step". Include things like how you want clients to feel, and the tone of voice to use in communications. If you want people to do things the way you would, you need to give them an instruction manual. Otherwise they will do it the best way that they see how, and that may not match the vision of your company.

So there it is.

Be the vision of your company, and show the world your "Why", by your everyday actions. And make sure that vision is trickling down every single damn day so that you are not the next Transformers disaster.


Manage your Emails Effectively - LEAN principles applied to emails

I recently did a free speaking gig, where I talked through how I manage my email accounts ( 2 work email addresses and a personal account). The topic was so popular, I decided to blog about it, to show you how you can manage your emails effectively.

I've made great progress since my Sept 16 Blog about being the bottleneck just by the way.

Here's the outline of what I do and how I transitioned from email overwhelm, to having Sundays off entirely ( I'm not kidding about the Sundays).

Read more


Referring business is a skill, and well, some people are just better at it than others

Just recently , a fairly new acquaintance of mine referred someone to me, or rather , I was referred to them.

This is not unusual - a lot of people see a lot of opportunity with the various business interests that I have, notwithstanding my startup Rocking Rose, and my new social networking App Network Buddy.

And if you consider my "Day Job" with Dolphin Worxs as their main person , chief chick in charge and all round general Bossy Person, you get the picture that a lot of people would like to sell me, or pitch to me, a variety of services or products, and even partnerships.

However - this recent incident brought a wry chuckle to my throat. For the sake of keeping things anonymous,  I will not name the company, referee, or service that was referred to me, I shall instead talk about Baking Cupcakes.

The Story Begins

I was on the phone with said New Acquaintance, when I happened to mention that I hadn't been able to call them back in recent days, because I had been a little busy Baking Cupcakes.

side note - I was in fact Baking Cupcakes for one of my largest clients, and it was an activity that I happen to be fairly good at, I have a custom recipe, which I have perfected over the years, and I follow it to the letter. The result is that the final Cupcake is exactly what the client ordered. I was being paid to Bake Cupcakes. 

We continued our discussion, and the call ended.

A couple of days later , I was formally introduced by email to a Specialist Cupcake Maker. Someone to whom I could outsource my Cupcake Baking Woes.

Say What How ?

Cue extremely puzzled expression while reading emails.

A day after that , the Specialist Cupcake Baker replied to the email, thanked my aquaintance for the referral and confirmed their availability to speak with me.

Alrighty then.

Steph Looking at her phone confused
but ... I like Baking Cupcakes ...

I made a mental note to call or reply to Cupcake Specialist at some point to politely thank them and confirm that I was not actually in the market to outsource my Cupcake Baking Activities.

Before I could do that, I was called. On a Public Holiday. To discuss my requirements for the Cupcakes. It was a slightly awkward call I can assure you.

Said Cupcake Maker had done nothing wrong, and was in fact following all the right steps for a word of mouth referral. It would have been glorious, had I actually wanted,  or needed to outsource my Cupcake Baking Activities.

But I didn't, and in fact I didn't even say that I wanted to, I simply mentioned that I had been very busy Baking Cupcakes. And that was it.

One Sentence. That's it. And it turned into a referral.

So - what's the point of my story?

If you are listening for subtle cues about pain points, that's fabulous. Just don't listen so hard, that you invent pain points where none exist.

And if you are going to refer, or you think there's a potential referral, clarify.

All it would have taken, is one question about whether I was struggling with Cupcake Making and I would have quickly assured my contact that I was in fact thoroughly enjoying the work, and quite happy to do it. It was in fact not something I needed to outsource.

Don't be a blunt instrument where tact and precision are called for. Don't be the referral equivalent of the spray and pray letterbox drop, or the business card confetti at networking events.


Red wine for a High tea - why not ?

Rocking Rose has made it's first charitable donation ... and it feels good.

Cue - some red wine for the White Ribbon High Tea to make a Difference. 

I just finished gluing some paper strips with a rose and the company name around 7 bottles of red wine ( it is temporarily while I await some designs and concepts for the logo from my graphic designer)

Photo pf wine bottles with homemade Donated By labels for Rocking Rose temp logo
Wine for Hight Tea ? Why not .... ;-)

So there you have it , the very first donation of Rocking Rose Pty Ltd to a charitable cause.

Ladies of Sandringham Victoria ( and Melbourne surrounds) I hope you enjoy the wine at the High Tea in November.

 


Sixto Rodriguez : life, winning and what success really is.

I think by now, we all know the story of Sixto Rodriguez. A poet, a songwriter with lyrics like Dylan, haunting melodies, infectious music that digs into your soul and never leaves. Forgotten by America, loved, adored and worshipped in South Africa. Or so the Oscar winning Documentary goes.

 

I grew up straddled across the end of apartheid. Half my childhood happened before it ended, and the other half happened in a bright new Rainbow Nation struggling to find its identity without imploding on itself.

Photo of Steph with Family in South Africa in 2015 - picnic venue
My Crazy Family (missing a few peeps who couldn't make it) - this is winning in my book.

For me Rodriguez was, and always will be a superstar. I reckon I could sing the words to “I Wonder” before I could talk in full sentences. My parents loved his music, my grandparents loved his music.

 When children grow up as digital natives, they do not comprehend a world where you have to wait to phone someone for any reason whatsoever, similarly for me, it just never occurred to me that there could be a world, where “Sugarman” was not as big or as popular as any song from the Rolling Stones or Beatles.

So, finally in 2012, when I watched Searching for Sugarman from my home in Melbourne Australia, I was blown away.  I could not immediately and fully process the fact,  that the man I had thought of, and known as a mega-superstar, was completely unknown in his home country until recent years.
I was using my iPad while watching the DVD to google the director and producer of the movie, convinced that this was some elaborate hoax.
And since then, I have watched as he has finally been recognised as an artist in the USA, and across other parts of the world.
I had the opportunity to see him perform live in 2014. And I was not disappointed.
There are no pyrotechnics in his show.  He has none of the trappings of being famous normally associated with musicians his age. He is also a bit frail, and reportedly suffering from eye issues, so had to be escorted onto stage.There are no props, dancers, or any other extra bits normally associated with a live performance.
And yet - it was the best live show I have ever seen. Hands down.
Rodriguez' talent is humble, and great, all at once. He stands on stage, plays his guitar, sings his songs, and for everyone, it is enough. In fact is it more than enough, it is everything.
Rodriguez teaches us, that fame corrupts. That success is a matter of opinion. And what makes us happy, gives us meaning, and fills our souls, is what we should be doing with our days, our lives and our work.
And while it sounds like the enthused ravings of an obsessed fan, just stop and consider the brilliance, sincerity, and timelessness of his music.
He has new fans now, because the album is amazing. Not because we all feel sorry for him. Empathy alone could not translate into sold out shows across the globe. Facebook likes don't pay the bills or fill stadiums.
We will never know how badly disappointed he really was all those years ago, but all of us that have tried and failed know exactly what it is to put your life-blood into something and have it come to nothing.
We all know the heartache of making something that has every bit of our soul poured into it, and then finding out that actually no-one wants it.
So finally – what Rodriguez teaches us,  is about failure. And how it's never the end.
We learn to pivot and be happy, there is always another market, a different space, and sometimes the problem is timing.
So while many people focus the sad and "lost years" of non-fame in the USA. I prefer to ponder the joy of his later years.
No matter what your age, when you pour your soul into creating something, be it music, art, a company, or a product, there is always a small part of you that will find satisfaction in the recognition of your work.
I for one, take heart from Rodriguez, that somewhere, sometime, what I do will matter, and I will make a difference. It will come.

 

In 1971 the USA lost out on a great talent, but it’s never too late for an American Dream apparently, and so, at the “south side of 72” in 2014, Rodriguez has finally won.