Learning After Doing

Blown Away

Everyone seems to hiss at the use of Flash on websites, but here is a killer example of Flash used to deliver content correctly. Mandy Robinson Photography did an outdoor photo shoot of my 2 sons for a Christmas picture. Instead of compiling a hardcopy photo album, she delivered on the web. You don't have to watch long, but I was blown away. Watch it!

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Thanks to Rosa for quoting some comments I made regarding 360 feedback.

Priority Before Sleep

Good discipline is required to develop good habits. A good habit I recently picked up on is very simple: prepare and prioritize your next day before you go to sleep.

Last Tuesday, I woke at 6:30am and went for a short run before dawn. After the run, I took a shower and started thinking about great places to meet for breakfast. Then it hit me...I had planned a breakfast meeting that morning at 7am in Atlanta. I was getting out of the shower at 7:30am. It was terrible. I felt terrible. And I missed a huge opportunity.

But, Learn After Doing. Now, I am committing to some prep time each evening before I go to bed. I plan to take 15-20 minutes reviewing and prioritizing action items, calls that need to be placed, followups that need to be made, and e-mails that need my attention.

So far, it has been a huge help. And, it gives me a slight edge so that I can spend more time "hanging out" with the team in the office over coffee in the morning. That is time critical to my longterm success in the business. Do you prepare the night before?

Application

This morning I spoke to one of the most respected voices in the insurance industry about work, life, and church. (Let me suggest that you read some of his articles.) He made the comment, "The biggest challenge we face is application, not just knowledge. We are exposed to so much through books, seminars, sermons, tapes. We drink so much, but applying it is so difficult." He continued, referring to quality relationships, "A primary focus would be to challenge each other, to encourage each other."

We know it all. Or, let me say, we know enough. There are a few tricks I don't know, but the primary fault I have seen (in me and others) isn't not knowing or knowing how, but not doing, not applying, not capitalizing on the knowledge.

The common theme that has been recurring the last couple of weeks is not simply to know or to understand or to learn (all are important), but to do something with it. To quote an old applicable text with one word changed, "Knowledge by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

Thank you to Dr. Ed Brenegar for referring to my post today on Leading Questions.

Candor

"Candor...is a willingness to speak the unspeakable, to expose unfulfilled commitments, to air the conflicts that undermine apparent consensus. Candor means that people express their real opinions."

Ram Charan
"Conquering a Culture of Indecision"
Harvard Business Review
April 2001

Annual Evaluation

Everybody talks like they hate the annual review by their boss. We all hate rating ourselves and are nervous that when our boss sees how we rated ourselves he will think we're either arrogant and cocky or lying and self-deprecating.

Our company currently does annual reviews of all of its salaried employees. It is a 3 page document with approximately 50 words. For each word (i.e., "Tenacity"), we are required to rate ourselves on a 1 to 5 scale, with 3 being average, 4 being above-average, and 5 being outstanding. In the past life, we would have considered this review the behavioral review. In simple terms, how you get it done. Are you kind, gracious, honest, hard-working, etc, as you get your job done? This is by far the more subjective piece of a complete evaluation.

In the above chart that I showed here yesterday, my past life also included a second axis in the review for performance. This measured how many set goals were met. In other words, what you did get done.

Both are critical to be measured. Most people hate the anticipation factor waiting for the results. When the results come, some people are angry because they get a poor behavior review, even though they closed a majority of the new business for the company (like person B in the chart.) But in reality, that person probably causes turmoil at the company and that needs to be addressed. See those curved lines? Each curved line out from point 0 marks another level of success an employee has made in the company's eyes. Therefore, person A and person B are rated the same (and compensated in the same ratio.) Person D did the best, even though he didn't perform as well as B or behave as well as A. He was the most complete package of behavior and performance. He contributed the most to the company.

Here is my take on evaluations: they are GREAT. They are difficult, but you need to do them and do them right. Evaluate yourself honestly and pray that your boss does as well. Anything that you don't see eye to eye on you should take as a blind spot in your life, an area to spend more time developing.

I am looking forward to my evaluation response from our COO because it will enable me to be better. Although we only formally evaluate the behaviors, this is the best for me because it typically is weaker than a performance review. Bahavior is the area that I have worked the most on, hope for the most improvement, and need the most feedback on. And through the evaluation structure, we have a forum to receive honest feedback; in this forum we find the direction needed for our personal development.

Shut Up!

Every now and then, just shut your throat for a second. Want to be an influential leader? Want to learn something new?

Have you ever been in a meeting where one guy who is very smart and very experienced talked the entire time? Any time his subordinate asked a question, he cut off the answer in mid-sentence and answered himself? Didn't it come across rude and arrogant and surprising that someone at his age hadn't learned differently?

The consultant and I talked about that being one of my weaknesses-thinking that I have all the answers; being arrogant enough to cut people off and interject, cutting people off and others down. Is it an attempt to show off to a peer and show that you are somebody? Is it an ego stroking tool? Or is it arrogance that causes you to think that no one else is qualified, smart or wise?

It doesn't matter why; I cannot go there. At the end of the meeting, all 3 hours, what new did he learn? Every single person has something to offer and deserves respect to provide his ideas to the common pool of knowledge.

Point of difference: today we met with a guy that dialogued instead of monologued. During the middle of the conversation he sat up and said, "I learned something new today." He took advantage of the opportunity to listen to one of the best minds in the industry (the consultant) and the key rainmaker for a growing force in the further processed protein market (me). Not only will his company be better for it, he will be better for it, he will be more respected by more people in the industry and even by his own employee (who offered critical knowledge.)

Bring It

1. First, thanks for reading LADs.
2. Second, I'd love your comments. Bring 'em on!
3. Third, suggest the blog to someone else, whether you work for the company or not.

Two of the great things about blogs are

1. I can be honest
2. You can be honest back

At the bottom of this entry, there is a link for comments. If you click on it, a new page will open where you can give honest feedback to me and everyone can read it. Bring it. I love the e-mails, but comments are risky and intriguing for all-they add to the common knowledge your thoughts.

Data on AI

USA Today gave front page coverage of the industry's efforts to prevent high pathogen AI from affecting the commercial poultry market. Here are some interesting facts to support my recent entry:

• "When two poultry farms in Texas became infected last year with a low-pathogenic avian flu, Texas officials went door to door to check for backyard poultry flocks. They were tested along with commercial birds to make sure the virus hadn't spread further. Officials found 425 backyard flocks within a 10-mile radius of the first infected farm."
• "Almost nine out of 10 backyard flock owners didn't require people entering flock areas to wear special footwear or clothing"
• New York City has about 80 live markets, handling 20 million birds a year
• "Several years ago, there were so many low-pathogenic avian flu outbreaks that 40% of New York City's markets temporarily closed every year so they could be disinfected"

Thanks to Garry Hill for the tip on the article.

Negative Energy

During the annual employee review (regarding behaviors and interactions among people), I received some feedback that I gave off negative energy more than positive energy. In otherwords, people didn't enjoy being around me as much because the way I came across brought discouragement rather than encouragement. That has been a pretty big challenge for me to change.

Today, I came across a chart that reminded me to not quit working on the positive energy. Instead of positions discuss facts. Instead of opinions, bring ideas. Here is the chart from Brand Autopsy:

Dog Fight

Business isn't necessarily a dog fight: one-on-one. But a dog fight that is a more traditional pack of wild animals fighting over the last scraps of meat left on a bone. Here is my take on how the dog fight tends to fall in the nature.

Mature Markets-Mature Customers: this seems to provide the best volume, or contribution margin because it is generally a known quantity and is mature because experience and growth have taken it to a peak that has been sustained. Usually, it is a market where everyone of the suppliers considers this a target, and if any, even one, is a new player, the market will be ugly because everyone will be a whore, selling out margin dollars for volume. The old guy needs to maintain this business to sustain equipment for other business; the new guy needs to get this business to justify the multi-million dollar investment just made.

Mature Markets-New Customers: this seems to be the riskiest, most time consuming, and least pay-out of all the customers. We'll see lots of write-ups in the trade magazines with the big splash the new customer made with their new line of items, but they haven't yet created shelf space or customer loyalty. All the press seems to add up to lots of attention from other suppliers, but volumes are low, and growth is slow and long-term. And chances are, if they get big enough to be a player, they'll bid out the business any way. Why waste the time here?

New Markets-Mature Customers: this is one of my favorite segments to play in. This means getting in with a current contender who is developing new lines or items, new business that it didn't play in before. Usually, this customer will have sufficient experience and "pull" to get their items stocked, brand recognition transferred quickly, and supply and delivery chains sufficient to handle the growth. By being the supplier of choice when the product is developed, you are the incumbent and have the best chance of maintaining the business at least into the first bid process. Why? Buyers are unwilling to mess with something unfamiliar that has good success so they leave it alone for a couple of cycles until enough time has lapsed to prove other supply sources. All that also means greater margins and better returns.

New Markets-New Customers: who knows? this is the segment that can be boom or bust, and typically bust. 50% of small businesses fail within the first year and 80% within the first five years. But some time should be given to these players. The most ideal is to provide them an off-the-shelf solution so your cost and risk in their startup is very minimal. But, they should see you as the sympathetic supporter helping them along. Then, for the 20% that are successful, and the 2% (guess) that hit it big, you are the long-term supplier that they will always turn to. Consider the McDonald's-Coke relationship. There is no contract, just "a common vision and a lot of trust."