Author: whatifconcepts

Empowering those that inspire so they can excel at the work that matters.

Combining Two Services

Peanut butter and jelly, fork and spoon (into the spork), and a car and GPS navigation. All are examples of existing entities that decided to merge to create a new service or product. Now your cellphone camera and online search engines are teaming-up. I just watched this Google advertisement and will not think of my smart phone the same way.

What partnerships might you consider that combine two established features or programs? What models exist as templates? Who and what do you need to expedite such a merger?

The Danger of Being Benchmarked Against Your Peers


For the college football minded it is Boise State versus TCU in the upcoming Bowl Championship Series’s Fiesta Bowl. A dream match-up of two football programs that were not suppose to be at the big dance. Here is the problem in my mind. You are taking two programs that are eyed suspiciously as lacking football pedigree or even inferior by the college football elite and pitting them against each other. They played against each other last year to little fanfare. Part Deux is taking place on a larger stage with a much larger financial payout but none the less it appears to corral these two teams to being benchmarked against each other. The danger of this arrangement is that it makes it easy to dismiss the outcome. These are the outliers and many media and football fans do not know whether to extend them full access to the club or consider them party crashers to be tolerate so the BCS meets a quota and help keep the system out of litigation (our Congressional hearings). The media has already begun to dub this game the Out-of-Sight Bowl or the Mid-Major Super Bowl.

The danger with always competing with teams or enterprises that look like you is that you do not get the benefit of being seen for all your talents. You are boxed into the perception that if you have seen one mid-major football team then you have seen them all. Had the BCS allowed both Boise State and TCU to play teams from major conferences then the opportunity to validate the assumption about mid-major conferences would have been more relevant.

Who do you compete against? Is your organization being enhanced by its level of competition or held-back? Do you occasionally breakout of the comfort zone and attempt to rank yourself against the best? How do your customers rank your organization and what benchmarks do they use?

Planes vs. Trains

When I attended a school in New Hampshire and wanted to get back to visit my parents in New York there was no doubt that you took the shuttle between Boston’s Logan Airport and New York LaGuardia. The flights ran every hour and there was even a guarantee that they would roll-out another plane if the first one left completely full. The service was quick, the price was inexpensive and it felt as if you ascend to a cruise altitude and then immediately descend and land. Nothing compared to the speed and the ability to customize schedules. Reservations were not required, just good timing.

I read today in a New York Times article that USAir is disbanding its stationed shuttle pilots and ground personnel at both LGA and BOS. The new plan is to fly regional air jets that connect from other cities in place of the planes (larger Airbus planes) that simply ferried passengers between three cities (Washington, DC was the other option). Now the plane leaving Philadelphia to New York will need to be on-time in order to board as the equivalent of the “shuttle” flight to Boston. The prices has raised to beyond reasonable. In reality this has become just another flight with service a little more frequently as the heavily traveled New York to Chicago route.

By diluting the competitive advantage of owning the corridor now new forms of transportation have benefited. The Amtral Acela offers a variety of levels of service and in three hours and thirty minutes can have you from downtown New York to the Back Bay of Boston. I do not pretend to understand the airline industry but it appears that one airline’s demise is not really another airlines opportunity. Instead passengers are turning to other forms of transportation. In Washington, DC this summer I saw buses advertising $9 fares between the nation’s capitol and the Big Apple. When you start to calculate the cost and time associated with a tax to the airport, TSA screening, the less stripped-down flying experience, and then reversing the arrival scenario the move to trains and buses makes sense. Amtrak’s TV spot spends as much time knocking flying as it does promoting its product.

I would call this a sea change, a paradigm shift or at least an opportunity. What may take place in your sector that could make you wildly relevant or suddenly insignificant? Are you creating a future that includes your enterprise as a leader?

People Matter

Like some of you I watched President Obama’s address to the nation regarding the future military course of action in Afghanistan. Politics aside, I realized that this was a classic demonstration of our unique and individual perception of people. Each television network televised the same content. The President’s speech was not different from one channel to the next. The networks in turn tried to customize the sameness by adding information to their version of the broadcast. Most notably the ‘crawl’ at the bottom of the screen would emphasize specific points of the speech or the location of the telecast. The greatest divergence between the networks came in the moments prior to and immediately after the President’s remarks. The assembled anchors and commentators then gave their review and perception of the address. One could argue that you might tune into a specific channel because it had the greatest clarity on your television screen but I believe that most viewers select their network based on the commentary that came in reflection of the President’s plan. It is as if you give everyone a pitcher of the same lemonade and ask them to sell as many cups full of lemonade as possible. Each person is going to have a different approach. For most the person-to-person approach is going to be the difference. Can you resonate with your audience? The idea that people matter as much as the content is true in the nonprofit sector when it comes to make-up of the board, fundraising meetings with donors, successful galas, and the partnership of Board Chairs and CEOs.

How do you maximize your organization’s content? Do you have the right people in the room? Who else do you need?

If You Did Not Know

What would it look like if you were an Executive Director, Director of Development, or Board Member and did not know how much each donor had contributed to your organization? If you simply received the names of all the donors with no filters, how would you treat each one? Would it be different than how you steward them today? Who would you select to spend time with and who to communicate with? How many donors would tell you directly how much they gave? If you have one thousand donors for your enterprise, what would be important to making them feel all appreciated for their contributions?

I think many of us are seeing 80-90% of the stewardship being concentrated on the top 5-10% of donors. It is an understandable strategy since the top tier of donors usually give the vast majority of the money, some organizations getting 85-90% of their funding from the a small group of leadership donors. In many ways some versions of nonprofit philanthropy reminds me of the legacy airline business model. First Class and Business Class fares pay for the majority of the cost to operate a flight. First Class gets the most space, the lie-flat suite, finest food, and best ration of flight attendants to passengers. When you disembark from an international flight you have arrived at the same destination as everyone else on the aircraft, regardless of the class you traveled. For some the celebration is in the arrival. Others remember the in-flight. If you have had the joy of sitting in the middle seat of coach for an international red-eye and your final memory of the journey is walking past all the luxury suites it may leave you with a a different impression than the former occupants of those seats.

Would you consider your organization’s stewardship efforts to be inclusive? Do all your donors feel their contribution was put towards important priorities? Does your organization have fans who donate with passion or do you have members who donate out of obligation?

The Order of the Questions

Interview of Scott Huffmon and Julian Zelizer on Radio Times WHYY this morning talking about polling results and the mid-term political elections. One of the interesting comments was the reference to the order of the questions asked when you conduct a survey. Scott Huffmon explained the following historical experiment.

A 1948 survey conducted by Hyman and Sheatsley in 1948 asked two questions in a specific order and then reversed the order for the other half of those surveyed. The results of the survey found that 30% gave a postive response to the question, “should a Communist reporter should be admitted to the United States.” But when the first questions was,”should an American reporter should be admitted to Russia” and then was followed by “should a Communist reporter should be admitted to the United States.” The number of people who were favorable to the Communist reporter being admitted to the United States raised to over 70%. Clearly the order of the questions dramatically changes the results.

Are you asking the right questions for your organization/cause? Do you have them in the right order? Could you alter your case for support by amending the questions you ask your supporters?

Poll image: http://www.derrycityfc.net/cityweb/images/stories/survey.jpg

Veteran’s Day and a Gesture of Thanks


Have you been caught in the in a half-second freeze of wanting to say thank you a member of the Armed Forces in a public setting but then did not take immediate action and watched the opportunity pass. Traveling through airports I find myself taking advantage of moments standing in line for screening or ticketing to strike-up a conversation with members of the military when possible but other times the setting appears awkard or inappropriate. I just watched a news piece on the Gratitude Campaign. A simple but meaningful movement centered around a gesture that has gone viral in the social media. Take a look at their website and short video.

Wishing all veterans appreciation for their service and commitment on Veteran’s Day.

Strategy Screens and Basic Strategy for Blackjack

I have been trying to communicate the importance of developing a strategy screen to nonprofit organizations. The strategy screen is a series of statements or questions that an organization uses in real time to guide their decision-making. Some generic statements might read:

  • Is the opportunity consistent with our mission?
  • Do we have the resources to manage the initiative?
  • Is the opportunity within our geographic service area?
  • Does it benefit our customers?
The importance of having a viable strategy screen was tested in the 4th quarter of 2008 and early 2009 when many organizations were having multiple sessions dedicated to the survival of the economic down-turn. Still the idea of having these decision-making filters in place before challenges or opportunities arise are not always easy selling points. As I reclaimed my desk after a recent trip to NYC I stumbled across an old blackjack strategy card. Simply stated it provides conventional wisdom as to how to bet when you are the blackjack table. With money on the line this little card is a quick way to negotiate the decision-making process of each hand. Perfectly legal and sold at the casino. Finally this analogy seems to have built a bridge (of cards) across the divide and helped provide some perspective on the value of the strategy screen.

What would a strategy card look like for your organization? Do you have one in place?

It is About the Bike

Just started following World Bicycle Relief which is addressing mobility issues in rural Africa. 50,000 specially built bikes have been distributed since 2004. Programs have ranged from assisting with the recover from a Tsunami to micro-financing. A compelling metric on the website about the Power of Bicycles in Africa.

The Power of Bicycles

Distance

Over equal units of time, one can ride a bicycle 4 times the distance as one can travel on foot.

Capacity

Riding a bicycle increases one’s capacity to carry by 5 times.

Decision Making IQ

A collective belief on some of the organizations I partner with has been that people with high IQ’s are likely to be better decision-makers. You surround yourself with the best and brightest and then help them excel is the mantra of many leaders. It makes less sense if you think about the outliers- those gifted individuals who have put in 10,000 hours or more perfecting their craft. During a crisis you often see leadership turn to the retired veteran for counsel. Not out of deference but perhaps they have seen something similar during their lifetime and can offer perspective that comes with having been at the helm for a long enough period of time. Great decision-makers comprehend what they understand and readily ask for more information or input to clarify the voids. Regardless of IQ, this is a unique talent and does not come from a single metric.

What would it look like if we created a measure of decision-making abilities? Would there be a reasonable metric? Guy Kawasaki offered the following excerpt in his Alltop blog:

IQ isn’t everything

“A high IQ is like height in a basketball player,” says David Perkins, who studies thinking and reasoning skills at Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “It is very important, all other things being equal. But all other things aren’t equal. There’s a lot more to being a good basketball player than being tall, and there’s a lot more to being a good thinker than having a high IQ.”