Author: whatifconcepts

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

A True Advocate

Do you have a true advocate who advances your organization’s message? Somebody who embodies the brand. That person when you see them in public you immediately think of the cause. This person is a walking bill board.

I have a friend who owns a pro-bike shop, Durance Cycleworks. Richard Feldman carries high-end road and mountain bikes. His services are customized to a specific clientele. His greatest advocate is not all the people riding all over the state and nation in his shop’s cycling kit (shorts, jersey, socks) but rather a local realtor who will tell anyone who listens to go to Durance. He tells then what they need to purchase or checkout while they are there. Every race, every ride, every moment Durance has an unpaid advocate who is preaching the great things happening at the store. He is a customer and a friend of Richard’s but most importantly he is genuine in his passion.

Another friend, Pete Vordenberg is currently the Head Coach for the US Nordic Team (cross-country skiing). He created a movement and web page that promotes the journey and dedication of these Olympic athletes. Due to limited coverage of the sport in the main-stream media and very limited coverage of streaming video since most of the races are held in international locations Pete has taken his photography abilities to the World Cup. He will post great images of everything from the scenery to the chaos happening behind the scenes on race day. His Team Today is a portal into the world of elite ski racing. Pete is more than a coach, he inspires, educates, shares, and champions the sport.

Who is the advocate for your organization? How do you support their efforts? Can you find more than one?

Presentation and Context

Went to my local Albertsons grocery store today. As I wandered the the aisles searching for items on my list I stopped at the end of the wine aisle. The “best” wines in the market were locked-up and displayed almost like tobacco, sold as if they were restricted to an over-the-counter transaction. A customer certainly has to be motivated to make the purchase in a situation that requires locating an employee, getting the case unlocked, and most likely having the bottle placed at the checkout counter for purchase when the customer is done shopping.

It reminds me of non-profit websites I visit that are missing a “Donate Now” button. The ability to complete a transaction for a motivated donor or customer is necessary. I received an Annual Report from an educational institution that I attended for Elementary School. The report was extremely well done and motivated me to make a small contribution. I was able to complete the process in two minutes. Had it gone on my ‘to do’ list the donation may not have happened.

Are you keeping the necessary products within reach of your donors and customers? Is it easy for them to buy/donate or are you hiding the valuables behind the counter?

A Sense of Place

I just received an invitation to meet a live wolf at an event hosted by a nature museum in the Hudson Valley in New York. A few minutes later I found a friend had posted photos of a wolf that had recently been shot in Idaho as part of a licensed hunting season. In one moment the wolf is a curiosity, a draw to an event, a chance to get closer to an animal that few if anyone encounters in the Hudson Valley. In Idaho the wolf has reached a population base that according the Department of Game & Fish the predator can sustain a season of Wolf Management plan to harvest 220. 81 have been harvested to date and a limit of 139 remains state wide. The season was authorized to thin the wolf population and reduce conflicts with wildlife (especially sheep and cattle) that graze on both private and public lands throughout the state.

This all seems an odd juxtaposition since the wolf as a captive creature is the center of a press release to draw visitors to the nature museum and yet a wolf pelt or even a wolf tag is the center of conversation in many communities in Idaho.

Do we fully understand the wolf? Are we reacting to a collective truth as Seth Godin’s blog pointed out his morning? Why is the presence of the wolf seen so differently in two different regions of the same nation? What would it look like if anyone going to see the live wolf had to witness it hunting and killing a band of sheep or vice versa if a hunter had to pet a wolf and stare into its eyes face-to-face before heading out on a hunt? How much does our sense of place define our actions?

Airline Competitive Advantage

When I was younger there were certain assumptions one could make when they traveled on an airplane. You needed to have the actual tickets in your hand. So called last minute bookings could only happened at the airport. A Skycap’s cart looked like a candy store with bag tags in assorted colors with three letter codes printed on them. You bags were checked and no questions were asked. I think our dogs even flew for free in their kennels. The airline tickets came in at least triplicate. There was a smoking and non-smoking sections on the plane. Hot meals and beverages were included. Certain flights had three classes of services. The headphones were goofy looking and the in-flight movies were hard to see on the single screen at the front of the coach cabin.

It struck me this morning as I booked a flight that I choose the airline based on the lack of ‘add-on’ fees. I wanted my bag and skis to travel free to a weekend ski race and United Airlines which I frequent most often does not fly directly to the city so I decided I am going Southwest. Their competitive advantage has become the “bags fly free” campaign. Who would have thought that baggage fees would be the great division upon which branding campaigns could be launched.

What would it look like if we revisited some of our organization’s assumptions? Have they changed? Have trends and customer demands altered?

Breakingdown the Age of Social Media Users

Just changing planes in Portland, OR after attending the Pacific Northwest Association of Independent School Conference in Seattle this weekend. The role of social media is more expansive than many schools realize. Students and parents are starting websites that provide ranking and feedback about individual independent schools (already happening at the university and law firm level). This grass root effort is being organized by tribes of parents and students who wish to share information that does not always show-up on the school’s website. How might this effect enrollment when parents do not even it make it the school’s web page for information about the institution?

Thinking about where your web presence needs to be and the message, consider the following breakdown of social media from Pew Internet.

The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.


http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/17-Twitter-and-Status-Updating-Fall-2009.aspx

Better Metrics in Baseball

Harvard Business Review has a great article by Scott Anthony that highlights the use of metrics in baseball.

“Better metrics give Theo Epstein a competitive advantage over his rivals. And better metrics can give you an advantage over yours — and create better innovations that benefit all of us. What else do you think would be in an ideal innovation encyclopedia? Is there an open source way to create a “good enough” starting point?”

Scott’s article on the use of metrics as an evaluation of success in baseball and its correlation to business is a reminder to be intentional about what we measure. Theo Epstein in his role as owner of the Boston Red Sox is looking at how many ‘outs’ a baseball player creates, not their Runs Batted In (RBI) production. Look at the back of a baseball card and the RBI statistic is prominently listed but ‘outs created’ is nowhere to be found. The very idea of winning a baseball game is simple, score more runs than your opponents before you reach 27 outs. If you can extend the amount of chances (play) you get between each out, one could assume you get more chances to score. Perhaps baseball management and the public are looking at different measurements for success because they have different outcomes. One pays pays for the business of performance and winning the other pays to be entertained. Fans can easily find other forms of entertainment if their team does not perform or at least entertain them. Finding another baseball team to own if your does not perform is almost impossible.

How do you measure success?

Programming Your Job By Hacking

Last night a raccoon stole through a dog door into our garage, negotiated a second dog door into the mudroom and helped themselves to an all you can eat buffet at the dog’s bowl. Only once they attempted to get into the dog food storage bin did they alert us to our presence. At 4 AM I was standing in the garage groggily thinking about how to keep the raccoon out. The raccoon had hacked our dog door system.

My experience last night made me think of the book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. One notion that has stayed with me is an article they cite from BoinBoing.net authored by Douglas Rushkoff describing “what he calls the three methods which kids relate to games: playing, cheating, and programming. He then goes on to ascribe these methods to the way that humans generally interact with culture, as well.”

I find the concept of programming (later referred to as hacking) a game to be an interesting game-changer. Kids reinvent the rules of a game so as to create a new paradigm and then share the amended game with the broader community.

All this makes me wonder about the numerous opportunities that require a little programming or hacking. I have seen volunteers turn envelope stuffing assignments into editorial letter-writing roles. I have seen dissatisfied donors step-forward to Chair fundraising events because they were excited to take a gala to a new level and wash away their poor experience. You have probably seen employees who clearly love their job more than anyone else in the sector. I would argue many of them are playing a different game than the rest of their colleagues. I think of a skycap who treated my bag like royalty, a waitress that remembered every person’s name, and a realtor who though of himself as a theme park tour guide.

Hacking is happening everyday. People are taking opportunities and turning them into something more powerful. The New York Times had a perfect real world business model of this today.

Competitive Advantage

Working with the social sector is an interesting paradox. You get innovative and leading answers to causes that are supported by a variety of fans and followers. The Board of Directors for many of these organizations often contains individuals with great business experience and acumen. The disconnect often comes when the Board or supporters try to transport their business expertise and toss them at the nonprofit sector. In my consulting and facilitation role I often find myself acting as a bit of a translator between the two worlds. Some axioms work in both worlds. The notion of ‘location, location, location’ (physical presence or virtual on social media). Others are tougher. Having successfully completed a strategic planning project for an independent school, one of the thrills was to have access to a method that promoted the idea of ‘competitive advantage.’ This term resonated with the business leaders- they are constantly monitoring competitive advantage in their small business and corporate sphere. They could speak about competitive advantage in both the business and nonprofit world and it needed no translation.

Today I found myself reading Seth Godin’s blog which spoke directly to notion of competitive advantage. He frames the definition effectively. I will add to his drumbeat by saying that you cannot rely on the universe to deliver endless support if you cannot quantify how you are uniquely position to succeed. How is your organization meeting the need or addressing the root of the cause you have tackled? Be brave. You are not stealing from others by identifying and understanding you competitive advantage. I would argue that you are instilling a foundation from which all of your efforts have a launching pad.