success and the big illusion of our life

who doesn’t want to be successful? there is nothing wrong about success and striving for it. much of what we associate with success deals with financial, career and life goals, social status or overcoming failures. a corporation by definition has to be successful, you want your negotiations to be successful, and you want to be successful as a leader. that’s why we create strategies, success secrets, proven systems and motivational experts.

you already know the difference between success and fulfillment. what we achieve should fit with what we want and what we stand for.

but there is a snag.

what we want sometimes isn’t clear, and what we stand for can be a cliché.

what we strive for in business and in our personal life can be based on good ideas, but it’s only good ideas, or it’s only something we guessed would be great or would be necessary to do. or it’s something we believe to need in order to compare or to make a difference.

it’s always our own decision. even if we tolerate other people’s decisions.

the big illusion of our lives is that we very often measure success by the amount of acknowledgement and appreciation of our deeds by others. we feel more successful if we can control a larger market share, have more clients, more followers, more earnings. we feel more successful if people admire us and ask for our advice or service. this is human, and this is our life’s big illusion. to err is human.

if we, and i mean you and me, appreciate our very being on this planet, our own talents and gifts, our actions and our shortfalls unconditionally, and if we value ourselves to the most, we can feel ourselves to be an ultimate success even without external proof. you might think this approach is a true illusion, but think again. if valuing ourselves is an illusion, why should perceiving to be valued by others not be an illusion?

if we accept to be 100% responsible for ourselves, we are responsible for how we evaluate external proof.

to identify external proof with “us” is the illusion.

if truth is something we can perceive, be ready for it now:

the true success in life doesn’t happen in time and cannot be measured.

it’s the consumer, stupid?

today (August 5, 2009), BusinessWeek headlines its most commented article with the question

When Will Consumers Start Spending Again?

who asks that? you, the reader? you, as a consumer? you, as a business owner? you, as an economist? or you, as a journalist?

who is “the consumers”?
it’s you, and it’s me.

do we spend?
you bet.

so what does it mean whether we “start to spend again”?

what a smart question! this question alone will awake the economy…

no, it will lull your mind.

should we stare at the EFFECTS instead of influencing the CAUSES?
do you really believe that consumer spending drives the economy?

let me ask you again and let it sink in:

do you really believe that consumer spending drives the economy?

we can’t expect consumers to spend more than they earn, can we?

it’s entrepreneurs who have to leverage what actually drives the economy:

investment in business.

investment in jobs, innovation and marketing, so that value is added.

this is a great time to invest. who does not invest right now but blames the crisis does not show business leadership.

yes, the economy is based on consumption. but wait. consumption of labor, energy, and capital.

85% of world energy consumption (similar figure holds for the USA) is based on fossil energy (oil, coal, gas). remember? in the US, oil was half the price two years ago. who is to spend?

as a large nation, the US has the highest energy consumption per capita in the world (behind Canada). this energy is imported.

consumer goods are imported, too.

labor is “imported” because it’s “off-shored” to low-wage countries.

the result is: the USA isn’t a manufacturing country any more. it isn’t leading in exports. it’s leading in destroying its manufacturing base.

according to GE CEO Jeff Immelt, his peer Peter Loescher, CEO of Siemens once said: “in my career, i never heard an American CEO say that the US should be leading in exports.”

that’s a revelation. Loescher seems to say he is missing an insight with his American peers. it’s refreshing to have external views. and i’m sure you’re listening.

if your strategy is off-shoring talent and procrastinating innovation and investments, think again.

the world has changed enormously. whereas in the past European and Asian economies copied from the US, now it’s vice versa. China is leading in nuclear power and in renewable energy. China has become the leading global car consumer and car maker. and China will go electric. millions of electric cars will be produced in China for an end consumer price less than $10,000.

but at this very moment as you are reading this, the new CEO of GM, Fritz Henderson, is dreaming about “great cars and trucks” and is still believing that GM can’t build an affordable electric car that goes 200 miles. we have to expect that LA will soon become the dominant import harbor for Chinese electric cars. great for LA, bad for GM. bad for the US. even if consumers spend for these cars.

let’s admit, the US has fallen back, in its industrial base and in mindset. structural innovations are forehead in Europe and Asia. China manufactures the computers, cellphones, and <fill in the blank> we all use. China even surpassed the US in consumer spending of luxury goods!

a turnaround means turning things around: if you are able to compete with your products in China, where the great demand is, you’re competitive in the US, too.

makes sense?

for global players and for start-ups alike, it’s important to unleash innovations at multiple price points serving different cultural regions.

let’s summarize:

the renewal of the economy is neither driven by the (US) consumer nor by a Wall Street investor staring at consumer behaviors.

(in some sense, the US economy can be driven by the Chinese consumer…)

renewal is driven by increased R&D.

renewal is driven by clean energy production and consumption.

renewal is driven by manufacturing and exports.

successful entrepreneurs usually focus on needs and offer profitable solutions. there are a lot of needs in the society, right now.

take your time. think things through. don’t be controlled by media lingo. don’t listen to retired business icons. study the real leaders and decide for yourself. don’t make any excuse that you can’t act reasonably and long-term.

you can.

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please don’t leave this blog without asking yourself:

what did i learn from reading this article? do i agree? why? if not, why not?

is there something in my thinking i better should change?

is there something in my behavior i can change?

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a blog cannot improve your impact as a leader. but this blog will.

mind your deadline!

do you see this watch?

classical billionaire tourbillion

it’s a ‘classical billionaire tourbillion’. a wrist watch that costs up to 1 million dollars.

the man who buys this watch can’t buy it if he values his time less than this watch.

think about it.

watch your watch, watch your time. i have a simple question for you:

do you value your time less than the watch you are carrying around your wrist?

<your answer here>

i know, you need your calendar and your watch in order to meet deadlines.

you didn’t forget, didn’t you:

there is only one real deadline in your life.

how does your death impact your life?

what can you learn from the microsoft-yahoo deal?

Yahoo made a deal with Microsoft. Yahoo’s CEO Carol Bartz calls it an opportunity “to invest in areas critical to our future”.

i call it harakiri.

why?

what did Yahoo sell?

SEARCH. more precisely, the control over search technology.

in order to go “content”. in order to be a media instead of a technology company.

check the 50 leading global websites. are they about content? well, wikipedia is. the non-profit digital encyclopedia.

content is not king for web business.

newspapers know. the bulk of content today is user-created. offering the platforms for user-generated content and file sharing is king.

search is king. it’s a top-notch web technology.

Microsoft understood.

my question for you: if Microsoft (or a comparable big player) is interested in your business, should you sell?

or is it a buy sign?

if Microsoft would invest, why won’t you?

are you taking your marketing seriously?

you don’t want to read this. i warned you.

everybody talks about marketing and branding. everybody. people realized they are important. but understanding and managing them is a completely different thing.

marketing is not common sense. it’s a science and an art. few master it.

not you.

according to Peter Drucker, business has two functions: innovation and marketing. interestingly, these are the areas an overwhelming number of businesses suck.

guess the predominant marketing blah in technology-driven industries: “we are innovative”. launch a new software version, a new application, a new gadget, and the marketing department takes the customer for a ride and calls it by default “an innovation”. if innovation doesn’t exaggerate enough, they make it a “revolution”. let’s be grateful because marketing tells us all the truths we wouldn’t know otherwise…

when working with global companies, within 10 years i witnessed the CMO position changed 7 times. nice distorted idea of continuity…

according to a survey, marketing executives waste their time with customer satisfaction, marketing ROI, search-engine optimization, etc… in the meantime, products and services are becoming less meaningful or differentiated for customers.

facing that, what’s the #1 job of marketing?

first, common misunderstanding, marketing is not simply about having “conversations” with the market (which in fact mostly is broadcasting). is not advertising, communications, PR, etc.

marketing starts with engaging the company through relationships with the market and creating the right products and services.

once again:

marketing starts with engaging the company through relationships with the market and creating the right products and services.

marketing continues with creating the right brand strategy for the new products and services.

once again:

marketing continues with creating the right brand strategy for the new products and services.

if and if marketing has done these jobs well, advertising becomes easy.

what are you learning?

if you want to make money, don’t just create products, build a brand.

why do brands work? a brand in its wholeness is a SIGN. a ’sign’ is simply something that stands for something different.

a brand as a sign stands for something different.

and this makes all the difference.

the brand stands for a promise, an experience, a set of values, anything that differentiates and helps groups of people to identify with.

much is said about brands and branding you don’t need to know at all. let’s boil it down to a business case. that’s what you need to know.

the very function of a (commercial) brand is to differentiate and to evoke a purchasing preference with its prospects and customers.

what’s the use of advertising, search engine optimization or even creating new products if you can’t evoke a purchasing preference with your target audience?

if you can’t evoke a purchasing preference in your target audience, face the hard fact: you don’t have a brand. you, your company, your products and services are a commodity.

you are. think about it.

are you doing your homework in marketing? creating a market-driven sense for innovation in your products and services. creating a story that propels your products and services into a branded experience. as a result, being preferred by large groups of people over your competition.

i will expand further on brand building on this blog. this one post is only an appetizer.

but you can ask yourself in the meantime, what are you actually doing as a business leader:

the number 1 responsibility of a CEO is innovation & marketing and building a brand.

guess how many CEOs got that? Steve Jobs did.

do you?

i bet, you didn’t. call me something, but i bet, you didn’t.

CEOs delegate the wrong tasks to others and are busy in the day-to-day operations.

do you know what you can begin to change in your approach to marketing now?

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a blog cannot improve your impact as a leader. this blog will.
but only if you do your homework.

what business are you in?

McDonalds, in short, is known as a hamburger restaurant. but as we know about the hospitality industry, you rarely make money with the food, you make it with the beverages. but if i asked the former CEO of McDonalds, “what business are you in, Ray?”, he would definitely have answered (and he did): “our business is real estate”.

in fact, McDonalds’ worldwide revenue is achieved by franchising its operations and by appropriate real estate investments.

this example should tell us something.

the brand is not the business.

when i ask you, what business are you in, i’m not asking about your industry, your USP, your mission, your brand statement or anything that you are telling to your customers. i am asking: what would you tell your investors.

why is this important?

if McDonald thought they were in the hamburger (or self-service drive-in) business, they probably might still be restricted to some restaurants in California and Arizona where this company started. of course, this statement can be disputed, but i hope you get the picture.

a clear understanding of the real business we are in helps us in improving our bottom line and in growing the enterprise.

i am asking you, don’t just read for your entertainment and don’t jump away from this article before your part is done. if you are a business owner, please ask yourself now or schedule a strategy session with your partners:

what business are you in?

what is the very business model that drives your revenue and is sustainable in the future?

get as clear as possible.

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a blog cannot improve your impact as a leader. but this blog will.

denial is the most predictable of all human responses

in the movie Matrix Reloaded, The Architect, an artificial intelligence that created the Matrix, makes a wise remark to Neo who didn’t believe that Zion was to be destroyed:

denial is the most predictable of all human responses.

if this is true, we better don’t skip this matter.

the following are some random examples of denials of events, proved historical facts or well-founded assessments that we know of:

• denial of the holocaust, the claim that the genocide of 6 million Jews during World War II did not occur
• denial of the landing of the Apollo 11 manned mission on the moon in 1969, the claim that it was a hoax conspiracy, and the landing was falsified by the NASA
• denial of the evidences of financial downturn among the financial and political elite
• denial of global warming
• denial of the fact that our feel-good slogans don’t change anything
• denial that racial issues are still an aspect of societies in North America and in other parts of the world
• denial of the death of Elvis Presley
• denial that we are addicted to something (drugs, caffeine, alcohol, unhealthy food, TV, web, newspapers, porn, etc.)

denial in its simplest form is rejecting a fact despite of evidence.

the psychology of denial is not only a personal thing and a matter of normal people’s wishful thinking. it’s a group effect. the psychology of denial even grips bright people, financial experts, and global leaders.

it grips you and me.

a lot needs to be changed in the world, but nothing needs to be changed in our own behavior… this is a well-known and common example of denial and self-deception, isn’t it?

you don’t need to behave as many global leaders, political opponents and retired fortune 500 CEOs do. criticizing others.

as you read this post so far, please be prepared for the most important step of this article. here is my question for you. let your intuition answer it for yourself very quickly, without judging.

what is it that you are still denying?

take your time to evaluate your intuitive answer. what can you do about it?

don’t read the next thing before answering these questions for yourself. otherwise, you and i know what you are denying and still will tomorrow, don’t we?

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a blog cannot improve your impact as a leader. but this blog will. and you know why.

how you use your power is up to you

as we’ve been afrightened by moral to possibly use our power for the bad, and as we’ve seen or have been told that others did, we subconsciously come to the conclusion that “power is bad”.

we risk discrediting our power because of ONE side of the coin.

which stops us in using the OTHER side.

and as human beings we won’t do so without a lot of reasoning.

as we unlearned to use our power, we have to unlearn the unlearning.

otherwise, how should we fulfill our purpose, our destiny, our however you call it.

using our natural power means being undisturbed by other people’s actions and reasoning.

including our own.

using our natural power means losing all doubt.

means accepting and loving ourselves insanely.

does make sense?

using our natural power means sheltering ourselves against the world’s confusing attacks.

this includes the stuff and mindfrick that is going on in our own heads.

the self-confident leader of businesses, organizations or nations doesn’t let him- or herself be defined by the media.

and: the powerful person doesn’t need to have a public image to live up to.

when you’re stuck in a problem

you know this situation, don’t you?

you have a problem in your business, it might be a strategic one or a very personal one, and you just don’t find a suitable satisfying solution. even not after consulting with your team.

i know. how about you?

you might know these logical riddles, where you only need to find one right question to ask so that you will find the answer. you know for sure one of the individuals you are allowed to ask always tells the truth, and the other one is a liar. but you don’t know who is who. maybe you remember the solution, it’s “what would the other guy answer if i would ask him …” this approach would definitely result in the answer the liar would give. in this example, if you know the wrong answer you’ll automatically know the right answer.

well, life is not a logical riddle, but the morale is, a good question yields a good portion of the answer.

and who said, asking questions shouldn’t be fun?

now it’s up to you to fetch your most important and painful still unsolved problem.

forget all solutions you were pondering about before. forget everything others have told you.

which question didn’t you ask yet?

which question can you ask yourself that might open a fresh perspective to the problem?

if you like to, you might think of a person you appreciate a lot or even admire and ask yourself: which question would this person ask me in this situation?

how would your problem read if you would write it down as a fresh approach to your solution?

i hope you do well.

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a blog cannot improve your impact as a leader? this blog will.

zappos and amazon in symbiosis?

Amazon announced they are buying Zappos.com.

i’m not writing this blog post in order to present you with some interesting business news you might have already read elsewhere. i want you to ask questions and learn something.

why does Amazon buy an online shoe store for $930 millions total?

here is my take, but you don’t need to buy into that. just think for yourself.

doesn’t it seem to be all about something that is overused as a buzzword not only in acquisitions but throughout the business world:

synergy

but wait. it’s not the usual kind of synergy you can read in business newspapers. it’s not the kind of business synergy you can google. it’s not cost synergy, or management synergy, or simply revenue synergy, which are the wishful driving forces in many company acquisitions, that drives Amazon to buy Zappos.

somehow this acquisition seems to be different.

it’s a synergy in customer obsession. how cool is that?

not “customer orientation”. that’s only a trend in phrases. we are talking about some facts.

Amazon is known as a long-term thinking company. otherwise it wouldn’t exist. Amazon does focus on customers and does invent and disrupt in the business world. Amazon does make mistakes and does fix them. Amazon does sell shoes, it doesn’t need to buy a shoe company, does it? well, the acquisition gives Amazon a better shoe in the the online retail business of clothing.

what Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, with this acquisition is interested in, is a company that is world-class in corporate culture and customer relationships. a company that has a world-class leadership team. this is the synergy Amazon is looking for, behind the obvious value of acquiring a most successful online retailer.

of course, these are the official statements, there may be other reasons, and as we know about business and politics (and our own families), mostly are.

on the other hand, why do Zappos’ shareholders sell the company to Amazon for a price that is not too high compared to its annual revenue of $1 billion and its 20% annual growth rate?

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, explained in an email to his employees. he sees a huge opportunity to grow Zappos with the help of Amazon’s resources, technology, and operational experience even more and overcome limitations. and most importantly, Amazon guarantees that Zappos will stay an independent brand that will continue to maintain its unique corporate culture. Amazon’s long-term thinking is what makes this move even more valuable for Zappo’s board and shareholders.

well, this is the official statement of the CEO. again, there may be other reasons and even controversial discussions between investors and management about the deal as is reported. but we don’t need to speculate.

Jeff Bezos’ video on YouTube where he explains Amazon’s history, his “short list” of knowledge and his reasons for the acquisition is an excellent example of external corporate communications.

the email of Tony Hsieh to Zappos’ employees is an excellent example of internal corporate communication. and it helps us understand what his take on the deal is.

maybe it can be boiled down to a very small set of questions that were important to Zappos’ CEO:

do we believe that this will accelerate the growth of the Zappos brand and help us fulfill our mission of delivering happiness faster?

do we believe that we will continue to be in control of our own destiny so that we can continue to grow our unique culture?

as for the CEO both answers were yes, he could agree with the deal.

this could be an excellent example of true symbiosis and synergy in the business world. of course, we have to see how things will work out. most acquisitions fail.

let me summarize my hypotheses. if there is a symbiosis, it isn’t in the products. it isn’t in the customer service. it isn’t in the costs or revenues. the symbiosis is in the mindsets. if they play it out of course.

now let me ask you something. you don’t need to plan to acquire another company or to plan your exit strategy in order to learn from this example. so here are the questions:

is it actually a symbiosis or another example of big eats small?
what does synergy actually mean?
is this synergy, or not? why?
meanwhile, Amazon’s CFO Tom Szkutak stated that this deal was “not about synergies. this is about growing in categories that we think are interesting.”
if this is so, what makes it wrong to call this merge a “synergy”? i’m asking you. think for yourself.

if you only would learn one thing from this example for your own plans and behaviors in business, what would it be?

what would Amazon’s next step of investment with Zappos be? any idea?
what would you do, if you were Jeff Bezos?

do you learn more by reading opinions and comments (as is the default in the media you are reading)?

or do you learn more by being asked some smart questions?

are you too lazy to answer these questions? if so and you are a business leader or aspiring to become one, you better come back next year when you’re ready to think for yourself (and don’t need to answer this question any more because Jeff Bezos did it for you).

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a blog cannot improve your impact as a leader. but this blog will.