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The Duh-Factor

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Another from the lessons-not-found-in-books series

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Life is full of the Duh-factor.

What, you may ask is the Duh-factor, and why is Duh always capitalized? I am not sure I can precisely define the word and I have no idea why Duh should always be capitalized. It just seemed the right thing to do. Perhaps a couple of examples of the Duh-factor in operation can help.

Comedians, especially it seems hillbilly comedians, can make a career of the Duh-factor. Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if …” comes to mind, or better still Bill Engvall’s “Here’s your sign” bits. If you haven’t had the good fortune to see these guys, I can’t help with that. Try Youtube.

My father knew the Duh-factor approach and used it with me when I was a kid. It sometimes remotely resembled the Socratic Method. That is, it usually, but not always, involved a question.

An example is: “Do you know what that white stuff on bird sh*t is?” Now if you have ever studied bird sh*t, you could have observed that for many birds, from sparrows to chickens, their poop consists of at least two tones, one dark, almost black, and the other white. These appear to be two parts of the same piece of poop. But, if you haven’t made it your goal to ponder bird poop before, you might simply respond to such a question as Dad posed with something like, “No, what is it?” His immediate response would be, “Its bird sh*t, too.” Duh!

There is evidence for the Duh-factor in business as well. Look at some of the failed products that abound in the marketplaces of our lives. Things are made or services developed that people do not want and will not pay for. Witness the Edsel automobile (Ford, 1958-1960), Frito Lay’s Cheeto’s Lip Balm (2005), Google+ (2011-2019) and the list can go on. The blunder by Coca Cola when they tried to abandon the original Coke formula in the mid 1980s in favor of “New Coke” is a good example of the need to listen to your clients, understand what they value and offer products that satisfy that value. Sales of Coca Cola slumped and continued to be poor by historical Coke standards until they reintroduced the original formula in “Classic Coke.” The turnaround in sales that occurred after that reintroduction was attributed to listening to the customer.

This one isn’t a question, but an axiom: If you throw it out the back door and the dogs won’t eat it, it ain’t dog food. Duh.

It always pays to ask yourself the right questions along the way. And, in our current world in turmoil asking those questions is more urgent than may have been the case ever before.

  • Do our customers want something significantly different than what we currently have to offer?
  • Do our employees need changes in our processes that management can make?
  • If we need to make changes in the implicit employment contract will employees go along with them?
  • How can we reconcile differences between what we perceive we need to change in our business and the needs that our employees want to see us address?
  • What do the other players that impact our markets have on their horizons?
  • Is now the right time to make a change?
  • How similar is our “new Normal” going to be to our past “normal?”
  • What is our formula for making “dog food” going forward?
  • And, the list goes on. …

So how do I define the Duh-factor? I am still not sure I have a precise definition, but it does have something to do with trying really hard to recognize the obvious and apply, that all too often uncommon, common sense.

The Pool Hall

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This is the first of a series of lessons not found in books

Freddy G on Unsplash

A Lesson in Life and Business at the Pool Hall; Or, You Can Learn Good Stuff from Unexpected Places

By: Oliver W. Cummings

Sometimes, when life seems particularly unpredictable and hard to cope with, it pays to think back to what we have already learned and put to use over years of experience.

My father used to say, “In life the strong live off the weak and the smart live off the strong.” This is a, perhaps less elegant but equally to the point, way of saying that the art of success in life (and business) is about finesse, not force.

Here is the Lesson

One of my favorite hang-outs when I was a teenager was a brightly lit, clean pool hall. The place was opened in town as a place primarily for young men of the community. The proprietor served pop and snacks, but no alcohol, and kept an orderly place.

One spring a drifter showed up and the pool hall became his place to pass time just about every day. He disappeared when the weather turned bad in the fall and then showed up in springtime in the subsequent years. His name was Norman. No one seemed to know where Norman went for the winter and I never really knew where Norman stayed when he was in town. Gossip said he slept in the barns at the fairground. He was not particularly spiffy, but he stayed clean shaven and his clothes were kept in better shape than those of other drifters that passed through in the 1960s.

Norman was pretty mysterious to the boys that hung around the pool hall. Many of them didn’t want anything to do with him, but I thought he was interesting. He talked philosophy and religion as if he were well-educated. I don’t know how schooled he was, but he went to the town library sometimes during the day, before he came to the pool hall in the evening. Maybe it was just a comfortable place to kill time, maybe he liked Miss Maude, the Librarian. But, I think he went there to read interesting things.

I learned some important things about pool from Norman. Most importantly: the art of shooting pool is one of finesse, not force.

How you hold the cue stick is the beginning of executing a good shot. Too much tension and you will be jerky in your execution and can’t hit the cue ball accurately. Too little control and you can’t hit the cue ball accurately either. Both ways you lose.

You need to think two or three shots ahead, because how you play one shot leads to the next opportunity you have. If you don’t think about your leave (i.e., where this shot will position you for the next shot), you can block yourself out, and, again, you lose.

You should never take a bank shot when a straight shot is possible. When you shoot a bank shot, it may look impressive, but the added variables of the angle of the rebound, the English you put on the ball, and the performance of the rail cushion make the shot more difficult than a straight shot, even if the latter is at a significant angle. Taking the straight shot represents foregoing showboating for a winning strategy.

It takes balance and planning. It takes knowing your equipment, the shot you are going to take, and your situation on the table to make a good shot.

Maybe these lessons came from Norman’s study of eastern philosophies or maybe it was simply that he was passing along a skill in shooting pool.

Either way these things are important to me because it is just that way in business and other aspects of life: the secret to success, as in shooting pool, is one of finesse, not force.

Taking the smart shot, stroking the cue ball so that it touches the target ball precisely and gently and lets it roll softly into the pocket, is always preferred to slamming the cue stick into the cue ball, making a jerky shot, and hoping that you get to hear the target ball rattle into the pocket.

In other words, in business and in life if you:

  • pay attention to doing the right things and, then, doing things right;
  • neither do things the hard way, nor shrink from the hard to accomplish;
  • sense and make sense of your environment;
  • know yourself and your equipment (i.e., what you have to work with);
  • find an appropriate balance of flexibility and control;
  • focus on what is important to winning and decide what you will do next; and
  • execute as well as you can, without fanfare;

then you can call the shots for your own game and you will win more often than not.

A Dozen Realities – Updated

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Guido Klumpe on VisualHunt.com

When Oliver Cummings and I created the Making Strategy Real workshop for MindPrep Resource Center (www.mindprep.com) we used a dozen “known truth” to guide our design. Now the question is whether these pre-pandemic truths will hold up in a post-pandemic world. Here are some initial thoughts:

20192021
The business environment is always evolving.Wow! The pandemic changed evolution into creative destruction in a few weeks.
Respond fast enough — or become irrelevant.Some companies will not survive, the ones that do will have to change fast.
You may not set strategy, but you have to influence it.Middle managers will be more involved than ever in the creation of functional and company strategy.
You can’t implement fluff.Leaders will have to stress clarity in their messages about strategy. The managers won’t have the time to “figure it out.”
Change always ripples.True more so than ever. Many things will be changing at once and interrelationships will determine success.
CEOs don’t run projects – you do.Managers will continue to “make it happen.”
Resources are limited and trade-offs always exist.Most organizations will be severely resource-constrained and will have to practice strategic-triage.
Strategy is just ideas until middle managers make it happen.It seems to us that this is a timeless truth.
Project make strategy happen.Great project leadership skills will be needed more than ever.
Intention and execution need to balance.Great plans without the ability to execute effectively will doom many struggling companies.
Stuff happens!We were not ready for COVID-19. What makes us think that there won’t be more surprises?
Use the A-Team ….. or else ….Always true and even more so as we come out of the crisis.
A Dozen Realities

What would you add to our list? What would you change? Your thought and comments are appreciated.

The Top Strategic Thinking Skills You Can Master From Nero Wolfe (And Other Famous Detectives)

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Did you catch my blog about the world of fictional detectives and how they solve complex problems? I’ve had requests ever since that post to bring back these detectives and unpack the strategic thinking skills that make them so successful in solving a wide range of issues.

Below you will find some tidbits of advice from some of our most famous detectives. Enjoy… and more importantly… think!

Fictional Detectives With Real Strategic Thinking Skills

“There is nothing as safe as ignorance – or as dangerous.”
~ Nero Wolfe

The 2017 tax bill that swiftly worked its way through Congress is about 480 pages long. We don’t know how many of our legislators read the whole thing, but we do know a bunch of them (on both sides) said they didn’t have time, so instead they relied on summary information. They can claim ignorance when problems arise – but we will shoulder the brunt of their “mistakes.”

How To Apply: Don’t be ignorant about your responsibilities!

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”
~ Sherlock Holmes

Back in the 1970s we theorized that Japan couldn’t make good cars. Back in the late 1980s we theorized Korea couldn’t make good cars. I’ll bet we’ll do the same thing with China when they come onshore.

How To Apply: Let the data speak!

“Thinking is hard work, which is why you don’t see a lot of people doing it.”
~ Kinsey Millhone

For the past quarter century many businesses have adopted “best practices” because, well, they are best practices. Unfortunately, too few executives spent the time to tailor such practices to their organization. Thinking is demanding work, but many of us are so time starved that we adopt before we think.

How To Apply: Make sense of your decisions before you implement them.

“It is the brain, the little gray cells on which one must rely. One must seek the truth within – not without.”
~ Hercule Poirot

In 2006 I co-authored The Prepared Mind of a Leader, in which we addressed 8 skills that leaders need in order to succeed. One of these skills – reflection – is simply taking the time to honestly consider your role in both your successes and your failures. In the hundreds of workshops I’ve led since my book was published, I often ask participants to name the most underutilized skills in their organization. Reflection is generally in the top three.

How To Apply: We are quick to Google; we hesitate to think.

“Never underestimate a man’s ability to underestimate a woman.”
~ V.I Warshawski

I wish I could strike this one from my list, but even in 2020 we still don’t have gender pay equity!

How To Apply: What the hell is wrong with us “business people?!”

 “A reporter has the right to do things an ordinary person shouldn’t.”
~ Nancy Drew (Nancy Drew?! Yep, girl reporter, 1939)

Now why is this so applicable today? Well… it’s because the drumbeat of “fake news” has denigrated the value of good reporting. Reporters should be reporters, not spin masters. Now, go back to Kinsey Millhone’s quote – many of us accept the spin rather than think. Why? Because thinking is hard.

How To Apply: Face it; fake news is our fault because we attend to it. Demand objective reporting!

It Takes Brains

Like all of the detectives above, you can master strategic thinking skills if you are committed to doing the work. MindPrep Resource Center has the educational tools and solutions you need to excel in your company.

You too can become a powerful thinker… and we’ve love to show you how.

10 Powerful Tips To Help You Become A Better Thinker

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Who doesn’t want to become a better thinker? A major ingredient towards winning in life, better thinking helps us efficiently manage our daily lives and achieve our big goals. It empowers us to formulate good plans, handle setbacks, make prompt decisions, and solve problems.

Here are 10 powerful tips to help you become a better thinker so you can live your best life:

1. Want It. In today’s society, we are swarmed with information and opinions coming from news, social media, subject matter experts, and so-called “thought leaders,” to name a few. Such sources may increase intellectual laziness if you give them the power to tell you what to think! Avoid stagnancy by consciously practicing critical thinking amid this onslaught of information, views, and beliefs. You have the natural ability to think. Cultivate it or lose it!

2. Be Humble. Self-confidence is good, but not when it turns into a bloated ego, or hubris as the Greeks would call it. It’s important to not confuse the two. So if you think you are the “best there is,” – you better check again. And even if you are… there is always more opportunity to learn and grow.

3. Be Specific. Because it’s impossible to cover all fields of discipline, focus on your strengths. Brilliant scientists don’t necessarily make brilliant politicians… and vice versa.

We’ve been blessed with a few polymaths in history such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. But in our increasingly complex world, such luminaries are a rare breed.

4. Work! While all of us have natural thinking abilities, becoming a better “thinker” requires study, experimentation, and reflection.

Great thinkers are not naturally born. They are molded from conscious and continuous work. Behind many of Thomas Edison’s revolutionary inventions are countless failures and restarts. He worked. Einstein worked. Ford worked. Jobs worked.

Make each day count by working towards your goal.

5. Learn From The Past. Never lose valuable lessons from past experience. Consistently review leadership, management, and strategic decisions that you (and your colleagues) have made, and then analyze how they impacted your organization.

6. Consider All Sides. Most significant issues have multiple stakeholders who hold different sets of facts and experiences, so it’s vital to consider multiple sides of an issue. When we have “tunnel-vision” aimed at only one point of view, we greatly limit our ability to properly evaluate (and solve) the problem.

7. Think “Wider.” We often want to put an issue “under the microscope,” but doing so risks overlooking the context of where the issue resides. Yes, we need specialists, but sometimes a problem needs a generalist. Retailing, for example, is going through a massive ecosystem shift. Does your store need remodeling, or do you need a store? Or should you complement your store with an ecommerce website?

8. Check Your Assumptions. Ensure that your assumptions are regularly monitored and updated based on proven facts and changing market conditions. Loose assumptions can lead to poorly implemented strategies. And when they fall apart, your strategic thinking will eventually collapse with them. Want to see the effects of eroded assumptions? Consider what happened to Folgers, Sears, MySpace, Macy’s, Polaroid, and IBM. What assumptions did they fail to monitor?

9. Consider The Consequences Of Your Actions. It’s widely accepted thinking that all solutions create new problems, and that all actions have both intended and unintended consequences.

Consider the unintended consequences of organizational “high-potential” programs so you can make adjustments and mitigate such risks.

10. Be Skeptical. In our increasingly online world, everyone seems to have a platform to voice their version of “truth,” regardless of its validity. Maintain a curious and questioning attitude so you remain vigilant and well-positioned to examine all information that comes to your attention.

This last tip (“Be Skeptical”) is the bookend to the first (“Want It”). In other words, you have to Want It and you have to Be Skeptical.

The old X-Files TV program had a well-known tagline: “The truth is out there…”

But let’s add, “…but don’t accept it as truth until you validate it for yourself.”

Take Your Thinking To A Higher Level

The MindPrep Resource Center is your “mind’s ally.” Choose from our wide selection of workshops, mini courses, and workbooks that will serve as your guide to becoming a better thinker, at your own pace, and with proven results.

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