Hotel Pillow Origami: Restoring Control Outside Your Comfort Zone

I'm currently in Rhode Island on business and just woke up after my first night in the hotel.

I had a pleasant night's sleep because I took the time to engage in "hotel pillow origami", where I used trial and error, and creativity, to rearrange the pillows into a formation that supported my head, neck, and back.

I'm sure that most experienced business travelers can identify: every hotel room has different beds and a unique assortment of pillows.  Not taking control and finding the right pillow foundation can literally be a pain in the neck.

Taking control in this way shouldn't just be limited to travel and hotel beds.  In business, our careers, and our lives, there are many times we end up outside our comfort zones. In fact, we should want this to happen, because that is where growth and advancement happen.

But, there is no rule that says we have to endure maximum discomfort in these situations.  In fact, I'd argue that the ultimate personal growth happens when we rise to the challenge of uncomfortable change and adapt it to us, rather than just passively accept  new situations.

Reimagining A Commodity

You're a Wisconsin dairy at a time when milk, a commodity, is at historically low prices.  Many mom and pop farmers are struggling.

What do you do?

If you are 1871 Dairy, you copy the microbrewery trend, and become a micro dairy. They first started by providing fresh, organic, grass-fed milk to high-end Chicago restaurants.

Now, they are opening a micro dairy, where they will build a small milk processing plant in downtown Chicago, far away from the actual Wisconsin farms.

They will offer small-batch, exotic flavored milks, creams, yogurts, etc. such as adding blackberry-basil or banana-almond butter to fresh milk.

In this way, they have added value, and elevated milk from a commodity to a unique, premium  product for which they can charge more.

Are there creative twists that you can add to pain-vanilla portions of your business, to create awesome value for your customers, which will inspire and delight them?

Zoinks! What About The Customer, Scooby Doo?

Last night, my younger son got a Scooby Doo pirate play set - complete with action figures, a pirate castle, and a canon that actually fires a plastic missile!

He was all excited and, as soon as he woke up this morning, wanted to play with it.

Before he could however, one major struggle soon presented itself - opening the set!

It ended up taking me over 10 minutes to open the box (let along put the thing together). First, I had to open the outer box. Then, I had to pull out the whole set, which was tied down with 7 pieces of wire and screwed to a base using 3 screws. I had to get my tool box!

Then, all the action figures were sealed in a solid layer of thick plastic that could probably stop bullets. I had to press down with a heavy-duty pair of scissors to open it up.

Then, I had to pull out the figures through the plastic opening without its sharp edges severing my wrist.

Why do all the toy makers do this?

Why do they make all their packaging customer-unfriendly?

1. It complicates their logistics.

2. It adds unnecessary cost.

3. It annoys the heck out of your customers.

It's About The Client's Success, Not Your Ego

I just completed a high level design of a new software process for a client.  

But today I found out that the client's system already has a feature that can do what they want - it just has to be turned on and configured.  They didn't know it was there. It would save them hours of implementation, not to mention that the feature is already tested.

So I told them that my design is ready, but also told them about this other software and recommended that they go with that solution.  I have no issue with my design not being used.

I've worked with people whose egos would be hurt if their "baby" wasn't used, but I've never had any qualms about discarding my hard work if better ways present themselves.

 I KNOW I'm good, so I don't need the validation.  I know the client will be more impressed because they are getting great value from me.

Quoted in "The 5 Obstacles That Hold Back IT Departments"

I am quoted in a new article on "The 5 Obstacles That Hold Back IT Departments"

For Coke, Innovation Comes in Small Bottles

The past few years have been tough on Coke.  Health-conscious populations have dramatically reduced their consumption of soda.

But now, after a jujitsu maneuver, Coke's global sales are rising.

What was their innovative, jujitsu move?  Instead of fighting the anti-soda trend, they went with the flow by selling smaller servings.

After decades of bigger bottles and "super-sizing", Coke started introducing small cans and bottles.

This has had 2 effects:

1. Coke makes more profit per ounce, because packaging is a large percentage of their cost.

2. More people are buying soda, because they see the small package as a comprise between drinking regular servings, and the ideal of drinking no soda

The lesson here is that innovation doesn't necessarily mean bigger or better.  It could be smaller and less.  The key is to give customers something they value.

Why Procrastination Can Be A Gift

Procrastination is seen as the major enemy of creativity and accomplishment.  Just thinking of the word conjures images of white-knuckled students pulling all-nighters to finish their term paper or study for the finals exam.

And procrastination can be terrible - keeping us from realizing our dreams and reaching our goals.  But this occurs when procrastination is rooted in fear of failure (or success) or perfectionism.

However, many times, procrastination can be a gift.  It can be a GPS signal for us to switch directions when we are on the wrong path.

In this case, procrastination is rooted in as mismatch between our heart and our heads.  When our minds, trying to please someone else, or through over-thinking, chooses to do the wrong thing, and engage in activities we don't really care about.

It could be volunteering for a cause we don't believe in, or doing a dead-end job we hate because we're afraid to try something new.  In either case, we find ourselves procrastinating because there is no joy, no adrenaline rush in accomplishing it.

Then, when we switch to doing something we are passionate about, something we enjoy, we'll do it effortlessly (unless, of course, we start thinking about failure or perfection).