So, now you are in week three of our class and, we imagine, getting the hang of these live-withs. You've had time to experiment with Have No Expectations and Psych(e) Out Your VOJ. Our new live-with, Pay Attention, builds on these first two.
You are becoming familiar with your own creative process and with your VOJ. When you have a deeper awareness of both, you begin to be more open to the world around you, and the world inside you. This week, we invite you to pay attention to both worlds.
Listen, see, taste, touch and smell with precise observation, as a young child filled with wonder, a scientist absorbed in research, or an alien who has just landed on earth and is seeing things for the first time.
Shake things up! Travel a different route, eat different foods, talk with strangers - do anything you can to have a foreign experience, as if you are a traveller in a new world, because in reality you are. In every moment, life is changing right before your eyes.
So, get out there, and in there, and Pay Attention. Then come back here to fill us in on all the wonder-filled moments you have experienced. You could share thoughts about the Crossing the Ravine exercise and whether/how it provided personal insight.
We discussed the CoolBurst case study in Monday's class, with three excellent presentations that covered the case. If you did not share your views, it is not too late. What do you think Luisa should do?
Please share with us here any questions, thoughts, etc. that will help us all to get more out of this interesting case study.
I think they should focus on the product orange juice and the customers. They should have the goal that their juice is the healthiest. That means to produce organic juice only with natural ingridience. They could also sell the juice in small cartons with straw like horizon is doing it with milk. Kids love that. And they should sell the juice at wholefoods or stores like that.
ReplyDeleteIt will take some time and some marketing activities to build this new image. They could invite the parents for cooking classes in school to present by the way the super healthy juice and so on.
I don't think that teenagers will love to drink orange juice. They probably love the mango tango. But they will love an other juice some month later. I think that trendy fashion softdrink business is a very fast one. No way for coolburst to go with the trend now. And I think it would be too pity if they would give up the long tradition. This is a very important image factor.
Maybe they could think about producing a sports juice for healthy people who go to the gym. Much water, less juice but also organic and full of vitamins and minerals. That market is comparable to schools. Serving the drink in automates and in small cartons.
Luisa needs a mentor, someone she could talk with (not her son). She has to stand 100% behind her vision. She has to communicate and she has to think more optimistic. She should talk to all team/department leaders in the company and ask them if they have ideas to reach the goals/vision. Once she has a schedule she should talk to the parent company and ask for a budget and for the go for her vision.
Live-With #3: Pay attention
ReplyDeleteVic Gundotra posted this on his Google Plus account. I thought it was a great story.
One Sunday morning, January 6th, 2008 I was attending religious services when my cell phone vibrated. As discreetly as possible, I checked the phone and noticed that my phone said "Caller ID unknown". I choose to ignore.
After services, as I was walking to my car with my family, I checked my cell phone messages. The message left was from Steve Jobs. "Vic, can you call me at home? I have something urgent to discuss" it said.
Before I even reached my car, I called Steve Jobs back. I was responsible for all mobile applications at Google, and in that role, had regular dealings with Steve. It was one of the perks of the job.
"Hey Steve - this is Vic", I said. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your call earlier. I was in religious services, and the caller ID said unknown, so I didn't pick up".
Steve laughed. He said, "Vic, unless the Caller ID said 'GOD', you should never pick up during services".
I laughed nervously. After all, while it was customary for Steve to call during the week upset about something, it was unusual for him to call me on Sunday and ask me to call his home. I wondered what was so important?
"So Vic, we have an urgent issue, one that I need addressed right away. I've already assigned someone from my team to help you, and I hope you can fix this tomorrow" said Steve.
"I've been looking at the Google logo on the iPhone and I'm not happy with the icon. The second O in Google doesn't have the right yellow gradient. It's just wrong and I'm going to have Greg fix it tomorrow. Is that okay with you?"
Of course this was okay with me. A few minutes later on that Sunday I received an email from Steve with the subject "Icon Ambulance". The email directed me to work with Greg Christie to fix the icon.
Since I was 11 years old and fell in love with an Apple II, I have dozens of stories to tell about Apple products. They have been a part of my life for decades. Even when I worked for 15 years for Bill Gates at Microsoft, I had a huge admiration for Steve and what Apple had produced.
But in the end, when I think about leadership, passion and attention to detail, I think back to the call I received from Steve Jobs on a Sunday morning in January. It was a lesson I'll never forget. CEOs should care about details. Even shades of yellow. On a Sunday.
To one of the greatest leaders I've ever met, my prayers and hopes are with you Steve.
-Vic
Kirtida ... thanks for sharing the story about Vic Gundotra and Steve Jobs. I really enjoyed it. Sharon
ReplyDeleteI have two thoughts to share, one regarding Coolburst and one on the topic of paying attention.
ReplyDeleteAs a leader, Luisa is in the unique position to invest her time in understanding her current customer and expanding her knowledge of the competition's customers. Without deep customer knowledge, she cannot lead. She seems to have strong operational knowledge and management expertise in the distribution channels, but her opportunity here is to leverage the existing structure to start delivering a broader option of products to grow the business. Whether or not she will seize this opportunity is the difference between real leadership and safe management.
I loved the challenge of spending time this past week paying attention to the ordinary moments of my days and really see what's right in front of me. I did this as often as I remembered to do so, and experienced some excellent moments in the "Now". For example, I went for an early morning hike at the Dish before sunrise and managed to turn back around as I was hiking up just in time to see the sun rise over the distant mountains and flood silicon valley with warmth and color. It was magical. I also tried the focus on a shape/color exercise. The shape I focused on at one point was the vertical size/structure of a tree trunk. Once I focused, it was as if the tree trunks started jumping out at me and overtaking the cars and buildings around them. I felt I could see the trees through the forest of structures instead of the structures overtaking the trees.
Paying attention is so hard! I have grown up during a time where we gravitate toward technology to help us organize our lives and connect us to our peers. As I sat down to dive into reading for this week, I immediately grabbed the remote control and turned on the TV. And as I write this, I am watching my roommate on his computer, iPad, AND iPhone. It’s strange for me to truly focus on ONE thing at a time. I noticed this and turned it off and did my best to concentrate, but had to take breaks every once in a while to check my gchat, the clock…what else can I find to distract myself?! I felt guilty, but couldn’t ignore the compulsion to multi-task. Reading the article on Aesthetic Intelligence definitely brought my focus closer to where it should be. I love how they refer to being present and the potential to use “this renewed sensory awareness” as “a source of knowledge and action for self and interaction with others” (Goodwin & Mucha 54). I want that, and I’m going to try to achieve it. There are very few things I can think of that I do when truly singularly. I’m inspired to try harder!!
ReplyDeleteI helped coordinate a friend’s wedding this past weekend and, though I was keeping the live-with in mind, felt I had to multi-task some and pay attention to multiple things so that I accomplished all of my duties. Yet…once my duties were done, I took the opportunity to do a shape walk (more of a shape-sit-and-observe) of sorts and noticed circles everywhere at the venue during the reception. It was a wonderful lens to look through and I noticed the tables, the lanterns, some of the flowers, all of the beautiful faces! Thanks so much for this tip!
About a year ago I was hiking in Los Angeles and decided to take a route that took me to a very high and steep peak, which had historically exhausted me. As I reached the foothill, I looked up and the precipice was daunting as ever, but regardless, started making my way up. It was exhausting as I looked towards the goal line. Then I decided to change my strategy. Instead I looked down at my feet and focused on each and every step I made. I noticed the rocks and sand and thought about where the best location was for my next step. Before I knew it I was at the top, tired, but not exhausted and proud of my accomplishment as I looked down over the city below.
ReplyDeleteThis experience gave me a new perspective on how I do things, which reminded me of our Live-With this week. Now, rather than only focusing on the final outcome, I try to remind myself to look at my immediate surroundings (with the awareness of my goal in mind) and pay attention to each step I take. I am not always great at remembering to do this, however, the Pay Attention Live-With was a great reminder to do just that. I find that it not only gets me to my goal in a more effective way, but it's more enjoyable. Life is about the journey, anyhow, isn't it?
The live with this week was very fun to explore. It began with a new adventure I had been asking my mom to do with me. We ride English Style so we tried Riding a couple of western style horses and rode down to the beach in Half Moon Bay. It was a challenge because we have invested to much tie and physical energy into learning to Ride English. Long story short, it was a lot different but I focused on my posture, my feet, and my environment. I saw the beauty in riding and relaxing instead of the complications I was experiencing. I almost got bucked off twice... totally my fault but instead of stopping and rode on and really focused on the horses foot steps, her breathing and her smell (yes).
ReplyDeleteAnother experience that was really fun was I went on an outing with friends and out of the blue one of my friends wanted to go to a different area of a park we were in. He said he really wanted to explore a new place. So we all went and we were shocked to find a drumming group banging and hitting, keps, broken metal car parts, drums made from scrap metal. It was amazing to see. I saw the energy exude from these four men. I was in awe of the passion, energy and volume of talent these guys displayed. I listened and watched like the drumming was part of me. It was almost an outer body experience just feeling the noise.
I am not a drummer or musically inclined in any way but the love that these guys had for the art they created was breath taking. I didn't want it to end.
One more small experience I have been practicing is when I run I often count to distract me from feeling tired or being aware of my body as I push myself to keep going. I let myself feel my feet and go up then once I get to feeling my shoulders and head I go back down and explore the different parts that hurt or that are sore or that feel really good. I remember the good feeling and imagine my whole body feeling that way. I am still working on the awareness but so far it has felt really good.
I liked reading about 'integrative thinkers' this week, so I tried to accommodate ideas from the text to CoolBurst case study. No matter, if my conclusions are more accurate for solving CoolBurst problems than last week, what I know is that my thought process was different and fresh, and that I had fun playing with it.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, questions about possible evolution of the industry helped me to realize that the current business model, even if it's not sexy, is not out of date – the CB's competitors put so much pressure on innovation because this is the only way for them to fight against CB's high-quality and well-positioned product, brand recognition and network of loyal distributors. At the same time CB seems to forget what their true target market is. They're successful in targeting distributors but totally fails with end 'users' who have a choice – youth and adults. Neglecting youths is a big mistake, not only because of loosing them as customers today and in the near future (as young adults choosing juices for their children) but also as potential staff that can bring their talents and fresh ideas to the company. So attracting young people is a must for successful growth, although it is extremely difficult group - demanding and unstable. Starting from the question what youth cannot live without (smart phones, text messaging, freedom and independence, peer group) I came up with some ideas for new distribution channels and products. They can use smart phone applications to order and pay for juices for themselves or small groups of friends (no one parent would refuse paying for a juice for their thirsty kid), add a drink as prize for winners in video or internet based games (kind of celebrating with a champagne). To address youth's need for freedom, CB can sell their juices in 2 sizes – a larger 'base' and additional flavors in eye-catching packaging, all having funny names. Thus, everybody can make their own unique beverages and have fun playing with rhymes etc. Mango Tango was in fact developed in CB so Lisa should not be afraid of working on new successful flavors.
So there's lots to do for the new CEO, including new strategy and systems, style and staffing. I would start working on all S at the same time but make changes in soft S the most visible to the staff. They need to change the team spirit from 'surviving together' to 'work and grow together'. Making the staff believe that the new strategy and systems came from themselves would be the most desired. Lisa should improve communication in CB and convince the staff that she, as a new CEO, promotes every change that are good for the company AND for the employees. A good start can be sharing with the staff her experience of noticing CB's weaknesses while paying attention to her son's choices. She should invite the whole staff to do similar survey among their families and friends of all ages and backgrounds, and use it when formulating / announcing new strategy.
I believe Lisa should not try to decide which business model is better for CB but rather work simultaneously on both of them. It may lead to either developing 2 separate divisions with different strategies and target markets (the existing mature, and innovative addressed to youth), both working for CB's market position, or working out a unique business model that fits all different groups and assures competitive advantage for CB in all segments of the market.
About 'paying attention' exercise this week: I was surprised how much fun my 4-year old son had when we played 'color/shape walk' together and how many things we both noted. Unfortunately, none of them was eureka, but maybe his attitude – of excitement and simple joy is what I should learn from this exercise. I also had a great experience during Sunday serving, when I listened to a well-known parable and heard and looked at it from a very different perspective. The story was not smart or clever, as I used to think of it, the story was purely creative. It's always good to hear something new in a very old story...
ReplyDeleteToday I decided change the way to go pick up the kid I take care of at school. I've been leaving in the same house for more than 1 year and I've never noticed some of the houses I passed by. I saw a bunch of squares, and while I was looking for the color yellow I realized that the hydrants are yellow which is interesting for me cause in Brazil they are red. Well, it was a fun walk and made me think that I should pay more attention about what is going on around me.
ReplyDelete2 weeks ago when I was asked about what was my dream I sad that it would be to have a family in Brazil living close to my parents. This week I had a dream that I was arriving in Brazil and I woke up in an awesome mood with that feeling that there is no place like home. I didn't have any VOJ on my dream, it was so good.
Ah and about multitasking, I've been having a hard time trying to stop it haha.
ReplyDeleteI agree, a great story about Steve Jobs
ReplyDeleteI walked by the Apple store at Stanford mall the other day, incredible to both see all the mix of the commotion around the launch of the latest Iphone (4S) and all the 'post-it' notes saying their farewells to Steve. Incredible to see that people stand in line for hours to get the latest of Apples gadgets. To your point, Christina, about the orange juice, I think someone might have read your mind as they actually were serving just that and water to all the people in line...;-) About Steve's leadership style there is a very good article about him in the latest edition of TIME, which I highly recommend you all to read, perhaps nothing revolutionary new, but interesting so read and follow the development of both Apple and Steve, and it also mentions some of his bit 'darker side', even though I think they are pretty kind to him and his legacy, as I have heard some pretty horrific stories myself, his dictatorship style and how he treated some of his employees and others, but probably in light of just happened.
Myself I used to be a dedicated PC user, whom didn't think much of Mac and Apple, whom however totally switched to Apple over the last couple of years and it just struck me that we currently hold 8+ Apple devices in our home (3 Macs, 2 Ipones, 3 Ipods, etc., etc.) and 'only' 1 Windows/Dell Laptop = Steve changed the world for me as well..
I'm still trying to live with last week's important lesson (I’m posting this a week late), which was for me to minimize multi-tasking. I found that I enjoyed my job and task at hand so much better when I did it – as I said in class, it provided me joy and I was shocked how easily at came to me after years of being aware of the situation. Now, a week later, I find I’m struggling again. It’s no longer top of mind. I’m going to put a sticky in my work area to remind me. More to come on this “lessen multi-tasking” journey, which I see as a key element for me to enjoy what I do more and be more productive… thus freeing up time and energy for creativity.
ReplyDeleteThis post refers to the HBR article "The Five Minds of a Manager" (Week #3). In my business experiences, more often than not, when our management team met to discuss the correction of a situation it seemed that nobody wanted to discuss what got us to the point where we were forced to correct a situation -- i.e., there was no desire to reflect. I was always the "Lone Reflector." It was refreshing to read about the need to reflect as well as to take action. Reflection, at least to me, was always a necessary element because if we could not understand what contributed to our dilemma and make the necessary changes to help prevent the same thing from reoccurring, we were destined to have the same event/results confront us in the future. Action was necessary but the best actions/changes that I have been involved with were a result of a clear understanding of what contributed to the problem.
ReplyDeleteThe point made by Saul Alinsky certainly resonates with me -- I just never thought of it as a form of digesting. In a former position that I held things moved so quickly that i felt unable to "digest" what was happening and felt that if one wasn't able to process and synthesize everything as it was occurring then the event and lesson was lost. I developed a systematic journal to track things as we all know that you can't process every big event in "real time." But, the best outcomes were often a result of my going back to the journal and spending time reflecting/processing/digesting the event.
Paying attention was a very difficult thing to do. I'm re commenting on this blog post because I feel that I've been trying to implement this more and more as time goes on. I realize that I check out easily and often, especially in meetings. The thing I've found that works really well is to simply call out when you've checked out. This makes it so that the person knows that you need to go over the information, but is also somewhat awkward for me, which makes me less likely to check out in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI am coming back to this 'Live With'...pay attention. I want to consciously be in the moment and pay attention to what is around me and experience it. I tend to be so focused on what I need to accomplish. A lot of doing. Perhaps I have too much on my plate and should 'Being' on my to-do list. :)
ReplyDelete