First is Not Always Best

There is tremendous pressure when an individual has a new idea or a company has an innovative product and wants to be the first to market.  The rush to launch is intense.  But is that always a good thing?  Some would say “yes” and others “no.”  Rather than argue one side or the other, let’s consider some real-world examples to see the benefits and drawbacks of being first-mover vs. second-mover. 

First case in point:  Netflix. In 1997, Netflix was a fledgling online startup offering mail-order DVD rental through their online store and had $2 Million in seed capital.  Today, it is a $150 Billion Dollar entertainment creation and streaming company.  Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph — who came up with the idea of a mail-order DVD rentals (back when DVDs were brand new and before streaming was even a possibility) — wanted to offer customers a way to rent videos without the whopping late fees charged by brick-and-mortar stores.  The 800-lb gorilla in the video-rental space was Blockbuster, which had built its entire business model on charging customers huge late fees which angered much of its customer base.  And all video-rental brick-and-mortar stores had a finite number of VHS videos in inventory on any given day.  Netflix saw a way to lure customers away by offering every film or program on DVD for sale or rent with zero late fees.  Customers could view the titles (with a short description) online, order it and receive it by mail a couple of days later.  Once viewed, they could put it in the return envelope and mail it back.  This was a new concept.  But, with new online startups popping up daily, there was great urgency to get to market first and fast. 

Social Listening is the process of monitoring and analyzing online conversations about a brand, product, service, or industry. It can be used to identify opportunities, threats, and trends, and to gauge public sentiment. Social Listening can be done manually or with the help of social media monitoring tools.

If your company has never done Social Listening, it’s not too late to start.  Case in point. In 2015, J.C. Penney had a major sales slump after the company made a number of changes to its marketing and merchandising strategy. The company was not listening to its customers and did not realize that they were unhappy with the changes.  J.C. Penney was forced to reverse course and make changes to its strategy. 

According to an ancient Chinese proverb, “A good reputation is more valuable than diamonds.”  But how do you know what your company’s reputation really is? What do people say about your business out in the world?  It starts with Social Listening.  Social Listening is the process of monitoring online conversations about your brand, competitors, and industry. It involves tracking mentions of your brand on social media, forums, blogs, and other online channels.

Time is like water cupped in hands… it seeps away in drips and droplets.  In no time, it is gone and even the wetness evaporates.  Still, it is easier for a person to make water than to make time.  Water is, after all, made of two hydrogen atoms attached to an oxygen atom.  That is basic chemistry.  And there are plenty of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.  However, smashing those atoms together is dangerous. 

Is your team struggling to keep up with daily tasks?  Are projects falling through the cracks?  Has managing the To Do List become just another cumbersome task on the To Do List??   If any of this is true for you, then it’s time for a tech solution.  Enter task management software.  There are a myriad of excellent options available.  But that’s a problem in itself.  The myriad of choices makes it hard to determine the best one for a person, team or organization’s specific needs.  No busy person needs to add that task to their already-long-list of tasks.  This article is a quick way to jumpstart the evaluation process.  These apps focus on managing tasks, not time.

Holiday or vacation is over.  It’s time to get back to work.  But focus is hard to come by.  Intrusions abound.  Work hours, which always had some casual interruptions, are now fraught with disruptions.  Open office spaces invite coworkers to break your concentration unapologetically.  Photocopiers churn and paper trays are slammed shut.  Printers grind.  Loud phone conversations distract.  You want to ignore it all but you also don’t want to be rude.  And Work-from-Home has its own disturbances.  Package deliveries.  Lawncare workers mowing and edging.  Dogs barking.  Household chores visible from your work space.  This doesn’t even account for the myriad of legitimate work interruptions from emails, instant messaging, and text messages.  And then there are the meetings… the endless meetings.

Everyone understands that managing workload is an important part of any job.  And yet, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done.  So some things must take priority over others.  It requires what might seem like a harsh approach.  Tasks must be tracked, organized and then keenly ranked.  Some things must get deferred.  Others delegated.  Some must be cut out altogether.  This requires the use of the word “No” a lot.  Failure to do that results in time wasted, opportunities squandered and deadlines missed.  But doing it effectively can be difficult, especially for people who provide a service for a living. 

When you are feeling overwhelmed by so much to do, do you ever just wonder how the richest people on the planet manage it all? As of last month, Warren Buffett – through his primary company Berkshire Hathaway — owns more than 65 companies that are diversified across the technology, consumer cyclical, energy, financial services, and healthcare industries.  Of those, 47% of the portfolio is dedicated to financial services and 27% to technology companies, which are evolving at a rapid-fire pace.  Jeff Bezos is best known for founding eCommerce behemoth Amazon in 1994.  Today, Amazon has 40 subsidiaries in several industries, including health care, retail, robotics, real estate, and media.  But Bezos, personally, also has direct investment in 38 additional companies through his investment arm, Bezos Expeditions.  Meanwhile, Elon Musk cofounded and runs six companies including electric car maker Tesla, rocket producer SpaceX, tunneling startup Boring Company and social media platform Twitter.  These three individuals own a total of 149 companies and they have a combined net worth of nearly $500 Billion dollars. 

Technology has made it easier than ever before to learn about the systems, methods, processes, habits and tools that people use to become successful.  Once upon a time (meaning more than 25 years ago), one had to go to a library or bookstore to find books and magazines discussing what entrepreneurs like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates or Sir Richard Branson do to be more efficient and effective at work.  But blogs, podcasts, websites, and social media platforms have put that kind of information at the fingertips of anyone with a cell phone and WIFI.  In fact, information abounds.  The problem, now, is that there is too much information about managing time and tasks that compete for attention.  Finding out specifically what Buffet or Branson do to manage their time and tasks requires research and digging through the morass of posts and articles, which may or may not be true.   In a sense, it has become harder – not easier – to learn the approaches of the most successful people for managing time and tasks.  But rest assured that they have crafted and honed their own methods for maximizing their efficiency and boosting productivity.

Do you know anyone who is great about tracking tasks and working through To Do lists methodically and diligently… except when it comes to a major project or a complicated or delicate task?  Someone who cherry picks which tasks get done and leaves the ones they loathe for last?   When they get to the end of the workday and review the To Do list made earlier, there is one project at the bottom of the list that has been put off.  It’s late—and they still haven’t gotten to it.  They decide to tackle the item the next day, and the same thing happens again and again.  It is a source of frustration for the person and everyone else involved.  They don’t see themselves as procrastinators, and yet there are definitely certain tasks they routinely avoid or delay doing.