Where are the Footwear Disruptors?

Braided Sandal design sketch by Robert Klein, 2019

I was thinking about how life changes with each disruption and why some industries have disruptors and others do not. Amazon, Facebook, Tesla, Uber, Twitter,... Where are the footwear and apparel disruptors? I’m not using the term disruptor in the original sense coined by Harvard, but instead using it as most people do, to mean “to create and deliver a new and innovative product or service offering, obsoleting existing technology and players, creating a shift in market share and a wave of new companies.”

People tend to resist change, staying with what they know and understand. Unfortunately for them, today’s change is big - self-driving cars, 3D printers creating artificial hearts, drones delivering packages.

George Bernard Shaw said, “all progress depends on unreasonable men.“ It’s much easier to continue the status quo, the accepted way to do things versus changing. Even in times of war or natural emergency, many people won’t evacuate or change course, despite the warning signs. Leading change requires a lot of work, going against the current, working with people who don’t understand the concept fully, who cannot see the potential yet, as their vision is limited by today’s rules. It also takes a lot of money and great fortitude to rebut the criticism, doubters, and naysayers, to stay on course, to keep pushing forward, even though the course may need to change multiple times on the way to market to accommodate new needs and data points.

Mark Zuckerberg pinched his idea from the Winklevoss twins and created what is now the world’s largest social media platform, earning over $22 Billion in profit for 2018, yet it took 5 years, until 2009 for it to finally show a profit. Today in 2019, with over 2.3 Billion active monthly users, including over 50% of all teens, nothing seems to be able to stop Facebook’s growth, even stories of security breaches, and the shameless selling of user data without the permission of its users. With 68% of all Americans using Facebook, over 70% of users visit daily. More than profits alone, Fb has created an incredibly powerful community that it can use to deploy virtually any plan it chooses to embark on. That’s powerful.

In the footwear space, few brands have the power of Facebook. Only Nike comes to mind as the largest seller of athletic footwear and apparel in the world. They have the most to lose and to gain from a major disruption in the footwear or apparel space. Lululemon, Sketchers, Adidas, perhaps Tom’s, are all threats to Nike, yet just about any company can disrupt this space with some money, talent, vision, strategy, and fortitude.

Facebook is not the only one who executed successfully on a disruptive idea and took the market by storm. Amazon now accounts for about half of all online sales, and while many people will blame Amazon for killing traditional retail, it still accounts for only about 5% of total retail sales. So then why the gap? I’ll reserve that for a future article.

As of the end of 2018, Amazon earned a respectable net profit of over $10 Billion, yet like Facebook, it was not always a pretty picture for Amazon. After its 1997 IPO, it took Amazon 6 plus years to turn a profit, including 12 years to recoup its cumulative losses. Jeff Bezos must have received a lot of advice to shut down the business on many occasions, and from more than one advisor. Even Warren Buffet was a famous naysayer, stating that he didn’t understand Bezos’ vision nor the execution of the business. Good thing he shut down his critics and stuck to his vision. Amazon is likely the most powerful force in business today, having pushed out of the original books store concept into many categories of products. Amazon is now mainly a services provider with Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment by Amazon, Prime, Amazon Fresh, Amazon Pay, Kindle, Music, Video and more. The Oracle of Omaha is finally a believer.

Amazon realized early on that it needed to vertically integrate in order to execute on its unique business model. It had to own what made it special. Highly efficient warehousing with robotics picking and packing operations, logistics and delivery services and more, has enabled Amazon to have a huge advantage over competitors who rely on 3rd party suppliers for these critical-for-success services.

Yet the story gets more complicated – if Amazon had not deployed its Amazon Web Services (AWS) over 10 years ago, they would be showing quarterly losses for up to an estimated one-third of all quarters. AWS provides the cushion for spending and expansion where needed. Normally, all parts of a company’s business are not profitable at the same time. I‘ve worked for more than one company with several divisions. As one division was hot and very profitable bringing in big revenue numbers, other divisions would be down, and the next year, that would change, so having a mix of products and services can be key for weathering storms and enabling long-term success.

For scale, Amazon employs over 500,000 people with half of all US households being Prime members, spending $1400 per year on average versus just $600 for non-Prime members. If Amazon were a footwear startup, attempting to disrupt the footwear space with new technology, would they have made it this far? How many years of losses would they have been able to endure before honing their process, supply chain and technology to a point where profits outpaced expenses? How would they have later diversified? Is there a footwear company, either established or a new startup, ready to take on vertical integration to control quality, expenses, the customer experience, and faster turnaround times like Amazon did? Of course, the company would also need a disruptive idea, but ideas are cheap and can be found everywhere. Perhaps it's the vision, people resources, financial backing and fortitude that's required. Easier said than done!

Using outsourced non-local development, component sourcing and production, requiring an extensive network of foreign suppliers, each with their own lead times and costs, creates a nightmarish list of logistical problems, delays, and uncertainties, all of which are fatal in the fast-paced seasonal environment of footwear and apparel. Is the solution an on-demand manufacturing model to eliminate obsolete inventory associated with predicting demand 3-6 months out? What about the benefits of eliminating debilitating air-shipping costs caused by delays in foreign factory manufacturing? In this case, neighboring countries, such as Mexico, Dominican Republic, etc. would offer significant advantages over Asia as a sourcing partner, but still not as good as having facilities locally where travel expenses and turnaround times are close to zero. Startups often talk about burn rate and runway, how much time they have until funds run out. Going local offers a high level of control over time and cost.

Just as most companies typically consider which non-critical items can be outsourced to lower costs and get a better handle on resources, an equally if not more important question needs to be: "Which items are key to the company's competitive advantage, and need to be vertically integrated?" Rather than being scared away from big capital expenditure and investment figures, create a few scenarios to uncover the production volume and timing where the numbers work. How long, realistically, until the business can scale to that sustainable, profitable size? Are you funded until you can get there, and if not, what can be done to alter the plan or to get funded to execute on this plan? What does the business look like if you don't move in this direction?

Moving to a vertically integrated model may be the best and only path for any disruptor, especially in the footwear space. Zara proved this successful in apparel, using advanced data gathering tools to detect, evaluate and respond to shifts in customer preferences. Controlling its material and color offerings with flexible small-batch manufacturing enables it to quickly adapt. Still, I believe they don’t attempt to manufacture their own footwear, choosing instead to focus on apparel, treating footwear as an accessory by using private label factories, but here again, footwear is not their innovation, so using outside resources to develop and buy private label works.

I’ve worked with some smart entrepreneurs who had great disruptive ideas, and in all cases, their charismatic personalities, marketing acumen, industry connections and high level of intelligence were impressive but not enough. A high level of vertical integration is needed, which means domestic manufacturing, closely monitored warehousing, solid customer service, and more, local to the market where the product is sold. This goes way beyond a risk mitigation strategy to address trade war issues between super-powers. The need to develop, test, reiterate, fix, pivot, execute, gather data, test again, deploy, and so on, happens faster and more predictably under one local roof, not out of site across dozens of foreign suppliers, where quality, timing and cost issues abound.

Of course, shoe companies can continue on their slow path to organic growth, lose or gain market share based on how well they shopped the trends and interpreted them for their customers that season, but any company wanting supernatural growth will need to look into disrupting the market to redefine the latest “got-to-haves”, and drive demand by owning new technology and a way to deliver their offerings better and/or faster, to build a community and movement with few to no competitors.

Who are your favorite innovators? I believe that Nike is the leading footwear disruptor, the leader not only in terms of market share, but also in their ability to innovate and disrupt their own space with Flyknit, Flyweave, Nike Free, and other great developments that have steered the industry in new directions. Obsessed with innovation, Nike is endlessly curious about our world and how to make it better and this drives them to improve the state of the art. With deep pockets, they can take their innovation process to any product category, but still, there is room for others to disrupt, innovate and create new and better footwear products and services. Dr. Scholl’s and Aetrex has done a great job with in-store foot measurements for custom orthotics and footbed inserts. Sketchers has done a great job expanding on Nike’s super lightweight EVA bottoms, with super-lightweight comfort athletic shoes of their own, many of which also use woven uppers. What do you think? Who are the next disruptors? Is vertical integration necessary?

What are you projecting and how is that working out?

In my last blog post, Should the Captain Row alongside the Crew? I discussed the dark side of having a manager get involved in the work. Here it is in case you missed it. http://www.shoesuccess.com/robs-blog/2019/4/30/should-a-captain-row-alongside-the-crew

The end of that post started to get into morale killers, so let’s continue that lovely string.

Just as a pair of mirror finish high heel platform peep toe pumps projects an air of modernity, assertiveness, and power,  a pair of furry loafer slides projects a relaxed and casual persona, where chic can also be cozy and comfortable without looking like your grandmother’s frumpy double gore casual shoe or woven lace-up.

So then, what is being projected by someone who takes every conversation private, outside the purview of others? Is it one of mistrust? A security clearance issue? Or is the person being thoughtful by removing the noise distraction and not sabotaging other’s work?

What about when someone is always on their cell phone, either texting, Facebooking, or whatever they’re doing. If at work, this is a clear sign that they don’t want to be at their job. I’m not talking about the occasional phone task, but instead when this is happening several times per hour. Do they realize that others sense their lack of interest? They may call it attention deficit, but really, they are more interested in one thing over the other thing and too clueless and self-absorbed to not realize they are projecting this bad message to others around them. Perhaps they don’t need or want the job…

What about the manager who doesn’t put their phone to silent mode and it constantly rings, interrupting the work? Message and outcome? This wasn’t much of an issue in the past when mangers had closed offices, but in the open shared office environment, this can be a huge distraction.

We’ve all seen parents ignoring their children by being consumed by a phone.  Message to the kids and onlookers? The outcome to the kids? The occasional call isn’t an issue, and parents need to do more than focus their exclusive attention on their child 100% of the time, but when its an ongoing thing, or their child needs more attention than they are getting, we see bad behaviors as an attempt to compete with the phone for their parent’s attention…

One of my favorites is when all 5 people in a meeting have their phones set on the table in clear view. Are they all expecting a very important call?  Not likely. Message: nobody wants to be there, and they are hoping their phone rescues them from this painful meeting. Outcome: minds wandering and a lack of focus and progress.

What about the person who is always talking about how their life sucks, how bad things are, that they wished they were doing something else instead? Message? Poor me, I’m a victim, I have bad luck and I never get a break, I don’t want to be here, I’m in a rut.  Outcome? The person stays in the rut and attracts other like-minded people while pushing away people who take accountability and responsibility for their actions and situations.

What about the show-off, the one always bragging about how great they are, how smart there were when they did whatever they did? Ok, we all got the message, you’re really smart, wow, we’re so impressed…now can we move on and talk about something else?

What about the snarky, rude, sarcastic personality? Not only do they think they are smarter than everyone, but they also have no patience. This is NOT a personality well suited for a manager, coach, leader, who’s main role is to serve as a catalyst and support agent for growth and positive change for people and companies.

Let’s dig a bit deeper into the snarky personality:

Unfortunately, the snarky manager sends the ill-fated message to any and all unfortunate enough to be in earshot, to be on guard and careful what you say, think and do since you will likely be attacked with insults either to your face or behind your back. This is a tragedy, as meaningful change usually requires unguarded, honest input and the not-so-obvious questions and devil’s advocate style comments that prompts the resetting of perspectives and the generation of fresh thinking and ideas. Anyone can easily grab low handing fruit, and connect the dots that are visible to all, and this will get you, well, to the place everyone else is going. Nowhere special.  Progress requires initiative, passion, and perseverance, all things that are dashed by an abrasive personality and hostile environment. So then what’s the message and outcome of the snark? Watch what you say and do, since you will be judged and exposed as the idiot that you are. This message pushes good people away while those that have already checked out a long time ago tend to hang in there and endure the torture. Who would sign up for that?

Considering that most people want to enjoy how they spend their time, and that companies generally want to be the best (most efficient, profitable, fastest, etc.) at whatever they are doing, or at least to carve out a nice existence for their customers, employees and shareholders, they generally desire to deliver great experiences, products, and services to ensure a bright future with a high level of earnings and profit. This would lead one to believe that creating a positive work environment where all are supported to be their best, would be one of the highest priorities for any company.

From another perspective, replacing an employee costs as much as one-half to about two times that person's annual salary (according to Gallup), and considering that nobody wants a job that could make them sick with stress working in a hostile or verbally aggressive environment, you would imagine that companies would go the path of a positive work environment, in order to keep their costs low, attract and keep the best people, and to bring out the best in their people.

I’d love to gain others’ perspectives on this issue - please share what your company is doing to enable the best outcomes, or if nothing comes to mind, share an example of an incident where certain behaviors projected a message and created great or less than ideal outcomes.

-Rob

Should a Captain row alongside the Crew?

Years ago, I spent some time on the water. My in-laws had a boat and we would go out into Tampa Bay and explore the channels, islands, from Tampa and St Petersburg down to Sarasota. I also worked as a boat designer and when I wasn’t working in the engineering office, prototype shop or on the factory floor, I was on a boat in the water checking and testing boats in development during sea trials or performing ergonomic and usability studies. Besides being a great experience for a designer at the beginning of his career, its easy to find lessons that can be taken from time spent on a boat and applied to everyday business situations. Have you come across any of these situations in your current or previous jobs?

There's a good reason why the captain of a ship doesn’t row alongside the crew. The Captain serves many valuable functions on a boat and in the workplace. A captain that rows with the crew, causes the performance of the entire ship to suffer in many ways.

Setting Course and getting there

At the very least, if a manager is not setting clear objectives and directing all on board to move in the same direction, the manager has failed with this most fundamental task. But this is not enough of course. What if the manager makes the objective perfectly clear, but there's no buy-in? The work will not be exceptional. What about an unrealistic timeline? Nobody takes it seriously. How about no timeline at all?  The boat drifts and moves slightly to this way or that, depending on the current or the results of a few rowers, but nothing significant ever happens.

What if the objective and timeline are clear and realistic, but keep changing? The workers race the vessel to one location only to be stopped halfway and then they race in a new direction, and then back again, over and over, never actually going anywhere entirely. Workers eventually get burned up, feeling like their energies are wasted.  We’ve all heard on more than one occasion, “why work so hard when the direction will change tomorrow anyway?”

The Rowing Captain

It’s quite common for managers to have their hands-on direct project work, but this comes at a cost. Managers are humans first, and this often means that they fall in love with one particular solution that they personally worked on, losing objectivity. Other times, they miss the bigger picture and get trapped in the minutia of details that project work often requires, causing managerial missteps and lack of attention where it's needed.

A good manager/captain monitors the internal and external environment and quickly pivots as needed. There will be obstacles in the path, needing to be spotted. If the captain is not staying alert, not looking what's immediately in front of the boat as well as what’s ahead a few hundred meters and beyond, they might be wasting their efforts or worse, hit an obstacle that could sink the ship, as in competitive threats, internal weaknesses, market shifts, consumer preference changes, etc.

Productivity and Morale

Let’s not forget about the ship itself. Occasionally it takes on water or has another problem, so regular attentiveness to the working condition of the physical vessel is also critical for the survival and performance of the vessel. This translates to making sure the workplace and tools are not just adequate but dialed in for optimal performance as far as resources allow. This has to be monitored and adjusted or productivity suffers. A common negative effect of a work environment that is not carefully tuned, is low morale and poor worker attitudes. It's easy to pour on more work, send emails on weekends and never give your crew a break, but this comes at a cost. Rest and time away from the job enable top performance on the job. No recovery time is a failed model. Nothing wrong with working hard, and in fact many people, including myself, find great joy in hard work, but eventually, everyone needs to recover, and a manager needs to monitor this carefully or she will lose her best workers.

Another way to kill morale is for a manager to not trust her co-workers and support staff, causing her to step outside every time an important conversation comes up or causing her to make each decision independently. A great manager includes contributors on decisions without losing control, so that good workers who take pride in their work feel a sense of belonging, relevance, importance, and even joy, creating buy-in and support for the chosen decisions. A manager that openly distrusts or berates his workers or others in the company creates an environment of distrust and bad feelings.

I could go on…perhaps I will in the next blog post but first, does anyone have firsthand experience with a rowing captain? Perhaps you are the rowing captain and can offer some counterpoint?

Improve, Replace or Retire it

Did you ever notice that many of today's problems, issues, and poor performers may have been great or at least decent solutions once upon a time, but today somehow, they just don’t seem to work so well? Previously great or good enough can turn into currently poor. Just as people need to refresh and retrain, products also need to be improved to remain relevant and have a chance at continuing to be great.

Perhaps coworkers or a supplier assures you that the product was once great, so why mess with something that’s not broken? Perhaps you used a leather article that wasn’t ideal or dealt with a tannery with late deliveries or quality problems. It was a small manageable problem in the past…so you kept going with it due to limited resources or you just ran out of time and chose to work on bigger issues.

So now it's back and it's a bit worse this time...perhaps much worse.  

Once great, now just OK... but not poor enough to be an easy drop. Some would say its easy money, it’s selling, but is it converting enough customers into sales, or are you losing sales because you continue to hold onto an old style that is no longer great by today's standards?

It could be a part of the product. Seemingly small issues that don't seem to be central to the product are easy to put aside as not worth the time investment to optimize. ...after all, why focus on issues that will give incremental gains, versus focusing on obviously bigger opportunities, right? Perhaps the product is too heavy, and you’ve not lightened it but the competition has caught up and now theirs is lighter and better than your product. Your customer will know once she tries on both.

All elements of a product are interconnected components in an assembly. When taken all together, it creates one product experience. The weakness of any one piece reduces the effectiveness of the whole system. True some parts are more instrumental than others (a last versus an aglet) but it pays to approach each component with the same rigor to eliminate weak links and to establish a consistency of design intent, performance, and quality in the finished product. This creates a great product and affirms what the brand is all about.

Other times, its simply time to retire the product and replace it with a much better product in every way, one that leaps over competitors causing them to scramble to catch up. Be assured that if you don’t proactively improve or replace those that have fallen behind, your competitors will replace it for you with their own improved products.

Put the money where it counts

When developing a product, we look at the COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) to discover if our costs are on track and why the product costs what it does.

Sure, it’s easy to look at the highest cost items on the list and declare that we have to get that cost down, but think again. Are you falling prey to the race to the bottom trap? Cost reducing to compete on price? Emotional buy-in from your manager? Take the cost out of the wrong components and are you now eliminating your key benefits over competing products?

Value does not mean low price. Value means the product offers something other products do not, or perhaps the product does something others do as well, but your product does it better.

It takes guts and marketing acumen to take the right road in order to reach the right customers, your target group that will appreciate the fact that you didn’t strip out the most important product features and benefits.

This is not to say that cost is not important, nothing could be further than the truth, but taking the position that the footbed in the shoe is too expensive, for example, so we have to get a cheaper less comfortable footbed, is counter-productive if the shoe brand is a comfort shoe brand competing on comfort in a market with similarly styled and priced shoes.

Of course, don’t overpay for the right footbed, and make sure that footbed really is the right one so you’re putting your money where it counts. Why not piece the upper, or use a less expensive breathable lining, or choose from any number of other opportunities to lower your cost instead?

If the item improves the product in a way that is meaningful to the brand and to the customer, then the item is an Asset. If not, it’s a cost that’s ready to be reduced. Be thoughtful about where the money is going and put it where it counts.

Thank you for your patience, please continue to hold, your call is NOT important to us

Key bank came with such glowing reviews. Cohorts in my MBA program raved about the awards for customer service. Unfortunately, my experience with this bank is far from glowing...

A merchant charged me more than one time too many, so I filed a dispute.

Hold times in excess of 15 minutes every time I call? Yes

Phone representatives who ask for your full social security number?… and before they confirm you are in the right department? Yes

Can I walk into a local branch to resolve the issue? No. They will call and wait on hold in their branch, the same as you are waiting on hold at your location.

Does the bank close the case without any contact to check the details? Yes

In a world competing for business, in an industry where service is the product, somehow this once former glorious bank has lost their way and now delivers a poor customer experience that will undoubtedly drive this customer and undoubtedly countless others elsewhere.

Co-Working Flexible offices still have a way to go

We all loved the idea and promise of the flexible open office, social co-working environment where people bring their dogs to work and you never know who you might bump into on the way to the espresso machine,…until work crawled to a stop.

Aren’t we supposed to love the interruptions, the forced interactions?

If we need to get out of our isolation chamber and discover what’s happening in the rest of the company, then perhaps occasional interruptions can be a good thing, but if thinking work is the order of the day, then each interruption means a huge setback in momentum and the schedule.

What if each interruption was vital? Vital for whom? We all need to engage others, especially when we’re stuck or when we need answers asap so we can proceed. The problem is that one person’s priority is another person’s useless interruption.

Notifications on our mobile devices are the equivalent of the open office with a steady stream of interruptions, most of them meaningless. Let them all in at your own peril.

For now, designated “Quiet” or “Do Not Disturb" times may be our best bet for getting real work done, and our best protection from unwanted interruptions, whether from our mobile device, a random office co-worker or your boss’ dog begging to be fed or walked outside. Turns out most co-worker interruption-problems were issues that could have solved without your involvement, with just a little effort on their part.

Even when your 5-person office occupants behave like stars, not interrupting you every 10 minutes, we can still hear conversations transmitted through the plenum, walls, and bouncing off of the other hard-surfaces of these modern interior environments. Bonus: the occasional hallway troll walks nervously shouting on their mobile phone, for all on the floor to hear.

Regain control of your attention and time and establish some rules about interruptions. Find a quiet place to work when all else fails. This will enable you to move forward with your work while helping others to dig deeper into their own abilities to solve problems and you will see the work suddenly leap forward with progress.

Careful about complaining

Ever notice that complaints have a way of turning into reality, whether or not they are real at the time? Likewise, positive comments have a way of turning things around. It’s almost as though words pave the way for things to happen. 

Take the pink elephant...ok so now you can't stop thinking of a pink elephant. Say something negative and that's what we think about. Say something positive and that's our mental fuel. Looking to inspire others? watch those words and especially those actions and non-verbal mannerisms. Looking to build confidence? watch those complaints. Looking to fix problems? Invite your team to take a look under the hood so they can participate in real fixes, not the superficial stuff that just leaves them scratching their heads and wondering what's really going on. 

People are sophisticated enough to know that others often speak in code. Reconsider hiding behind decoy words. At any rate, what's the point in complaining if it does not get you closer to your desired outcome? That's what therapy is for. Every action, every word spoken, every word unspoken creates a reaction. Honesty, giving the benefit of the doubt, focusing on good attitudes and desired outcomes, asking good questions and then giving others the opportunity to offer real input without quick judgment will give a good snapshot of where things really are. Wouldn't that be more helpful than just sounding off?

US media fails to elect Hillary over Trump

I don't typically write about politics, but with such a juicy election I just could not resist. If you're reading for perspectives on brands, products, and customers I promise its in there. 

Last week’s US election was a gotcha. The media got it all wrong, or perhaps we missed the point entirely. Clearly media channels have motives, agendas and a lot of control. We used to call them the news…now they are anchors and commentators. Anchors as in a lead weight, a mass holding a vessel in place, not changing the view, holding hostage unsuspecting masses of viewers with a sinister plot to not report on events in a fair handed neutral voice, but to construct a story with one purpose in mind - to influence. They are commentators, which means they have a mouth and a microphone and now an alibi when their soapbox becomes too visible and the veil of “news” and real reporting fades away.

Did Trump win because voters that connected with Trump + voters that hated Hillary won more state electors than voters that connected with Hillary and hated Trump? Or perhaps Trump’s appeal to fear was more motivating to voters than Hillary’s appeal to hope. Obama used hope and he aced it. He seemed authentic, and consumers bought (voters voted). Hillary, turns out, is no Obama.  Is the US ready for a female president? Of course, we are, but not if that’s the best reason you can come up with. This is the equivalent of a brand falling in love with one of their features and convincing themselves that this is the most important feature to their customers.

This nation’s citizens don't trust the government and Hillary was part of the government, a continuation of more of the same. Consumer sentiment was against what she represented. The trend was not in her favor. Bernie was Trump on the other side. Even though he’s a politician, he was a harsh critic of the system, an outsider, a spokesperson for the little guy, the middle of America, the forgotten people who struggle every day. Sounds like we’re describing Trump... anti-status quo, need for change, the forgotten men and women of the US. If Trump was running as a Democrat, and Bernie chose the Republican party, would we have voted in a President Bernie Sanders? 

Did Trump just understand the plight of the forgotten men and women in the middle of America and he connected with them stronger than Hillary’s appeal? Did we confuse Trump’s message as Trump’s when the message reflects half of the citizens of the US? Did we confuse the media’s message as neutral and real?  Did the media think they could destroy Trump by pointing out his shortcomings, when in fact he was just the mouthpiece of half of the country and going after Trump made no difference, because we all look past character flaws and comments made once upon a time, when the flip side is a candidate that speaks to our human condition. Both Hillary and Trump were chock full of issues and flaws but they were not strong enough to overcome the positive connections.

So then what was the bigger surprise? That the media wasn’t ever reporting in a neutral and balanced manner? Isn’t selective reporting, including omitting relevant data points with the intent to not portray an issue fairly, the equivalent of lying?  Or is the biggest surprise that all citizens of the US don’t agree on all issues? That can’t be it. It looks pretty bad on the outside, but then again, the media is reporting on it, so should we expect any different and can we really believe it?

Whether you like or love Hillary or Trump, the entire country lost an important facet of our strength, and that is a neutral and non-partisan media channel…there goes the watchdog. Perhaps we might be naive to think they were ever neutral… let’s face it, we are not gods or superheroes but merely human with motives and intentions and want to see our favorite team win.

But we lost on another front, and that’s with hidden 3rd and 4th party candidates Gary Johnson and Jill Stein. Regardless of who your favorite candidate was, we know from history that monopolies and duopolies don’t best serve the needs of markets and customers. The US sorely needs a third political party to break the cycle of bad versus worse. Choosing the lesser of evils is hardly ideal – we deserve better. A third player will force the two major parties to improve, to be better or they will fall to the wayside and a new, better product, I mean a better political party will emerge. 

Funny how the media was so focused the few weeks leading up to the election on Trump’s non-commitment to concede the election. They counted their chickens all right, and it has been over a week after the election and the media still hasn’t conceded the Trump victory. Is this the irony of their destiny? Instant karma? They made their bed and now they must sleep in it. They need to take their own advice...peaceful transition…if they truly are working for a noble betterment of society, if that is what they tell themselves when they lay down at night, then they would indeed have a different message during this transition. Let’s all hope we can trust the news to be fair with all sides represented accurately without their own activist agendas polluting the message, but until then, at least we have the internet and our own intelligence to spot activism and agenda when masked as reporting. 

Waiting for it to break?

“Why fix it if it ain’t broke?” is the canary in the coal mine.

Just because something works, doesn’t mean it works well. The good news is that designers, project managers, product developers, engineers, factory workers, and others often spot issues that are working marginally and in need of improvement. Despite this, most organizations wait for things to fail before they acknowledge there’s a problem before resources are allocated. The problem with this is that once it fails it is now too late and now there's been a big negative effect. Is it worth waiting to fix it until it breaks? Aside from being expensive to fix and replace returns, it is hard to undo the brand damage caused by releasing a shoddy product.

• product quality issue = tarnished brand, returns, higher costs

• manufacturing issue = production delays, higher costs

We all know that the most pressing projects typically get the resources at the expense of marginal benefit projects when resources are limited and understandably so, but this does not mean those marginal problems go away. Issues that need attention will continually pop up whether the company has adequate resources to deal with them or not. To make matters worse, marginal benefit projects that deal with quality or manufacturing issues can get worse over time until they become emergencies.

So then, how to best deal with these seemingly non-priority projects?

One solution is to put continual improvement and non-emergency projects in the front row, right alongside the glamorous and critical projects. Products should not be released until the most important issues are solved and quality/manufacturing issues are within acceptable limits. Using a manufacturing defect rate, efficiency or performance of a part or system can be a clear-cut way to measure what is acceptable versus needing improvement from the manufacturing and product performance side, and using customer satisfaction metrics offers critical insights into what customers love and hate the most and where the most improvement is needed.  

Returns are another way to measure issues, but this is a dangerous one, equivalent to the "don't fix it if it ain't broke" mantra. Customers have differing levels of what is acceptable, and many customers will keep silent and not return a product, giving the false impression that all is ok, when if fact, this customer will not buy again and instead of recommending the product to her friends, she might just complain…all is not ok. This is also dangerous in that the company needs to know who they are regarding thresholds for acceptable and unacceptable. This should be driven by the level of wow desired relative to perceived customer expectations and tempered with a healthy dose of manufacturing and service reality.

Broken is a poor measure of greatness. Commit to continual improvement and early intervention before marginal and weakness turn into an emergency. 

One versus Many

There is a limit to what one person can do working in isolation. A limit to what can be observed, strategized, executed on. Multiple sets of eyes, ears, and hands capture more information, adds more perspective, offers a wider range of solutions and a faster way to execute the plan.

But simply having available warm bodies does not deliver this multiplier effect. Getting the benefit of the group means handling them with care and respect and including them in the process regardless of their position. People offer the greatest contributions when they feel recognized and appreciated without fear of harsh judgment even when they are not successful or “right.”

In order for others to offer their best contributions, you need to start with you. Your behaviors are constantly being observed and you are being judged. So be careful what you do and how you handle others, as your actions form the foundation of what others expect from you and will determine the level to which others are comfortable contributing to your efforts and sharing their ideas and perspectives with you.

Everything you do counts: your body mannerisms while others are talking, your expressions, your choice of words, the way you listen, if you cut people off or let them speak, if you roll your eyes, tap your foot or check your phone while others are talking to you, etc…it all adds up in a big way. This can add up to a big positive or a big negative.

Despite your best efforts to do all the right things, some still choose not to come forward with ideas, whether because they are uncomfortable with change, they don’t agree with your path or because they are apprehensive in offering their input, so be prepared to reach out ask for their perspective and suggestions. Do it privately if they are averse to the being in the limelight or if you suspect they will be confrontational or overly negative.

Receiving input with a thoughtful response, without judgment, will go a long way in creating an environment of contribution and positive change. At the least, it can help warm bodies move over to the actively contributing side. For others, it can help chip away at a status-quo position of “no”, “can’t do it” and “that won’t work.” Ultimately, things will be best when you can inspire all those who are involved to join the quest for better understanding so that issues can be solved, problems fixed and the best path forward identified and accomplished. This can even avert disasters from occurring, as others will come forward proactively before small issues become big problems.

So if your goal is to create the best solutions attainable within time and cost constraints, you can’t get there as a “one-person show.” You need the help of others to move things forward better and faster.

Teamwork is the answer and it all starts with you. Of course, you have to be ok with letting go of full control (you never had it anyway). Most importantly, handle others with care, and create an environment where people feel comfortable coming forward with input and ideas and give them some space to see their ideas through (with your oversight as needed to keep things on track).  Not easy but definitely worth it.

Exit the bubble

There’s a limit to what can be accomplished in a bubble.

A bubble is any form of isolation or time spent, work done removed from the action – whether it takes the form of a remote office, ivory tower, limited face time or even a one-person show attempting to do all themselves. Bubble-induced false perceptions quickly fall away without the bubble barrier, when reality is so visible, so undeniable.

Even though the entire landscape is best viewed from afar, the reality of what’s happening on a granular level, which explains the bigger picture, is best seen up close and personal. There’s nothing like direct contact with the customer, the product, factory workers, the warehouse, the selling environment, the end-use environment, to shatter assumptions and false beliefs and to answer questions and explain the what (is actually happening) and why (are these things happening) behind the how (can we improve).

Nothing wrong with quiet time, thinking time, personal time in your own bubble. In fact, this individual time is critical in order to recharge, to cut through the noise, to sort out and process the data points, to filter the critical few from the distraction of the many and irrelevant, and to connect the dots and imagine possibilities...but this must be balanced with time spent outside the bubble in order to see, hear and learn what's actually going on, and to gather those vital points of reference so the best path forward can be planned and delivered.

Right and wrong are distractions

People are right or wrong with opinions or conclusions, but this just reflects back to the person. At best, this may be true for the moment, but this is never enough because the moment is now over. At worst, "right and wrong" frame of mind is a dead-end for discovering best solutions.

Right versus wrong is also a slippery slope leading to traps such as the blame game - also counter-productive. What’s done is done. Move on and focus on solutions, not the past or finger-pointing. Translated, this means that good leaders and team members doesn’t piss off others by venting and pointing out deficiencies. Briefly discuss to identify what could have happened to improve results, and then quickly move on and focus on fixing, solving, and the best path forward.

Who’s right and who’s wrong is also irrelevant. Needs, opportunities, and other data points create the landscape for whats possible, but then the focus needs to be on assembling and prioritizing the set of traits that can be accomplished or steps to be performed to deliver exceptional results. 

The quest for better

Every day, every project brings new challenges and new opportunities to learn and improve. Maybe this is why product development is so much fun…it’s never the same thing twice. Each brand, each factory, each season, each product brings a new set of aesthetic, technical and pricing challenges.

Let’s not forget the big picture stuff that’s equally fun and important– shaping the brand taste level and market position, price points, merchandising, planning assortments, and keeping the design and development effort on track, on budget and on schedule.

The goal is better and the quest is never-ending.

Better means creating a mix of product traits that will be more meaningful to customers compared to other products on the market. Better than they expect, more wow, more fashionable, more practical, better materials, better value, a better fit for their wants and needs, overall a better product that makes customers happy and keeps them coming back, generating better revenue and better profit growth.  

This is my world, so here is my blog. It’s a sounding board for my reflections on getting to that position of "better" relating to strategy, business, design, development, shoes, life and more…it's also a vehicle to share what I’ve learned from my victories and failures in the trenches and in the boardroom...an opportunity to explore common situations in uncommon ways and to shed light on those subtle things that made all the difference.

I hope you enjoy it and feel compelled to share and leave a comment.

-Rob

The vital few at the center of the universe

Product development is a delicate balancing act that needs to reflect and balance the needs of the vital few, thoughtfully and thoroughly. There’s no single right answer as to what’s best for a particular product in terms of its mix of traits or styling cues. To make matters more complicated, the competitive landscape is ever-changing and internal (corporate/client/brand) needs can be a moving target as well.

Fortunately, there are many good solutions for all opportunities and problems, but only a few great ones. So then, how to choose the great ones and set aside the rest? Identify the main participants in the business, uncover their challenges, needs and wants and the rest becomes clear.  

Start by putting the vital few users at the center of the universe and then developing solutions that serve their needs the best within time, cost and other constraints.

So then, who are the vital few?

…this could include end customers, buyers, the company, the factory, the delivery person, the maintenance technician, and anyone else who comes into contact with the product. In the case of shoes, there are three:

1) the consumer / end-user who wears the shoes (the customer is always first) 

2) the company (client, brand) that is commissioning the work to be done. and

3) manufacturing: the network of factories and suppliers that makes the shoes

These three groups live at the center of the shoe universe. Take care of these three players and others’ needs are typically addresses as well.

For example, environmental issues are addressed within the client/brand and factory/manufacturing pieces. Investor needs are addressed withing the client and consumer piece.

Thinking of this in an easy to utter phrase helps to keep this concept at the forefront:  each shoe has to deliver a high level of delight and functionality to the customer while being manufacturable for the factory and profitable for the company...hmm, not as easy to say as I had hoped...delight the customer, factory and the company with a wow, high-quality and profitable product that will have a positive effect on all. 

Poor choices can now be easily eliminated enabling the best path forward to come into focus.

Define the measuring stick

A shoe (or any product) may look great to one person but terrible to another. Whether this goes back to taste level, personal preference, quality or something else, it’s always important to clarify what is not ok versus acceptable as well as great. In essence, you need to define how your product will be measured by using examples before it has been created.

Show your team the desired end results for various aspects and components as well as some competitive successes and failures helps to focus the winning formula into clear view. This resets the target for what the team is actually doing and frames what is great versus merely acceptable or worse, a failure. Sketch with your team, go shopping with them and pick up competitive products, talk about what’s great (appropriate) and what’s not and discuss why. Cut apart examples to explore what's happening inside, good and bad, and explore existing versus best solutions.

Creating a dialogue and understanding with your team and leaving behind references that all can go back to when in doubt helps shape the final product to become the best it's intended to be.

Zombies in the gap

Many of today's problems and issues were once fine solutions, but today somehow they don’t seem to work so well.

Perhaps your coworker, supplier, factory assures you this continues to be the right way to go as it works for most if not all applications. Perhaps its been a small problem in the past…it worked but it wasn’t ideal.

So now it's back and it's a bit worse this time...perhaps much worse.  

Seemingly small issues that don't seem to be central to the product are easy to put aside as not worth the time investment to optimize. ...after all, why focus on issues that will give incremental gains, versus focusing on obviously bigger opportunities, right?

In reality, all elements are like interconnected components in an assembly - the weakness of any one piece reduces the effectiveness of the whole system. True some parts are more instrumental than others (an engine block versus a hubcap), but it pays to approach each component with the same rigor to eliminate weak links and to establish a consistency of design intent, performance and quality in the finished product.

The undead nature of a problem is a sign that something significant is happening that needs attention. There's a gap between previously good and currently poor. This gap is an easy one to overlook but it's a crucial one to pay attention to.

Take a fresh look at your assumptions for what continues to work versus what is a poor choice to carry forward.  If you don’t address them, these zombies will come back to haunt you…like the undead from a bad 80’s B horror film, they don’t go away until you face them head on.

In the past, you may have used a great process or material to produce a part, but now the part is different, with different functions and a different customer. This previously best solution is no longer the best. Go for the silver bullet, the wooden stake, whatever works best with the least gory special effects and slay the zombies to save the day, the product, the company and your customers.

Problem solvers get punched, so wear a helmet

But don’t let a few good shots stop you from getting to the bottom of why things are not working.

Do your homework, throw away assumptions. The goal is not to be a hero, but to learn, fix, improve, and solve problems. Everybody is happy in the end, as long as you don’t go too far…there’s a fine line between pissing everyone off and saving the day. Push too hard and the whole thing blows up - go too soft and nothing changes.

Understanding, improving, fixing – not easy, but definitely worth it. And not just for the sake of the company you work for or for the countless customers and beneficiaries you will likely never meet, even though that should be more than enough. It’s the most fun you will ever have despite the pushback, the resistance, the jabs, and the friendly fire.  

All you can do is to roll with the punches and wear a helmet so that when you do get hit, you stay on course and live for another day to do great things.