The Advisor’s Corner

How the Mighty Fall

March 21, 2016/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

One of my former partners suggested that I read Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen, by Barbara Toffler and Jennifer Reingold.

Let me start by saying I believed — and still believe — Arthur Andersen was one of the greatest professional services firms of all time. My brother came very close to going to work for them back in the ’70s. They were high-quality, client-focused and very innovative (e.g., their technology practice started in the ’50s).

I still grieve their demise in 2002. Even all these years later, it’s so hard for me to acknowledge that Andersen is gone. I always looked forward to their latest service or discovery. In my humble opinion, they were the best for decades.

That said, who should read Final Accounting? I would recommend it to anyone who is leading an organization that, for years/generations, has been considered “the best” in whatever industry you’re in.

Are you considered the best in your industry? Are you sure you’re still the best?

It’s All About “Attitude”

March 7, 2016/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom Doescher

Over the past year, Barbara and I have had a chance to experience/observe a landscaping company that provided world-class service to us on three different projects. We were so impressed, we asked to meet with the owner/founder of the company.

We told the owner how amazed we were by his employees’ professionalism, knowledge and personal attention to our projects. Our question for him was, “Why?”

To our surprise, he quoted the famous Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, who said, “Your talent determines what you can do. Your motivation determines how much you are willing to do. Your attitude determines how well you do it.”

Those of you who know me will understand that I have used a lot of adjectives related to team members, but I probably have never used the word “attitude.”

As I reflected on the role of attitude, I thought, “He is on to something.”

Although he gave several reasons for and examples of why his team performs the way they do, I left the meeting thinking, “This guy has summarized a lot in one word: attitude.”

Remember our blog post about “that guy”?

He or she probably had a bad attitude. Are you tolerating team members with negative ” ‘tudes”?

If your answer is “yes,” this is my advice: DON’T!

Pixar’s Braintrust

February 22, 2016/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

In Ed Catmull’s book Creativity, Inc., he describes the “Braintrust,” which he says is one of the most important traditions at Pixar. For those of you who may not know, Pixar made the first computer-animated movie, “Toy Story”— and it took Catmull, John Lasseter and Steve Jobs 20 years to accomplish that task (I’ll save that story for another blog).

Catmull describes Pixar’s Braintrust as follows:

It was a group of executives who met every few months to assess movies.
The group would provide candid feedback on developing movies. According to Catmull, “Candor is forthrightness or frankness — not so different from honesty, really. And yet, in common usage, the word communicates not just truth-telling, but a lack of reserve.”
Members of the group were funny, focused, smart and relentlessly candid with each other.
Catmull says the group went against common boardroom principles. “Societal conditioning discourages telling the truth to those perceived to be in higher positions,” he says.
I know nothing about making movies, but Catmull has this to say about the profession: “Candor could not be more crucial to our creative process. Why? Because early on, all of our movies suck.”

I’ve talked about this before (Do you have a way to get the truth?).

Can you imagine how crushed a director/producer would be if, after all their time and effort, they discovered their creation completely missed the mark?

Many industrial and service businesses have experienced the same result, and it is called FAILURE.

Do you have a Braintrust?

How the Mighty Fall

It’s All About “Attitude”

Pixar’s Braintrust

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