Fishing is Still a Good Metaphor - Part I

I went fishing yesterday. It was the wrong time of day and, I suspect, the wrong lure and lake. But that's ok, I had fun anyway. I knew ahead of time that my goal really wasn't catching a fish, but spending a little relaxing time out of doors.

That approach: wrong time of day, wrong lake, wrong lure and not serious about catching a fish, that doesn't work so well when you are trying to build up your business. It is important to be important to be casting into the right lake (market segment), the right time (budget, growth, season, time of day), with the right lure (what will get your customers excited?).

But there's more to the story than calculating the right time, place and pitch for the right customers. Your information can only be so good and people, well, they're people. They make decisions for any number of reasons and you won't land a fish on every cast. If I catch a fish every 50 casts, that's pretty good. I enjoy fishing, so it doesn't bother me to keep trying. Marketing a small business is much the same in that you need to be casting a lot and knowing it's ok to come up empty (a lot). By being strategic and positioning ourselves based upon our information and experience, we increase our chances greatly, but the bottom line is that we need to wade out into the water and make a lot of casts or we will catch little.

Happy Fishing!

(c) 2005 Shaun Jamison, All Rights Reserved

The Shocking Truth

Today was a big day for my daughter at age 5. Today, she learned French toast sticks are made of slices of bread. This may not seem so dramatic, but trust me, with the telling you will understand.

My five year old wanted something special this morning, not just cereal or toast or oatmeal. I didn't have a lot of time, so finally we settled on French Toast. "Do you want me to leave the slices whole or cut them up into sticks?" She stated she wanted sticks, but informed me that you couldn't make them by slicing up bread. However, being a good action scientist, she withheld further judgment and watched and participated in the making of the French Toast. She mixed the eggs and milk and I dipped the pieces of bread in and fried them up.

"How many French Toast sticks do you want?" "Five!" came the reply. I proceeded to slice the French Toast into five parts. "That's not how you make French Toast sticks!" came the accusation. I assured her that French Toast sticks could, in fact, be made from slices of French Toast. "You're just KIDDING!" she exclaimed. "French Toast sticks are not made from slices of bread and I'm NOT eating them!" came the ultimatum. I served the French Toast sticks to her and her sister. "Hmmm!" she said. Her sister started eating them, so she tried to spread discontent by explaining that those where not, in fact, French Toast sticks and she could prove it because they had CRUST on them. I told her sister not to worry and enjoy her breakfast and the little one went on eating. The five year old decided to wait to see if they would turn into proper French Toast sticks. It didn't happen. A little later, she came and asked for a little powdered sugar to put on her French Toast sticks and she ate her five plus one her sister didn't want.

Are executives, attorneys and educators really that different when faced with a challenge to our mental models of reality? Will we have the courage to investigate when there is an inkling something is not as we thought, or will we avoid the experience?

(c) 2005 Shaun Jamison All Rights Reserved

Patience with Process

I went to a great training on facilitation at the Minnesota Coaches Association that was facilitated by members of the Institute of Cultural Affairs. It was both challenging and enjoyable. It was completely experiential, so we were being facilitated the entire time on some level.

One of the features early in the program involved thought provoking questions about experiences with and barriers to effective facilitation. The question of barriers brought me back to early in my management career when the management team would meet and there would be discussions around solutions. I found myself very frustrated with the process. Why couldn't we simply throw out a few good ideas, pick the best one and quickly move on?! I came to see over time that dialogue can reveal the true source(s) of a gap so you can best design a solution. I also learned that a superficial process is insufficient for many people to feel they actually participated in the decision making process, so shortcuts may undermine enrollment of participates in the solution and thus limit its possibility of success. The trick, of course, is figuring out what decisions require a more involved process and keep that process on track . . .

Shaun

(c) 2005 Shaun Jamison All Rights Reserved.

What's growing in your garden?

We have a woods and a city park right behind our house which can be a real blessing. Sometimes I get interesting volunteer plants growing in my garden. One of them, at first looked like a rhubarb, so I didn't pull it. Well, I got busy with other tasks and soon got used to the plant being there as it grew and grew and didn't pay any attention to it. My dad stopped by one day and said "That's a fine Burrdock you've grown there son!" "Burrdock?" I inquired. "Yes, you know, that's where cockelburs come from." Oh. Well, if you don't know about cockelburs, they are seed pods that travel by attaching themselves to people and animals by little hooks kind of like Velcro, only insidious and nasty. (Cockelburs inspired Velcro, but that's a different story.) I dug that Burrdock out in an adventure perhaps worthy of a Steinbeck or Melville telling, or maybe I'm being dramatic. . .

Have any unidentified or ignore noxious weeds in your "garden?"

Shaun

(c) 2005 Shaun Jamison All Rights Reserved.

Effortless Networking?

I recently attended a colliquium for my PhD program. It is a great opportunity to network in addition to the learning and reflection. Networking sometimes feels like a little bit of a struggle. While it is certainly fun to meet new people, it can have a flavor of competition or positioning that does not feel quite right. This time, instead of trying to promote myself, I relaxed and opened myself to the experience. I was curious about other people, asked lots of questions and gave them my full attention, not thinking about what to say next or whether I'll get their business card, etc. I had a great time with this approach and made some great contacts, just as many worthwhile contacts as if I had pushed myself to self-promote. Can networking really be this easy?

Shaun

(c) 2005 Shaun Jamison All Rights Reserved.

Stories from Our Past Showing the Future

Yesterday I had an interesting experience. I was in a teleclass* and the exercise was to share a story about a time or instance when you felt happy or fulfilled. I am fortunate to have many such stories, but the one that struck me was a speech contest I was in many years ago. My topic was a humorous speech on "Coming to the Big City" and I spoke about the transformation I underwent when I left home and faced new challenges. I realize now that the speech was itself a phase in my transformation, an acknowledgement of shedding painful shyness and the gaining of confidence to speak in public.

The next part of the exercise was to listen to the stengths in the story. As I heard the strengths (public speaking, story telling, transformation, humor), I realized that pulling that story forward to the present showed me that my life since that event was in large part predicted by that speech. Later, I became an attorney, an educator, a manager and a coach and all of the strengths from that story have come into play.

What is your story?

Shaun

*a seminar conducted by phone.

(c) 2005 Shaun Jamison All Rights Reserved.