At a high level he’s created a number of frameworks for approaching visualizations (e.g. sketches, charts). Here’s one that I find particularly useful in my day-to-day work:

1. Look - Collect and scan your data. Decide what problem you’re trying to solve.
2. See - Find patterns in the data (Who? What? When? How? Why?)
3. Imagine - Describe your data by capturing it your “mind’s eye”.
4. Show - Select the right framework (e.g. Measurement? Time line?)

Dan’s getting a lot of coverage in the press. Here’s some:

• BusinessWeek: Doodling for Profits (Feb 20th)
• Microsoft MIX Conference (Mar5th, Video 75min)
• SXSW Conference (Mar 8th)
• An interview with Kai Rysdall on the “Marketplace” radio program (podcast)
• A feature article in the April issue of FAST COMPANY magazine (article)

Share This

Share This

At the core he speaks about how companies have three ways to create a long term strategic competitive advantage: strategic M&A, operational excellence, and organic growth. It’s the last of these three that design forms the cornerstone of success for he said “Design is the skill of identifying and creating value”.

Given that design is the key to organic growth, he went on to discuss what makes a great experience and introduced the following framework:

At the most basic levels, a product or service may simply fill a need. For example, perhaps I need to buy some salt (economic need) so that I can add it to some cookies I’m making (functional need). However for a brand to become truly meaningful it must create a meaningful experience. Perhaps using Morton brand salt to help me bake cookies with my son would evoke memories of baking with my mom growing up–a meaningful experience.

I think Darrel and others evangelizing creating customer experience through the design process are right on. The companies that embrace this thinking will do well in an age where meaningful experiences create loyal customers (and thus value for shareholders).

This fall one of my courses at Haas will focus on design and how as leaders we can leverage it as the key to innovation and growth. I look forward to learning more and sharing it here on this blog as well as my thoughts on the Making Meaning book which I just ordered.

Share This

• Documenting & Advocating User Experience — Yeah, not so much. Generic ROI arguments tend to be received as voodoo. Most agreed that sharing specific project successes was more successful, “The proof is in the pudding!” as Jeremy said. Only distention is early on to define the role of group in order to fit into the overall process. We should also avoid talking about work as a “black box” but work as a collaborative force within the org. I couldn’t agree more that we simply must deliver and the rest will take care of itself.
• UX Owning User Experience – Early on yes, but later no. Jeremy emphatically stated that everyone is responsible for quality of which UX is a part. Justin mentioned how now at eBay, the entire company is involved in defining what the customer experience should be. Richard referred to his thoughts on owning design and also referenced a quote from Forrester in Jan 07, “Treat customer experience as a competence, not a function. Delivering great customer experiences isn’t something that a small group of people can do on their own — everyone in the company needs to be fully engaged in the effort.“
• Organizational Design – More important to understand how you fit in and how to best maximize it. Executive sponsorship who can involve you in the right discussions and decisions. In my experience having an advocate on Exec Staff can make or break your org’s role–you’re either involved in the inital conversations, or not.
• Ethnographic Research – YES! Gets you executive access, builds credibility, and has a multi-year shelf life. Ridealongs and use of video is key as it gives the research credibility. We introduced these about 18 months ago at eBay and have seen it work quite effectively in focusing the organization more around customer issues and positioned our User Experience team to help solve it.

Richard also typed up some his thoughts on Moving UX into a Position of Corporate Influence [PDF].

Share This

Six Styles of Leadership:

• Coercive (aka Directive) - Demands immediate compliance (telling)
• Authoritative (aka Visionary) - Mobilizes people toward a vision (selling)
• Affiliative - Creates harmony and builds emotional bonds (relationships)
• Democratic - Building commitment thru participation (consensus)
• Pacesetting - Sets high standards for performance (showing)
• Coaching - Developing people for the future (supporting)

I think it is important to understand which style is most important given the situation as well as where the organization is in its development (more on this later).

Want to learn more?

• Article: Leadership that Gets Results [$] (Goleman, HBR 2000)
• Book: Primal Leadership (Goleman, 2004 Edition)
• Consultant: Ryan Lahit of OrgLeader, LLC
• Previous blog post of mine: Emotional Intelligence

Share This

The combination of a small class, exceptional faculty, and a collegial atmosphere impressed students. Recruiters, meanwhile, were wowed by the quality of the grads.

It’s great to have the outside validation of what I consider to be a great program. On a related note, I’m flattered to be featured in the school’s brochure this year.

Share This

Not only is Dan Roam perhaps the best visualizer of a generation but he’s reflected on how he approaches his work so that others can repeat it. Here’s how he approaches it:

1. Look - Collect and scan your data. Decide what problem you’re trying to solve.
2. See - Find patterns in the data (Who? What? When? How? Why?)
3. Imagine - Describe your data by capturing it your “mind’s eye”.
4. Show - Select the right framework (e.g. Measurement? Time line?)

Dan discusses the importance of identifying patterns in your data and then finding ways to communicate those patterns to others. As I’m finding in other business literature no matter what the field effective pattern recognition and communication seems to separate the best from the average.

Examples:

• Measurement: Comparing using Harvey Balls is a classic approach. Focus on simplicity (simple 2d colors vs. fancy 3d charts) to put the data front an center.
• Flow chart: Dan’s got a great example of Walmart Sustainability on his blog.

If you’d like to learn more about visual thinking check out Dan’s blog and stay tuned for the release of his book The Back of the Napkin. Finally, I highly recommend his training workshop. I took the 1/2 day visual thinking workshop and left wanting more.

Update:

• Dan’s posted a chapter of a potential upcoming book The Million Dollar Chart.
• A company now sells interesting visualization posters: HistoryShots

Share This

The annual ranking results from polls of corporate recruiters rating M.B.A. programs on 21 criteria, including things like students’ problem-solving skills, the likelihood of finding “stars” at the schools, content of the school’s core curriculum and commitment to corporate responsibility.

The faculty and students have worked hard over the past few years to drive this ranking up and I’m so proud to be a part of the program.

Update: The WSJ’s latest ranking for 2007 moved Berkeley up to #2 .

Share This

What holds back change (Active Inertia):

1. Strategic Frames - Assumptions that shape how the org views the business
2. Processes - How the organization gets things done
3. Relationships - Ties to customers, employees, suppliers, etc.
4. Values - Beliefs held by most in the organization

Examples of companies slow to change:

• Microsoft’s adoption of the Internet - The many established product lines (esp. MS Office) did not understand how the Internet would affect their businesses. Once they did they have been slow to accept the inevitable changes to their underlying business model. Finally the multi-year release cycle employed at MS prevented them from initially responding to the ever changing Internet release cycle.
• Palm’s acceptance of color screens & keyboards - The initial success of the original Palm Pilot (with it’s utterly simple b/w screen and Graffiti handwriting recognition) led Jeff Hawkin’s to ignore for years the benefits of color or the popularity of the Blackberry thumb-keyboard. While these were eventually implemented it was at the cost of much of their initial market share.

How to overcome Active Inertia:

1. Increase urgency
2. Build the guiding team
3. Get the vision right
4. Communicate for buy-in
5. Empower action
6. Create short-term wins
7. Don’t let up
8. Make change stick

   Excerpt from: Get Off the Dime! by John Kotter

As someone currently driving an initiative that breaks with the tried and true way of doing things, these articles really resonate with me. By employing some of Kotter’s approaches along with my own Emotional Intelligence I hope to turn out a success. I’ll let you know how it goes…

What to know more?

• Article: Why Good Companies Go Bad [$] (HBR Jul-Aug 1999)
• Article: Leading Change - Why Transformation Efforts Fail [$] (HBR Mar-Apr 1995)
• Article: Get Off the Dime! (Kotter & Cohen, HBS Working Knowledge)
• Article: Stuck in Gear - Why Managers Don’t Act (Sull, HBS Working Knowledge)

Share This

Emotional Intelligence’s Five Components:

1. Self-Awareness: The ability to identify and name one’s emotional states and to understand the link between emotions, thought and action.
2. Self-Regulation: The capacity to manage one’s emotional states — to control emotionsor to shift undesirable emotional states to more adequate ones.
3. Motivation: The ability to enter into emotional states (at will) associated with a drive to achieve and be successful.
4. Empathy: The capacity to read, be sensitive to, and influence other people’s emotions.
5. Social Skill: The ability to enter and sustain satisfactory interpersonal relationships.
   Above as defined by Daniel Goleman & Peter Salovey.

Personal Reflection

In thinking of some of the most effective leaders that I’ve worked with over the years, I definitely see that they have shown strengths in emotional intelligence. And conversely as I think of hot-head or sell-absorbed leaders who were less effective–they obviously would score low on this assessment. Fortunately for all aspiring leaders most of the leading thinkers on this topic believe that while some EI is innate, much can be improved or learned with time.

For example, I am not always a great listener which hurts my ability to emphasize. Thru conscious effort I hope to improve in this area. If you know me personally, let me know how I’m doing.

Want to know more?

• Article: What Makes a Leader? [$] (HBR Nov-Dec 1998)
• Assessment: Emotional Inventory [$] (HayGroup) - Basic Quiz [FREE]
• Book: Primal Leadership (Goleman)

Share This