Field Notes

Embrace Conflict: Stop working around each other As our team grows, so do the number of opinions. We all think differently. We prefer working with certain tools or approaches. Our priorities will vary. At times, it will feel like we just aren’t going to be able to get along. A diverse team will encounter all sorts of disagreements. When these happen, don’t shy away from them. The worst argument is the one that never happens. ...

Confusing the “real” for the important Our brains are incredibly powerful organs. Just think of the millions of stimuli you encounter each day. You see countless numbers of photons and turn those into images and scenes. You listen to sound after sound and filter that noise to language or music. However, for all its power the brain is also terrible at dealing with these abstractions. ...

Blurring the lines inside a corporation In 1937, 26-year-old economist, Ronald Coase, published an article called “The Nature of the Firm.” He wouldn’t win the Nobel Prize for this work until 1991. Unfortunately, this is usually what happens when someone predicts a major change to people terrified by it. In his article, Coase points out when companies will choose to do their own work rather than contracting it out to another firm. He shares that apart from the actual means of production, there are other transaction costs to consider like searching for suppliers, researching their offerings, negotiating price and terms, checking their quality and maintaining the relationship. Coase states that when a company can produce a widget (considering all these others costs), they will decide to do that work themselves rather than contract another company. ...

A pyramid or a plum tree: Which organization are you building? Years ago I received a gift from one of the vice presidents at a corporate client of mine. This leader had an unusual style. He was stern, but surprisingly warm and inviting. He had a unique office setup in the middle of downtown St. Louis, MO. He had a wooden sculpture of a unicorn on the glass walls of his office, while many of his peers preferred private offices. He wore jeans to work, when all of his peers were wearing blue blazers and pleated khakis. He was a real rebel by corporate standards. I suspect this was the reason he was asked to lead a division of the company looking at funding new ideas. His team, while a division of the parent corporation, was constantly on the edge trying to find the next big idea. For this reason, it was really easy for his team to lose sight of the larger mission of the parent company. Not to mention, his team faced some serious resistance for doing what they did. I wondered how he could find a balance that would ensure he would still get supported by the parent company. After all, they were still signing his paycheck. One day while paying him a visit, he handed me a book that would change how I saw “innovation” at a corporation. ...

Digital transformation and culture I’ve come across so many articles about large corporations working on their “digital transformation.” The term, likely something coined by some overpaid industry-expert/propaganda maker, seems to have taken hold in so many corporate technology offices. I think this is the term CIOs must use to compete for the funding they need. Politics aside, there is something to be said about companies looking to change their culture. At its core, that’s what I think a digital transformation is all about. But let’s examine what that really means. ...

Oh! To be an intern again… I love being around interns! They bring energy, ideas and healthy ignorance for many things in life. Makes me think of my Northwestern Mututal internship over ten years ago. I was a bright-eyed 20-year old who let the summer sneak up on him. I applied to the Financial Representative internship without any idea of what I was doing. I had no idea the job was 100% commission or that I’d spend my days selling the good people of St. Louis the best whole life insurance money could buy. With all the interns out there figuring out what they can learn this summer, I’m going to reflect on the best lesson I pulled from my internship experience. ...

How much of all this content is just noise? How much of all this content is just noise? By the end of this week I will have shipped a printed book, a few portfolios, a couple blog posts and have just signed up a customer for a new web project. My job is to help people tell stories, make videos, create web sites and any other sort of content that will attract someone’s attention enough to encourage change. For as much content as I’ll have shipped, I will have read, watched and listened to a hundred times more than that. ...

Things I wish I would’ve learned sooner in my career Spend as much time as you can working with your mentors. They know more than you because they’ve screwed up more than you. They won’t be around forever. Building up on that last point…if you want to get good at something fast, just start screwing up faster. Just watch a baby learn to walk. The subjects may change, but the learning process remains the same. ...

B-School meets D-School What a beautiful convergence of talent I get to witness every day at work! We have a team of business people working alongside designers. I started my career doing corporate finance stuff. After all, I had a degree in business. Why? I didn’t really have a passion for “business,” whatever that means. It was better than “Undecided.” Over the past few years I’ve jumped into more design work, doing videos, websites, graphics and nearly any piece of communication I can. Last week, I received validation that this mix of business and design interest is beginning to be pretty vital for those in the creative field. ...

Start using B-Roll in your presentations I’ve been getting asked more and more to teach people how to give better presentations, tell better stories, and essentially sell what they do. The next time you are asked to give a presentation, here’s the one thing I think you could do to instantly step up it up. The secret lies with what every documentary, movie or TV show director already knows: use B-Roll. ...