I Like Mommy's Version Better

Since my kids were born, we sing to them as part of their bedtime routine. A long standing favorite of mine has been

Lullabye by Billy Joel. When my son was young, I even practiced so that I could learn all the words. Recently, in the car, my husband was playing DJ and put on the Billy Joel version and jokingly asked:

"Do you like this version or Mommy's version better?" 
And my son in his amazing 6-year-old way, said, "Mommy's"

Both my husband and I chuckled a little and then it got me thinking. To my son, my slightly off-key version was all he knew. It is familiar, it is comfort, it is him and me. It is in the same category as his lovey, ragged and loved from years of snuggling but the most priceless of all his toys. I mean really, how can Billy Joel compete with that? One of the greatest voices and song writers of our generation, singing his own song.  

So, which is better?  Familiar or quality?

For a little kid, familiar almost always trumps better. I truly thought Papa Gino's was the best pizza for most of my childhood. But as a grown up, we have to distinguish between the value of familiar and the value of different.

Internal recruiting is one of the most effective practices companies have for bringing in good people. Top companies like Ernst & Young, Deloitte and others are hiring more than 40% of employees from employee referrals. People that they have worked with before. People whose skills they know and understand. People that they know how to work with. For the past 7 years, I have worked with derivations of the same team. Three different projects. Different combinations of people. Different industries and in each case there were things that worked and things that could have been better.  But, we liked working together. We made each other better. But could we have had a Billy Joel instead? Would we have been better off if instead of familiar we had sought out domain experience? Best in class? Maybe, maybe not.

It's spring sports season so we are now spending weekends and weeknights at the soccer and baseball fields. We are watching a wide variety in skill level as the teams learn the basics and start to work together. It is generally joyful chaos. If you haven't watched little kid soccer recently, it looks more like a swarm of bees and the kid with the most coordination pretty much controls the game for her team. As they get older and more coordinated,  one great player helps but two average players who are working together, can generally get more done and are certainly having more fun.

Where does this breakdown?

Doesn't it help to actually be an expert?

If I had a choice, should I hire a team of experts or a great team?  The truth is somewhere in the middle. In my past projects, there have been gaps. There have been areas where we would have been stronger with domain expertise. We could have moved faster if we had an expert that we could flank with a great team - a little kale or chicken apple sausage on that Papa Ginos pizza. But - only if we can figure out how work with the expert. Only if we believe in him and only if he trusts us.

And that expertise doesn't come cheap. Another book that I loved (also listened to in my car), is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. He explored why some athletes, artists, and experts in their field were able to do more, take bigger leaps.  The resounding theme across music, sports, technology and the like, is practice.  In each case,  the expert had clocked more hours than those around them. The magic number according to Gladwell was 10,000 hours.  With this kind of expertise, you truly could be better, you have seen more iterations, you can anticipate how the crowd will react, you have the domain experience.  But, unless you are playing 4 year old soccer, that's not enough.

You need the best athletes 

Okay - another tidbit from Simon Sinek. He explored how some why's seem to have more power than others.  The best example here was Martin Luther King, Jr.  Sinek talked about how he was not the first with these incredible and important ideas.  He was an incredible and captivating speaker but here's why he was able to ignite a movement, make demands and changes that had long been recognized but couldn't mobilize - he had a mobilizer on his team.  He had a how guy who made the calls - told people not to ride the buses.  Who took the words, the passion,  the vision and turned it into action who.  A guy whose name I am literally unable to find. This is the dangerous part of listening to books . . . 

Meeting a Need

So, maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. You don't need the best if you are meeting a need. BetaMax failed to an inferior better distributed product in VHS. If you are meeting a critical need well, then you don't have to be the best.  You just need to understand your audience.  My kids don't want fancy pizza.  They don't want better music. They just want us, with all our delightful imperfections.

Thanks for reading! 

"Feels Right" Decision Making

I'm an experienced traveller. After years of work trips, I have my packing list down pat.  I know how to navigate security, where to park and how none of that matters when we travel as a family, with 8 bags, 2 children, 2 loveys and a stroller.

Last week in the wake of Freddy Gray's death and the resulting riots, I travelled to Baltimore on business for a trade show. Unlike other work commitments, it was not readily movable and given the nature of my small company, my role at the show was not readily replaceable so I got up bright and early and flew down.  And while I could of cancelled and that certainly would have been understandable,  I thought (and was generally correct) that I was not putting myself in danger and that I could always go home if I got scared.

Streets of Downtown Baltimore last Tuesday 

The National Guard were visible on the drive into the city.  The businesses and schools were largely closed. The helicopters and sirens were a regular occurrence throughout the visit,  especially at  night. About a 1/3 of the attendees at the show cancelled.  And the strictly enforced 10 PM curfew made it crystal clear that, this was a city, which was struggling.

So why go? I could give a long explanation about why I felt I had to, why I thought it was safe but the truth is I felt I should and felt that I could.

But, the rules are different then they use to be. My decisions even when I'm traveling alone are not just about me anymore.

Risk & Responsibility

A friend told me a story about going on her roof this winter to try and address the ice dams that caused so much trouble.  She walked through her thought process of climbing up on to the roof:

"I'm capable.  I can take care of this."

And then, found herself standing on top of the icy roof, realizing that the stakes are higher than they used to be.

"It is not just me that I effect anymore.  If I fall off the roof, my kids will not have a mother."

It was easier to be risky, when it was just us.

6th Grade Science

So with all that is at stake - we are making decisions because they "feel" right? Is that crazy?  

Malcolm Glidwell spends most of Blink looking at examples and details to quantify the power of our gut -how split-second decision making is actually shockingly effective.  In some cases, more effective then the detailed and comprehensive analysis.  I like the hybrid, or the 6th grade science approach.  Here's what I mean:

In very early science classes, we're taught to form a hypothesis and then design an experiment to test it.  So - I take my initial "feels right" as my hypothesis and then look for some evidence to support or refute.  In the case of the Baltimore trip,  we looked at the map.  We read the reports from the city and  from the convention center.  The flights weren't cancelled, the convention wasn't cancelled.  So - seemed worth trying and I was prepared to abort at any time if that no longer seemed to be true.

Not perfect, but good enough.  A combo of art and science is generally how we roll.  And on teams that you trust, worked with for a long time,  really know each other - gut and "feels right" works.  For teams that don't know each other as well,  and/or trust each other, much more detailed analysis is necessary but in the world that I play in - the data isn't perfect.  It is a combination of customer comments, adjacent market research, internal observations and a fair amount of gut. 

Like my kids,  it's easier to be riskier when it's just me that effected.  When it's our team, our product line, our reputation, the stakes are higher.  

So, it goes!

Thanks for reading!