Whatever Happened to Labor?

An excerpt from Seth's Godin's blog:

In a world where labor does exactly what it's told to do, it will be devalued. Obedience is easily replaced, and thus one worker is as good as another. And devalued labor will be replaced by machines or cheaper alternatives. We say we want insightful and brilliant teachers, but then we insist they do their labor precisely according to a manual invented by a committee...

Companies that race to the bottom in terms of the skill or cost of their labor end up with nothing but low margins. The few companies that are able to race to the top, that can challenge workers to bring their whole selves--their human selves--to work, on the other hand, can earn stability and growth and margins. Improvisation still matters if you set out to solve interesting problems.

As a business, we face this on a regular basis. Just yesterday I stumbled onto an ad offering business websites for $125. I had to admit that I was curious to see what a $125 website looked like, so I clicked through. Turns out that one $125 website looks quite a bit like the next $125 website. No attention to detail, no optimization for SEO, not even a unique look and feel appropriate to the brand or company. Immediately the Warren Buffett quote popped into my head; "Price is what you pay, value is what you get." Yes, these folks paid a low price for their websites, but none of them added any value to the business. Each of these businesses missed an opportunity to share their story—to tell their customers why they're here and why they're different.

I've had people ask if this "race to the bottom" in the fields of design and web development bothers me. If I'm honest, the answer is that, yes, it does—but probably not as much as you'd think. The reason that it doesn't bother me that much is because of our team. They do great work, and great work is worth talking about. As Seth quips in the excerpt above, the Ideavise team shows up every day looking for interesting problems to throw their entire selves at. We're blessed that we have clients who have trusted us with their interesting problems.

So I'll make you this promise: We may not always be the cheapest option (though we won't be anywhere NEAR the most expensive, either), but I guarantee that when you hire us you will get an entire team of people who are hard-wired to throw their entire selves at the project. Our goal is not only that you come out of the project with something tangible (a website, brochure, email newsletter, etc.) but also that that you come out of it with a solution—that we've addressed a problem or issue and that your business is better for us having served you. My business partner, Brian, likes to use this phrase; "Show Up. Add Value. Be Findable. Repeat."

If you find yourself needing some creative insight into something, well, creative. We'd love to be considered. Give us a call at (719) 355-3579 or (831) 887-0111.

Thanks for reading,

—Jason @ Ideavise

The Paralysis of Ideas (and How to Avoid It)

Let me start by saying that despite what you're probably thinking given the title, I'm not against ideas. It's not a crime to have ideas. Ideas are important—critical, in fact—to business. Being able to rattle off new and innovative ways of looking at things, or being able to brainstorm a new use for your company's widget; those are massive, possibly even game changing ideas. But as noted (and oft quoted) author Seth Godin mentions, ideas are worthless. It's not that they don't have any value per se, it's just that it takes a person with a plan to turn that idea into something that is worthwhile.

In my time working in the trenches, I've seen the same theme emerge over and over again. I still see it today, though from a different perspective (typically as a consultant or hired contractor). In many cases, good people—motivated people—feel compelled or are instructed by managers to come up with ideas on how to solve a specific problem. And unfortunately, it rarely stops there. In an effort to make sure that no stone is left unturned, a brainstorm session is added to make sure that enough ideas have been generated to cover all of the bases. The employee is usually left with a list of ideas, some good, some not so good, to wade through and execute on. This is where I would encourage every manager to hit the pause button.

At the end of the day, the objective isn't to have ideas, right? Ideas by themselves don't pay the bills. The objective is to take those ideas and turn them into something. To achieve a result. Logically, if the budget for the executing on these ideas is a pie chart, the more ideas you add, the fewer resources you have for each idea, right? I've watched way too many companies operate using this type of shotgun approach—committing only a small fraction of their resources to a myriad of projects, none of which ever gain them anything significant.

My challenge to you is to try putting your eggs in one basket. Analyze, strategize—try to determine which idea is going to provide the largest gains (monetarily, market share, etc.—whatever your metric) and fully commit to it. The key is having the discipline to focus your efforts and only execute on the idea that promises the best outcome.

There's another advantage to focusing on a single idea. You're able to avoid what I've termed "The Paralysis of Ideas". This is where an employee, beset with a list of deliverables, is paralyzed into non-action by either an inability to decide where to start, or by the thought that there's another possibility out there that they didn't consider. Both situations are extremely defeating to employee morale and ultimately to the company's bottom line.

In many cases, the only wrong-action is inaction. Mistakes are inevitable, ideas are many.  Trust your own judgment, as well as the judgment of those that you've hired (you hired them for a reason after all). Focus, execute, evaluate. Repeat as often as possible until the desired outcome is achieved.

Have thoughts or comments on this post? Are you struggling with "The Paralysis of Ideas" in your company? Drop me a line in the comments area below. Thanks for reading.

—Jason @ Ideavise

Seth's Blog: Accepting limits

Another Great Quote from Seth Godin

"Here's a rule that's so inevitable that it's almost a law: As an organization grows and succeeds, it sows the seeds of its own demise by getting boring. With more to lose and more people to lose it, meetings and policies become more about avoiding risk than providing joy."

Important Observations from Seth Godin

I found this article so timely and important that I had to pass it along in it's entirety. The original blog post can be found here.

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The Problem With Cable News Thinking