Make It Happen

A typical way to develop perspective is to consider issues from different vantage points. A less common - but perhaps more valuable - way to develop perspective is to expose yourself to different ideas.

One way to do this is to read books that are at the fringes of your "typical" interest area - and then apply those concepts in your area of expertise and in your dealings with others. Here are some recent books that I have read, along with the interesting lessons that they taught:

Working the Room (Nick Morgan): If it is important enough to get up in front of a group and say something, then it is important enough to rehearse.

The Trusted Advisor (David Maister): Personal credibility and relationships are what develop long-term relationships with clients - not price.

Chaos (James Gleick): The seminal book on the origins and uses of Chaos theory; The biggest advances in science are often discovered by those whose training started in a different field. Conventional wisdom sometimes prevents progress.

Freakonomics (Steven Levitt/Stephen Dubner): Personal motivation and incentive are often at the heart of behavior.

Growing an Engaged Church (Albert Winseman): The connection between personal engagement and the development of a community of interest.

Getting to Yes (Roger Fisher /William Ury): Wear the other person's shoes: helping others get what they want is the first step to getting what you want.

Linked (Albert-Laszlo Barabasi): It's not the "nodes", but the connections between them that make the network.

Carpe Diem: How to become a latin lover (Harry Mount): This book is a description and primer on Latin; it illustrates what can be learned from a culture from it's language. (And conversely, how hard it is to learn about a culture if you don't know its language.)

Death Sentences (Don Watson): This book rails against the use of weasel words and management-speak.

Godel Escher Bach, an Eternal Golden Braid (Douglas Hofstadter): The intimate, and sometimes surprising, connection between philosophy, art, and music.

Leaving the Mother Ship and Personal Balance Sheet: More so than reading, writing about a subject in depth forces you to think deeply about it.

What's on your list - and what did you learn?

Not long after writing about the Long Game with respect to career planning, I was thinking about the same thing at the corporate level.

Of course, with corporations, the Long Game concept is usually called "Strategy" and is the result of "Strategic Planning". Or is it? There are two interesting examples that recently hit the news: the contrasting fortunes of eBay and Google.

eBay: In case you aren't familiar, a few years ago eBay spent a few billion dollars to acquire Skype, the internet phone company. While analysts generally agreed that the transaction was significantly overvalued, eBay-boosters spoke about the reasons why the transaction made sense:
- It would improve the "community" aspect of eBay by allowing better communication between players.
- It is a pre-emptive, defensive purchase, against Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo.
- It would provide access to peer-to-peer technology, in the same way that eBay's earlier purchase of Paypal provided access to payment technology.
- It was a vastly growing segment of the market.
No matter the rationale, recently eBay took a $1.4 Billion write-down. The Long Game didn't pay off. Or, it was paying off, but not fast enough financially.

Google: Google has also had a history of growth, funded both through acquisition and internal R&D. Their acquisitions ranged from geographic mapping, to radio advertising software, to YouTube, to Blogger: over 24 companies in the last two years alone. Beyond this, their engineers are told to spend 20% of their time working on projects that interest them. These Long Game activities turned into Gmail, Adsense, Google News, and a full 50% of Google's new services. (HP in it's heyday had the same type of rule.)

While it is still uncertain whether YouTube will actually be worth what they paid for it, this particular acquisition is a great example of the Long Game: how long before they sell advertising to commercialize the vast library of clips? (They could sell "play-before" clips, CNN style overlays, post-clip banners, etc.)

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The toughest question for most CEOs and planners is figuring out how to have your Long Game look more like Google's than eBay's - especially given the quarterly pressure of the public markets. If you make no investment (and therefore take no risk), then there will definitely be no return. If you invest based solely on hunch (or ego), this is also a gamble. In my view, Long Game strategy is simply putting one foot in front of the other - but with your eyes firmly planted on the horizon.

The Long Game

I recently spoke at an event filled with undergraduate business school students. Before heading to the podium, I talked to a student who was to address the group after me; his topic was how to be hired as an Investment Banker. I wished him luck, and asked how he learned about his topic. (Summer job.) I then asked if he had started the field's key professional certification. (No since it was valueless.) Despite whatever he said at the podium, to me this person demonstrated both arrogance and ignorance. How did he see the certification as valueless? And how can a summer job make one an expert?

While it may have been quite some time since your student days, there is a concept -- the Long Game -- that is more relevant as your career progresses. While instant gratification is satisfying, longer-term fundamental advancement often takes much longer. Said another way, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither should your career.

Long Game activities meet three criteria:

1. an investment in time (and sometimes money),
2. the return will not be instant,
3. the results are sometimes uncertain.

Here are a few examples:

Volunteer at a not-for-profit. Initially you might work at an event, and eventually manage part of it. After several years, you might work yourself up through the committee structure, and eventually become a member of the Board. While there are short-term benefits to your participation, the Long Game benefits might include a broader skill base, a great network, and solid non-work references. Where will this lead you in the future? Unknown - but nowhere but up.

Attain a professional certification: The vast majority of certifications take (at least) several years to earn, and often require academic coursework, self-study, examinations, association membership, and work experience. While your short-term learning might help you in your current position, going through the process will deepen your subject matter expertise, build a network of others with that certification, and result in greater professional opportunities down the road.

Stretch yourself within your role: Why not volunteer to be on work-related committees or special projects? At the beginning, this will help you broaden your skills, but doing so on an ongoing basis develops your reputation for going the extra mile, always contributing to the team, and generally moving the business forward. And once again, it develops your network.

Other Long Game ideas:

* Learning a new language
* Building skills through a hobby
* Starting a small business on the side
* Seeking a transfer to a different country

This Week's Action Item: Choose two Long Game activities and schedule them into your calendar. Don't expect any recognition from others for these activities, but check back in 18 months - you'll be surprized at how far you've gone.

Note: The Make It Happen Tipsheet is also available by email. Go to www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news to register.

Randall Craig
www.RandallCraig.com
www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com/news