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February 26, 2012 New When Big Tries to Act Small


Working at a large corporation can offer a number of benefits over working at a start-up. Having worked at a couple of each – and somewhere in the middle – I generally think the pros and cons of the two even out. Sure, the smart and talented can advance faster within a startup, but it won’t necessarily translate into a step up outside of the company as easily as working with a big brand name. Unless, of course, that startup was Foursquare.

But what’s interesting are the number of larger companies trying to act like startups – creating innovation labs and teams for expediting new product development, looking to web-based software solutions to cut costs, and shifting human resources around projects rather than departments to improve efficiency. It’s interesting…until some of the benefits of working at a large company – like the comfort of tech support, the uniformity that comes with operating rules, and all those helpful additional human resources – start falling apart.

Tech Is Not Supportive: You have to enter a tech support system into a queue so someone in India can call you and talk you through what is obviously a support desk script. That’s if they didn’t just send you a link to where to find the help online.

Rules Create Chaos: Because the company is trying to be “innovative,” you are regularly asked to research, use, or otherwise do business with tools and platforms that are not allowed. I worked at a company that didn’t allow access to personal emails, file sharing, or social media platforms –basically no communication was permitted that wasn’t on their firewalled servers. That made it interesting for the team that developed new cloud-based software that they themselves couldn’t access from within the building. Or for those of us who worked with outside vendors where we needed to share files that exceeded our email limits. Rather than ask the vendor to burn a disk (remember those?) and send it to me, I tried to get tech to grant permission for us to use Google Docs. I was sent back a 10-page form for “Google to complete and return.”

More Humans Mean More Hurdles: Larger companies typically have more resources, but also taller organizational structures to manage all those people. So while there’s more talent to tap, there are also more personalities to persuade, individual and team goals to navigate (read “silos”), and, in many cases, just a lot more time spent in meeting – none of which translate to a creative, innovative environment. And when the big company tries to break down the structure to toward greater efficiency, they often look at just one aspect – like trying to solve the silo issue, and attack it from through communication or team structure. But it’s a system-wide issue, one that requires looking at a number of elements, like how the employee evaluation process, for example. If you’re given team members for Project X, but those individuals are going to be measured only against goals for Projects A and B (because those goals were set months ago), well, then you can guess where they’ll put their focus.

I’m sure there are other examples – including what big companies could do better. Please add your thoughts below!

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February 21, 2012 Brainstormed

It may be true that “no man is an island, but I can dream.  My friends think I’m joking when I tell them that if I could afford my own island and communicate with the world via the Internet and a very long-distance version of Fresh Direct, I’d go.  See ya in Google+.

So I loved Susan Cain’s article “The Rise of the New Groupthink”, which explores the notion that collective brainstorming is actually bad for creativity.  “Research strongly suggests that people are more creative when they enjoy privacy and freedom from interruption.”

I didn’t research to tell me that.  I’ve sat in too many “brainstorming” sessions that result only in a more detailed outlined of the problems we’re trying to solve –and a plan to schedule another meeting.  Typically, one person talks about the problem and their ideas.  Another person echoes back when the first person said.  And the others in the room are either hearing about the need for a solution for the first time –or are acting like they are.

Since I know that, for me, ideas tend to come when I’m walking around or on the subway, or other places where I can tune out conversation, I try to structure my own brainstorming sessions by sending the team an email a week or so in advance with a description or outline of what we’re trying to solve.  I want them to come to the table with ideas.

I’d like to say that this works, but for the most part, it doesn’t.  As Cain suggests, often people are still too fearful that their ideas will be rejected. “People in groups tend to sit back and let others do the work; they instinctively mimic others’ opinions and lose sight of their own; and, often succumb to peer pressure.”

Also, I don’t believe all people are creative, or at least, there are varying degrees of creativity.  Just because someone thought of a different a spreadsheet formula to use doesn’t mean that they’re going to come up with a new campaign idea.  But it doesn’t mean that they can’t.  But you can’t take everyone’s time up with meetings – just the right people.  So maybe I should try collecting ideas from those who want to offer them, and ask the most creative people to the meeting to explore them.

Cain says her point is not that people are islands; they need each other to develop greater meaning in their lives.  And I suppose the point of the creative endeavors is to have an impact on others.

But I personally would still like to be on an island.

Image:  vmiramontes

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February 15, 2012 An Entrepreneurial Teacher in Cambodia

I’ve always admired entrepreneurs, not just because they take huge risks to pursue something that they –and often only they – believe in from the outset. And they believe in themselves at the start in a way many of us only can after years of experience.

I wish that kind of optimistic drive could be taught.

And I’ve especially admired those who pursue a venture not only because they want to build a better product or business – but because they also want to better the way business is done – whether to benefit the environment, the community, or the world at large.

So when on vacation on Cambodia, I heard the story of Sot Kemsour, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. I think too often we think of entrepreneurism as being a product of countries where things like infrastructure and access to credit and capital are non-issues. But here was someone who grew up in a small village in Siem Reap, put himself through night school to learn English while driving a tuk tuk to support himself, and eventually started his own business, operating a fleet of tuk tuks. But when he returned to his village for his wedding and realized how few children were able to afford the public school fees, he sold his business and founded New Hope Cambodia, and organization dedicated to helping the people of Mondul 3 village.

With help from Kerry Huntly Okoh, an Australian he met while she was volunteering in his village, he has not only built a free school for the children, but also training in computers, sewing (Cambodia and Vietnam both have many clothing factories), the restaurant business, sustainable farming, and tourism. And with some programs, like sewing, farming, and tourism, they not only help some students develop skills, but also start their own businesses.

They’ve also built a small health care center, are building a shelter for abused women and children, and conduct outreach throughout the village to help feed and educate the impoverished residents on such areas as human and drug trafficking, alcohol abuse, home repairs, and child care.

What Kemsour doing in his village is inspiring and, as I said before, surprising. I can immediately name 10+ entrepreneurs who made their success and then turned their attention to philanthropy. And I don’t blame them. Building a business is a mission of its own. But to hear about someone who walked away from a growing business – in a place where entrepreneurial success is so rare – made me realize that that optimistic drive can be found globally. And, as may be seen with some of Kemsour’s students, it can be taught.

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