One reason is that government functions simply do not take into account any notions of efficiency.  It isn’t that bureaucrats (well, most of them anyway) are evil, its that their structure of incentives has nothing to do with how efficient they are.  Further, public policies are always trying to achieve social goals (hire the disabled! Make sure that minority vendors get to bid!) by distorting business practices. When I was basically running technology for the City’s major purchasing function, I’ll never forget the day a senior executive from the Mayor’s Private Sector Task Force came to see me.  Yes, you heard it - every few years, we had these guys seconded from the private sector to tell the misbegotten public sector how to do things.  Anyway, his first question had to do with the costs of the things we bought.  I looked at him blankly and said I had no idea.  He was dumbfounded.  How could the head of technology for purchasing not have any idea how much things cost?  As it turns out, for government, it doesn’t matter.  What matters is whether all the process steps were properly conducted, whether the bids were awarded according to the rules, whether the backlog in requisitions was reasonable...all those things.  But cost?  Never even came up in our discussions.  My interlocutor slunk out of my office, shaking his head, not to be seen in my quarters henceforth.

I was reminded of this incident the other day when applying to get a “certificate of residency”.  Some countries, such as Spain, require you to present such a certificate to avoid backup withholding for taxes in their country.  Well, the process involves downloading, completing and faxing forms, paying $35 and indicating (individually) which countries the certificate is to be from.  Lo and behold, some weeks later, I received a letter from the head of the residency program in my district that I had missed an important component of the process - a letter from me indicating that I intended to be a US resident for the relevant tax year.  I couldn’t help but think of the dozens of people who must be employed in this office if it has an actual “head”.  I was also thinking that if I needed such a certification from Amazon, I probably could have filled everything out on the web, paid my fee with one click and been outta there in minutes. 

So we have a government that seems, at all levels, in an expansionary phase.  My concern is that without some incentive to operate more like Amazon and less like the Certificate of Residency Office we are simply going to be getting into ever-increasing debt, without even the fun of retail therapy to show for it. 

Well, it sure is starting to look as though the events are going to be a lot more expensive than was originally planned.  According to one article I found on the topic, the costs admitted to so far look something like this:

2005: £2.4 billion later revised upward to £3.3 billion

2007: £9.3 billion, including a contingency fund of £2.7billion.

2009: £12.9 billion

Indeed, another highly critical article calls the financing story an “Olympic Sized Overspend”. 

It’s a familiar pattern—initial optimistic projections fail to survive contact with reality.  By the time more accurate information comes in, the spending decisions are made.  Some pundits have even suggested that the UK could be looking at a £20 billion price tag before the final reckoning has been done. 

I always go to Davos with one question to ask all of the luminaries. This year’s question was: “Coming out of the recession, what is your number one priority?” Nearly every leader answered the question in a similar way: “Focus on growth.” As one executive said: “My organization has been hunkered down for two years—now is the time to get moving again.” I think that’s about as bullish a signal as I could have imagined coming out of Davos.

Can’t come fast enough as far as I’m concerned!

Ron has been a huge supporter of discovery-driven growth, and this interview does a nice job of walking through the steps he took to get his company on the right track, including finding the right tools and setting up the right structures.  I think you’ll find it interesting. 

What can you expect if you were to attend?  Firstly, a fantastic group of international participants who are all wrestling with growth issues—particularly in this economy.  Recent classes have included participants from Wal-Mart, Berlitz, Siemens, Nokia, Start-ups, Emirates Bank Group, several banks in Nigeria and Boeing.  Each person in the program prepares and brings a ‘personal case’ involving a growth challenge, and we set aside good blocks of time for teams to work on taking each others’ cases forward.  In terms of content, we get in-depth on many of the tools and techniques you’ve told me have been helpful, including opportunity portfolio mapping, discovery driven planning, MarketBusting, leading major changes, handling politics, and a lot of other great ideas.  We also bring practitioners into the course to provide real-life examples of how firms have used the material.  Principals from design firm IDEO are going to be with us in April for that segment.  We’re also going to have a special lecture from one of our young Columbia superstars on social networking and social media.

Interested?  Well here’s the good news - I persuaded Columbia (very nicely, thank you!) to offer readers of my blog a 20% discount from the price of the course, which includes lodging, all meals, course materials and of course sessions with all those great faculty.  Here’s what you have to do if you are interested:  Register on-line and make sure to note “RGM blog” in the box that asks: What are your objectives in attending this program?”

Intrigued?  Want more information?  Email me at and I’m happy to answer questions.  It is a really magical week, and I hope that the discount might make it easier for some of you to join us. 

One of the tools we use in the course is our Opportunity Portfolio, featured in Discovery Driven Growth.  I am often asked for copies of the questions that one might use to place projects on the portfolio, so here they are for download.  Uncert_Handouts.doc.

I would really welcome feedback on how you used them or modified them - and examples of what you did with the tools would be fantastic!

Is Steve Jobs playing the options game?  In our book ‘The Entrepreneurial Mindset’ we argued that uncertain ventures could be treated as the real asset equivalent of financial options, building on a lot of great work done in finance.  One type of option, which we call a ‘positioning option’ is most appropriate when the primary uncertainties are technical, or outside your control.  Examples include when some new breakthrough is needed to develop a market, or when you are waiting for a standard to emerge.

So what do you think of this description of Apple’s move into music phones, printed in this week’s Business Week?  Jobs clearly sees that the market might exist for a phone with iPod capability, but perhaps isn’t ready to move just yet.  If I were Ed Zander of Motorola, I’d be concerned about Jobs’ long-run ambitions. But wouldn’t it be cool to have a phone that could do what the iPod does?

Well, as we know now, the launch of the iPhone was brilliant, and the product has been a massive success.  Nobody even remembers the Rokr - a classic foray into a new area via a positioning option.  Great example, no?

Columbia Executive Education video

Survey Reveals Approval Rating Low and Small Business Not a Priority

COLUMBUS, Ohio - January 14, 2010 - As President Barack Obama approaches his one year anniversary in office, 80 percent of small business owners believe that small business initiatives are not a priority for the Obama administration in 2010. The survey, conducted in early January by Manta of more than 900 small business owners and employees, found that 77 percent of respondents say the administration has hurt small business, and 76 percent believe Obama had an unsuccessful first year.

With profiles of more than 63 million businesses and organizations, Manta is the Web’s largest free source of information on and for small businesses. In the company’s most recent “Pulse of Small Business” user survey, 59 percent of respondents say they feel less confident that they will be able to grow their business in 2010, compared to the same time in 2009.

“America runs on small business,” said Pamela Springer, Manta president and CEO. “For the remainder of President Obama’s first term, it’s vital that his administration understand the needs and concerns of small business owners. It must realize solutions to bolster small business to regain confidence and rebuild the backbone of the U.S.”

When asked what area of the administration’s plans will affect small business the most, 40 percent of respondents said health care reform. A survey, conducted by Manta in October 2009, found that 77 percent of small businesses are concerned about health care reform in 2010. Almost 70 percent said they will likely need to cut costs to maintain current benefit levels, with almost half of those saying they plan to reduce headcount.

In 2010, small businesses will need more resources to help promote and grow their businesses. Manta makes millions of businesses visible in a way they’ve never been before. With hard-to-find information such as estimated revenue, number of employees, company contacts, business descriptions and more, Manta enables business professionals to promote their companies, sell faster and make business connections. With more than 14 million monthly visitors, Manta facilitates new business connections as this audience discovers companies, their owners and their key employees.

While networking is not my beat, so to speak, I can certainly chime in with a few tales of ineffective networking: very often at academic conferences.  Since people at such conferences are often looking for jobs, you would be amazed at the amount of inappropriate, clumsy, naive, awkward and just plain silly networking attempts that go on.  Herewith, some don’t stories about networking. 

Avoid inappropriate or awkward followup

Example: I met a Korean candidate wannabe at an academic cocktail party, and while he was standing next to me, one of my friends asked where I was staying.  Not thinking anything of it, I replied with the name of my hotel.  Imagine my amazement when the hotel phone rang at 3 in the morning, only to find that my wake-up call had come from the Korean student.  Tempted to give him the benefit of the doubt, I assumed he was confused by the time change and had no idea what time it really was.  Nope.  Turns out, he figured that this would be a good time to call since he knew I wouldn’t have other appointments!  You can imagine where THAT resume went.

Trying to fake more knowledge about your contacts than you actually have.

When you finally get to meet someone who you think is important, it is all too common to feign more knowledge than you actually have about what they do.  Please don’t do that.  Your contact knows exactly what they have done, accomplished and worked on over the years, and your trying to fake it only makes you look spectacularly clueless.  Example:  Students I meet who start gushing about how much they love my research, and upon further questioning it turns out that they have me completely confused with my good friend Anita McGahan, who works on industry analysis topics, not innovation and growth topics.

Talking too much, particularly about the fascinating subject of yourself

So there you are, and you are finally meeting up with someone who you think would be a good contact.  So what do you do?  In the attempt to make that person want to remember, help and befriend you, you go on and on about every remarkable - or more likely, not so remarkable - thing you’ve done recently.  It’s boring.  It’s vaguely insulting.  And all it will do is get your business card dropped in the trash. 

Claiming acquaintance with people who you think are in your target’s social circle whom you do not actually know

Again, out of a desire to seem plugged in or more well networked than you actually are, it is common for people to say things like, “Oh, yes, Joe has mentioned you often,” thinking that your target will admire and appreciate this mutual friendship.  Here’s the problem.  If Joe and I really are friends, and I say something like, “I met your friend Jordan at a work thing the other night” and I then find out that Joe has no idea who I am speaking about, that claim is stone cold dead. 

Obvious tag-sniffing

At every conference, people’s status is spelled out more or less by what’s on their name tag, whether it is their affiliation, company, status at the conference or whatever.  It is really tacky to walk up to someone, examine their tag, decide they aren’t worth your time and leave.  It’s OK to peer with subtlety at tags to identify those who might be of interest.  It is really NOT cool to leap across the room to introduce yourself to the Big Shot whose tag you have just identified.  It is also rude to interrupt a conversation the Big Shot seems to be enjoying to introduce yourself.  If the Big Shot looks as though he or she is looking to make an escape from a conversation (see below) however, you may be able to help them free themselves by entering into a conversation with you.

Subsection to the aforementioned:  do not assume that the Big Shot’s spouse is unworthy of attention.  It’s happened to me more than once that someone who I thought was an executives spouse is, but turned out to be a heavy hitter in his or her own right.

Oh, all right, some tips for effective networking:

Prepare your elevator pitch

When you are at a networking event, and someone asks you what you do, they are not looking for an infomercial.  A carefully chosen few lines that introduce you and explain the benefits of what you do are sufficient.  For instance, it is much better to say “I work designing strategies that allow companies to keep their key people” is much more interesting than “I work in human resources for a major pharmaceutical firm”.

Don’t be afraid to say hello to other people first.  They’re probably there to network too

The easiest way to approach people if you don’t know anyone is to strike up a conversation over something that is clearly mutual - as in “Oh, you’re from New York as well?  When did you get in?” or “wow, they went to a lot of trouble with the set up for this event”.  I would avoid anything heavy as an opening line. 

Don’t cling

A networking event, unless you’re having the business equivalent of love at first sight, is about meeting lots of people.  So do not dog your newly met friends’ every step.  Chat for a few minutes and then move on.
Know your date or spouse before even THINKING about bringing them to a networking event.  Some are assets - they’re pretty / attractive / funny and can help make a nice impression, particularly if other people’s spouses are there.  Some are shy, unhappy to be there, and boy will you hear about it afterward.  As a general rule, I don’t bring my spouse to heavy networking events if I don’t think there will be people there that he can converse with. 

Don’t be afraid to ask for a business card clearly and directly, as in “could I have your card?”

If that makes you uncomfortable, you can always say something like, “I’ll send you that article on the fall of Wall Street - do you have a card?”

Subsection:  card etiquette in different cultures differs greatly.  If you are in Japan, for example, the protocol is to hold your card in both hands with the words pointed toward your opposite, who takes it, admires it, says something about it or you and then repeats the action with their card. You receive it with both hands, and make a comment, such as “I hear that is one of the largest banks in Japan”.  If you are networking internationally, find out the protocols before you go. 

Develop a graceful way to extract yourself from the clingy (see beforementioned tip)

Getting a drink, visiting the restroom appropriate to your gender, spying someone you actually do know across the room and having your cell phone ring are all non-offensive mechanisms for getting away. 

Think a little bit before you go to the event what you would like to get out of it

Then, if you can see who will be there, try to identify who you would like to meet and why.  The “why” should be a two-way street - if you’re going to build a successful relationship, you need to have something to offer as well.  Think about what that is before going.

Scarlett O’Hara’s generation had the right idea about food and drink

In the old movie Gone With The Wind, the heroine was admonished not to eat too heartily at a local party.  It isn’t a bad suggestion at a networking gathering.  If there is food and drink involved, as a general rule stick to finger food OR something in a glass. It is hard to talk with food in your mouth, impossible to shake hands when one has a glass in one and a plate in the other, and unattractive to shake hands covered with the grease from the coconut-baked shrimp you just had.  It isn’t a wedding - it’s a networking event! 

Follow Up

There is no point networking if you let the relationship go cold.  So do something with those business cards.  Write a note (or email) reflecting on the conversation.  Offer to follow up on a question that came up.  Suggest an article the person might find interesting.  And remember, collecting business cards is meaningless until you use them to build a relationship.  Finally, do not promise things and then fail to do them.  If you say you’re going to send a book or article, send it.  If you say you’re going to call, call.

Networking is pretty much unavoidable except for hermits and students of advanced mathematics, I suppose.  So having some good ideas about how to approach it can be a vital part of your personal toolkit for success.