Creativity + business = explosive growth

This blog by Elaine Rumboll is fascinating [visually stunning too!] as it recounts the process of teaching business to creatives.

It's fascinating for me because I spend a fair amount of time in a creative environment, and every day I am strategically being challenged to balance the business side of business with the creative side of creativity [does that make any sense whatsoever].

I think that this is one of the [as yet only partially discovered] secrets to immense growth - allowing the creative spirit to run free [more or less] and then maximising its impact from a business angle. Something which many have tried and very few have succeeded at so far.

My experience is also that it is an incredibly difficult balancing act [from the business side]. If the posts in the blog are anything to go by, its just as difficult from that side too.

Very, very interesting...

What we have here is... failure... to communicate

Please, read this post about VC funding on Thought Leader - it sounds like the world has gone mad... or business in general anyway.

On one hand - VC funders saying they don't get enough good proposals, cancelling events due to lack of interest, looking for the best place to invest their war-chests.

On the other hand - entrepreneurs struggling to obtain funding, trying to raise capital from "friends, family and fools" [Tycoon - "Finding startup capital"], and just generally spending more time trying to fund the business than actually running the business.

Lets be honest - there are some absolutely mind-blowingly, awesome ideas out there. Yes, many of them internet-based businesses [Justin Hartman - you're spot on with your comments in the VC article!] - my personal favourite in terms of stunning growth potential and making the most out of "systems" [I hate the word, but love the concept].

Do any of the VC's have the guts to go with this? Vinny, you know how to do it - Lingham Capital could prove to be the groundbreaker in this field and show government and the dti how to 'do it'!

To the dreamers... keep dreaming! To the funders... get funding! And to the business people... let's help put this together and make it work!

[BTW - my belief - this is SA's greatest opportunity, and will solve many of our legacy problems]

And the results are in....

The question put to you was "What is [the] most important [quality] for new hires to have?". The options were : great qualifications, excellent references, pure committment, loads of energy, and a nice face.

Well, it went right down to the wire, but the winner in the end - by a single vote - "Pure committment", with "Loads of Energy" getting an honorary mention in second place.

Here are the final results:



Hey, as a blog author I get the casting vote don't I?

Ha, ha. Its good to laugh at yourself sometimes... you can't take life too seriously!

P.S. Thanks to everyone who voted, you know who you are.

Is it better to hire a chicken or a pig? [and you can vote]

As the old joke goes, a chicken is involved in producing eggs, but a pig is committed to making bacon. Interestingly though, the chicken is [perfectly qualified to and] highly capable of producing eggs ad infinitum, but the pig's capability is, shall we say, restricted to only producing bacon once.

The question I would like to ask is "Would you rather hire someone who is 50% committed and 100% capable, or someone who is 100% committed and 50% capable?" [for these purposes, capability meaning adequately trained and skilled to do their job]

My answer? You can "teach" capability, you can't teach commitment.

What do you think?

[Please feel free to use the poll alongside - lets see how well it works - I'll publish the final results once its done]

Bottom line is, without commitment everything else is pointless -> if this is a critical entrepreneurial characteristic for starting a business (which this interesting article by SA's resident tycoon suggests is true), then how much more do you need it from employees, to whom you trust the business you have built with blood, sweat, tears, passion [a key ingredient for commitment] and heaps of faith?

What is the real impact of accounting on business?

Here is a quote from 'Tom Peters' True Confessions' [fascinating article for any fans of his] on FastCompany, which sums up very nicely the unquantifiable impact that accounting can have on an organisation -

"Who else? I was supremely pissed off at Robert McNamara. McNamara had been an assistant accounting professor at Harvard Business School. Somebody hooked him up with General Curtis E. LeMay, who was running the U.S. Air Force. The way I remember the story, LeMay didn't know how many airplanes he had or where they were parked. So McNamara the accountant figured out how many planes there were and where they were parked, and he put together a report for LeMay. All of a sudden, where there had been no systems, McNamara introduced systems. Terrific. That makes McNamara the Peter Drucker of the Pentagon -- because Drucker had done the same thing for big companies. But by the time the Vietnam War came and McNamara was secretary of defense, the systems had completely taken over. People were driven out of the equation. McNamara introduced the tyranny of the bean counters. So Robert McNamara was the enemy."

Accountants are notorious for only taking into account the Rand [Dollar] value of anything when making decisions. I disagree with this approach entirely - just because there are some things you can't measure, it doesn't mean they don't exist.

Spending much of my working time in a creative environment [and having been trained in an accounting one], I've been challenged with a similar question lately: how do you balance ENERGY and EXCITEMENT with structure and governance?

Well, I'm searching daily, and I'll be sure to post any breakthroughs [although at this point, there still seems like a long way to go to finding an answer]. But with organisations such as Virgin finding a way to make business fun, we can be sure the answer is out there!

Right said Fred, or rather Well said Fred

Excellent post on Ideate about South Africa needing leaders to step up to the plate -> South Africa needs us to become leaders

Very well said! I trust you are leading by example in your sphere of influence, as we all should be!

110MB of competition for Vinny Lingham?

Is Vinny Lingham onto something with his virtual hosting at Synthasite? With a track record that includes IncuBeta [R25m from Mark Shuttleworht's HBD], chances are its not all pie-in-the-sky.

It's great to see them leading the way in the technology testing battlefield here locally, taking off with Amazon's EC2. Besides that, the guys know how to choose server names too!

Enter the concept of 110MB, currently featured on KillerStartups' Top 10 listing. According to the write-up, its not just free, but feature rich too. This could be a powerful tool for leveraging small businesses through the roof, and we should start playing with it too.

Now all we need to do is get more of our population online [Paris set an amazing global example! How can we do this here?] and get lower cost technology to really speed up the process. Perhaps once Gautrain is done?

Those who can, do. Those who can't... blog?

It seems there are those who think this way. Andrew Keen for instance, with his new book "The Cult of the Amateur: How today's Internet is killing our culture" [on principle I refuse to link to it].

I had a quick look at the book in a store, and while I disagree with his stance, I must admit he makes some good points, and raises some intruiging questions.

The primary issue that stood out to me pertains to [business] society in its entirety and not just to blogging - its apparent that we have entered the age of the "amateur" [where every Tom, Dick and Sally can lecture to a global audience on any topic they wish] - as a business leader, is it better to be an expert in a specific field, or is it better to have a good general overview without favouring any particular skill?

"Jack of all trades, master of none". Usually negative connotations. Can it be a good thing?

Having done some hard time at a large financial consulting firm, I watched in horror over five or six years as experts became increasingly necessary. In terms of accounting standards, there were people who specialised in one specific standard. On the tax side, you needed people specialising in one hairy area of tax law. I can just imagine what a law firm's skills profile looks like today. [perhaps we should ask Paul Jacobsen or his firm?]

But as a business leader [where entrepreneurial skills are a must, rather than technical knowledge and expertise], perhaps this is not the case? Even if the environment has gotten tougher, the old maxim of "surround yourself with people better than you are" is even more true [and possibly easier, with the increasing number of experts around]. Perhaps being an "amateur" [ie not an expert] is a better qualification for being a leader?


Perhaps the "Amateur" [inexpert?] business leader is the glue that holds all the experts together - all working seamlessly to create an incredible business?

Just a thought.





Going back to the fuss about blogging particularly - it was interesting to see Matthew Buckland commenting on a very similar matter when blogging hit the spotlight here in SA earlier this month.

Even the infamous Vincent Maher, who could perceivably ride above this wave, was affected by it and had to face the question, as he admits himself, here.

By the way, Matthew and Vincent, courtesy of Mail and Guardian, have done a stunning job with Amatomu [one of my new favourite landing sites] - well done gentlemen! This should become one of South Africa's premier blog directories in the very near future, if it isn't already.

Are retailers ripping us off 1 cent at a time?

...couldn't resist wondering this after seeing one of my wife's statements which was supposedly 3 cents in credit, and also being reminded of the till slips you see at every shop now which shows a "rounding" difference [with the 1c and 2c out of circulation, aything that's not a multiple of 5c is impossible to settle in cash]...

What if I had every cent that those not-so-accomodating stores rounded off?

I think its safe to say that I'd be wondering what to do with my new found financial freedom. To be fair, though, most retailers are very honest and will round down the amount. But this is not always true. I have many times walked away from paying for an item costing Rx.99 without any change. And where does it all go to?

I'm also reminded of a story from years ago [book or movie perhaps?] where an individual arranged for the rounded decimals [after the cents] on interest calculated on a bank's customers accounts to be transferred to his own account, which became a huge sum in a very short space of time, with no one else ever knowing they had lost anything.

If only we could focus that much creative energy on doing something good!

Please stop dangling that half-eaten carrot

Who are we to judge the value of another human being? We are totally incapable of doing this, but in business it becomes a necessity when dealing with staff retention.

"Attracting and retaining talented staff". Any service firm that takes itself seriously should and does have this as one of its primary objectives.

In this day and age, job security has become somewhat unfashionable and people do not want to work for one company for more than a few years
[this is not unique to SA, but truly a global phenomenon]. Adding to this, SA is said to be facing a widespread "skills shortage" brought about by an outflux of skilled people from our shores [I always get sad when I hear of my peers leaving and not wanting to return].

So how do you motivate someone today? I mean, really motivate them? When I was involved in due diligence work, one of the most interesting questions to ask top executives was "What keeps you awake at night?" Knowing what I know now, I'm sure the question of employee retention is top of the list.

Let's face it, the rules have changed

Its funny how, in the absence of a clear way to determine how much value someone brings to a company, their package cost is usually used as the point of reference, and staff are usually "motivated" through performance payments [its easy to "measure" and "makes sense" so very common].

Please, please can I ask everyone who has people working for them - be creative in how you evaluate, treat and motivate your staff. They are not just "employees", they are people [I'm one too, so are you]

There are many other ways to do this:
- equity ownership [must be done very carefully, I'll admit];
- flexible hours;
- work-from-home opportunities [not necessarily 100% of the time];
- time to follow your passion [ala Google and 3M];
- recognition...

and the list can go on.

We must not take for granted how important this matter is. In fact, with our country facing the oft-quoted, big scary "skills shortage", its a must do in ensuring that our country will prosper and grow... where everyone wins, and not just the select few.

I know this is not easy in practice, but isn't the challenge part of the fun?

See ya later, motivator!

Growing pains

As a country, our fairly recent growth rates have been rather good [although China's 11%+ is absolutely astounding - and, for a country that size].

Where does the secret to exponential growth lie for us as a country. It is readily admitted that growth off a high base is difficult to sustain. Surely it should be far easier for a R10 million turnover company to double its turnover than it is for a R1 billion turnover company?

But look at all the potential we have. Our economy already relies on the informal sector and sme's. What if we could harness this energy, give it some [un-burdensome, un-bureaucratic, no red tape] structure and let it fly...

Its up to us to get involved at these levels. There are already a number of great initiatives in place [Umsobomvu's mentorship program, for example] that attempt to manage this knowledge transfer.
However, the process of starting up is never easy, as Grant Brewer explains so well in this article. [I recall seeing an article a while ago which claimed that SA is in the top 15 countries in the world where it is most difficult to do business - easy to believe with all the red tape]

So, if we can encourage this process, and set in place a dynamic environment where businesses are set up to succeed rather than fail... just imagine! I'll get onto this again in a later post, because I know the answers are out there and we just need to work together to get them going.

Retail rules - what is face value?

Just one little observation... for a retail business [whether selling goods, like a clothing boutique, or selling services, like a restaurant], client-facing staff are absolutely integral to the purchase experience.

And if there's one thing that will make the experience positive for the customer, its this...

... make sure that the staff that the client sees [tellers / assistants / waiters / whoever] greet the customer and smile

Retail owners take note - this is BIG. Do not take it for granted.

I can't count the number of stores that I've been into lately where this does not happen - I can't remember them either. However, I can remember the ones where it does happen.

So, do you want your store to be memorable, or don't you?


[Note - just came across this... seems someone here is intent on South Africa taking this whole customer service thing seriously -> The Institute of Extreme Customer Service. I can't vouch for whether its working or not as there seem to have been two updates since February this year - hopefully they haven't gone MIA.]

How to structure... [The big chief]

Regardless of the idea, products and services, employees and all the other aspects of a business, one of the key areas is how to structure it. With a large number of possibilities around, this can also be a creative part of the business and deserves some decent thought.

I'd like to have a brief look at some of the possible structures in the never-ending quest to find the best.


Since we live in an economy where informal businesses are quite prevalent, its only appropriate to start with probably the most common structure... what I like to call "The big chief". Yep, you guessed it ->

Our business mogul to be owns 100% of his business - "It's all mine" he thinks as he sweats through the startup process, smiles through the growth phase, relaxes during the maturity phase...
... and sweats again when he needs to sell the business.

Where to now?

This, to me, is the glaring weakness in this business model. And this is on a best case basis. It assumes that he is somehow able to attract and retain top talent in today's environment [lets face it, without any long-term incentive, nowadays every man and his dog is willing to jump ship for a slightly bigger remuneration package]. In fact, not being able to get or keep top people may just sink this ship before it even gets out of the harbour.

So on the scales then...
Pro -> If you can make it work, and successfully find a buyer at the end, you'll be stinking rich [more so than sharing it with anyone else].
Con -> Chances are quite good you can't, you won't and it won't work.

I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who would disagree with me. Fine - that's your opinion. If greed ["he who dies with the most toys wins"?] and infinite selfish wealth accumulation is the object of the game, count me out.

My view - I'd rather have 10% of something than 100% of nothing [plus how awesome it would be to see the others with the remaining 90% enjoying theirs]. 'nuff said.

Let's explore some awesome ideas...

A great place to share ideas and stretch your imagination -> The OutThink discussion forum

This is meant to be an exciting, CREATIVE place. Please feel free to
share any ideas or comments...

This forum has one main purpose:
- IDEA SHARING
in the hope that through sharing, discussing and debating big and
small ideas, some will lead to action and will change a life... or
perhaps even more.

What ideas can be discussed - anything constructive! Whether it be
ideas for a small business, ideas for improving an individual's
lifestyle or huge ideas that will change the world.

So please contribute - your ideas are worth unbelievably more than you
or I could ever imagine!

What's the big idea?

Please read this post to get a better idea of what this is -> collaborative business model engineering

Please note that this forum is set up within Google Groups and access is "restricted" [see below] to members, so you need to be registered to access it and contribute [this is a fairly quick process, so please don't let it put you off - it will be worthwhile!]

Why a member's only forum?

This is not an open group, for
several reasons:

1. In anticipation of some great ideas being built and shared here, it
would not be right nor fair to have them immediately available on the
public domain. There should be a certain level of freedom to really
get stuck into good discussions and detail where necessary, and this
is intended to provide a suitable foundation for this.

2. Networking - members are invited here for a specific reason and all
have specific skills which could be invaluable to ideas shared. Good relationships should hopefully also develop from discussions held in this forum.

3. Members can invite other members to join here, so if you know
anyone who would want to contribute and take part, please do so.

4. This is not an "exclusive" group by any means. This structure just helps to make sure that people posting and joining in discussions are not just passers-by, but rather people who really want to be here.


Considering the desired target content on this forum, its probably
appropriate to define the terms and conditions of use upfront. Please read this carefully as this is what will govern this forum's use.

Terms and conditions of use

1. Use of the forum is free.

2. All intellectual property ("IP") posted belongs to the person who
posted that information (or who originally created it, if different).
Ideas and IP are posted here for purposes of sharing, collaboration
and development. We do not steal each other's ideas.

3. No qualifications are required to participate. What is required
from all members is creativity, energy and vision.

As use grows, these may require revision, so comments are welcome.



How do I join?

If you've already received an invitation, click on the link below to register with Google Groups and you will automatically be able to enter the forum.

If you haven't specifically been invited and you would love to participate and contribute - register as above and then click on the "Sign in and apply for membership" on this same page.

Click here to get started -> The OutThink discussion forum

Creating markets... oh what a beautiful thing

So many people and business leaders are always talking about market share... and how to go about growing this figure. It can be a painstaking exercise, for sure.

But you gotta love the cowboy approach - CREATE MARKETS. That way, no competition, no price leaders, no rigid rules as to how to do business... you just do it.

One of the runaway winners in this category has to be Second Life who's founders took the challenge head on. It may have taken 6 years to actually realise and understand exactly what market they were creating, but they did it.


This article on Inc.com's "How I did it" archives delves a little into the story behind Second Life with CEO and founder, Philip Rosedale. Its absolutely fascinating, and much like the Google story, shows how the business was started with a [vague] idea and passion. The passion led them to build the "product" they believed in... and the rest, as they say, is history.

What I love about this business:
- built on passion
- created a new market where none existed before
- proved that a sound business model can be developed [even if it takes six odd years] to match an awesome product, if you look hard enough - ie, don't do something because it can make you rich, do it because you love it and you're driven... the rest will sort itself out.

Again, much to learn from this. Sounds much like the adage that most people decide what they want to have, let that determine what they must do, and that in turns drives what they will be...

[ HAVE - DO - BE ---> highly unsuccessful approach ]

... rather decide who you want to be, let that drive what you do, and in the end you will have what you should.

[ BE - DO - HAVE ]

Time to stop living back-to-front and start doing it the right way.

And oh yes, way to go Philip!

The times, they are a-changing...some more

The times they are a-changing [1]

What's that they say about death and taxes? The only certainties in life are... well, I can think of one other big certainty which makes life worth living, but other than that, its pretty close.

Looking at people's needs, you would probably say with fairly high certainty that doctor's will always be in demand, as sick people (of which there are many) need doctors. Well, according to this Fin24 article, that's not necessarily true. The article talks of how the landscape is changing for regular GP's, and goes on to explain how the entire business model is changing, with the main driver of this change being... you guessed it - attempts to reduce medical costs.

So does this mean that value means nothing? I have always taken the view [although not always easy to do] that cost is not the main focus, rather value is. The old economic conundrum about price vs quality comes to mind here.

Does this mean that value is out the window? As we advance technologically, [not just good but excellent] systems become commonplace and barriers to entry in many industries continue to dwindle... it seems cost is becoming a very large focus indeed. Having trained as an accountant, its easy for me to see why this is important, but something within me balks at the thought of every decision, every business being concentrated on minimising costs.

Just think of what we would be missing out on if this were the case.



Or is it just me?

Lesson in this [one of them, anyway] - in the changing times, cost has become a large driver for many businesses and decisions. We have two choices: accept it, join the hordes and beat that supplier down... or face it head-on and try to prove that value still has its place - after all, if you can deliver an excellent product or service, surely someone will be willing to pay for it?