Genius Required

Many years ago, there was a story doing the rounds that verified that people in all areas and levels within a business can make a significant contribution to the success of that business. This story was about Canon. Apparently, there was a high level meeting in Canon regarding a problem with one of their printers. Users of this particular model were experiencing constant paper jams and so the reputation of Canon was suffering as a result. The meeting was about finding a solution to ensure that Canon printers were not incapacitated by such problems. In addition to the high level executives attending the meeting, there was a work-experience student shadowing one of the executives.

During the discussion, about how to solve the problem, the student had apparently given consideration to other things that get blocked and how they continue (or not) to function. He then piped up that the executive team should consider the problem of noses. Naturally, the executives thought that he was crazy but the student explained that a nostril can block but that nature solved the problem by giving us two nostrils therefore ensuring that we still functioned. He then reasoned that if the printers had two feeders, that if one jammed, the other could still continue.

I tried to find the finer details of this story on Google to no avail – it’s probably an urban myth. The point is, however, that creative thinking can solve business problems and therefore create competitive advantage.

Jack Welch, the famed former CEO of GE said, “An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.”

Therefore, by fostering a such a culture and ensuring that all employees feel enabled to share their ideas knowing that they will not be shouted down or laughed at, is crucial to creating competitive advantage.

Not one of our clients I’m pleased to say

I hvnt a clu! I was watching one of the MTV channels on Saturday night and they have a ticker on the bottom of the screen showing messages that people have sent in to greet their friends etc. The messages are sent in via text so generally read something like this:

“2 Kev n Danny – r u out l8tr? C u @ pub”

Phonetically, you can read through this and make sense of it – right? I admit to being an old fart and typing all of my text messages in correct English using appropriate punctuation so was delighted to see the following message displayed on the screen:

“Does anyone speak English anymore?”

My thoughts exactly .

As Wikipedia says:
“Short message services are developing very rapidly throughout the world. In 2000, just 17 billion SMS messages were sent; in 2001, the number was up to 250 billion, and 500 billion SMS messages in 2004″. Given this kind of volume and the time it can take to type out a text, it’s reasonable that abbreviations have evolved and become standard within “text language”.

The rise of “text speak” is part of the continuing evolution of the English language – many years ago, abbreviations (always makes me laugh how long that word is..) such as “wouldn’t” or “can’t” were considered sloppy and inappropriate use of the language. I wouldn’t say that my own grammar is perfect but I always ensure that I use language appropriate to the situation at hand.

When applying for a job, you work so hard at getting your CV together and finding positions to apply for, that it’s a real shame that candidates let themselves down by using “text speak”. Sending a recruiter or hiring manager a message such as say,

“@3. TA4N. CU”. To you, this might say “At 3pm (so perhaps confirming an interview time). That’s all for now. See you”.

To me, it says, “can’t be bothered to type a coherent sentence and I wonder how they would interact via email and the like with clients on site?”

“Text speak” has not evolved so far as to be appropriate for business use – save it for your friends and show potential employers that you can communicate appropriately – telling me to “Bgr off” does not count…

All of Lab49’s staff are encouraged to blog. The Lab49 blogs are a really interesting read in that they truly represent the thoughts and interests of my colleagues and can give candidates a real flavour for our culture. The great thing about blogging here is that you are unmoderated. All of our staff can blog about what they like and when they like. Obviously, they wouldn’t sit around on client sites blogging and would not blog sensitive client information or anything inappropriate – that would be incredibly stupid!.

There have been a number of high profile incidents of staff being reprimanded for using their blogging-power inappropriately. Indeed, one of the contributors to one of my favourite blogs, Technical Careers @ Microsoft had an experience with this a couple of years ago – here. When blogging, it’s probably best to consider the following:

1. How the post can be interpreted. Sure, you know what you meant but is the post open to interpretation that puts you, your client or your organisation in a bad light?

2. Is the information in the public domain already? If not, ask yourself why not. When I wanted to post about securing our new London offices, I checked with Vivake first of all to ensure that he was happy for me to do so.

3. Is the information about a 3rd party? An example being that say you are working on a client project, as our staff do, you have to ensure that you are not breaking any confidentiality clauses or again, putting the client, yourself or your company in a bad light.

4. Ensure that your blogging does not interfere with your work commitments. I post on my blog during the working day as it is part of my role to promote Lab49 as a great employer. If it’s not part of your role to blog, then don’t!

5. Make it clear that the views expressed in your blog are yours alone and do not necessarily represent the views of your employer.