Are you in a business you wish you weren’t?

Is it IT?

I am frequently asked “what do you do?"  And my general response is “I am in the technology business.” (In actuality I am an entrepreneur.)  Either way, the ensuing conversation has exposed a real challenge: insurance agencies, doctors’ clinics, hospitals, distribution companies, banks, credit unions - you name it - are all reluctantly in the “technology business”; and many are scratching their heads. They wonder: how did we go from a (you fill in the industry here) to a company whose annual IT budget is staggering, and has no idea if they’re doing the right stuff with the right value?

Annual budgets in the tens and hundreds of thousands get approved each year by entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, writers, administrators and many more without a strong sense of confidence that those numbers are the right numbers.

But here’s another question: if your company suffered catastrophic data loss due to fire, flood, vandalism or simple hardware or software failure, would you still be in business? That’s a question many business people are not asking.

As a partner in two technology businesses I’ve learned the value of knowing what I know and what I don’t know. I cannot configure a server or a switch. I have no clue how they make it all work. And that’s okay. Our associates do. We at Jelecos and Data Media Solutions have spent the last decade getting really good at what we do. And what we do is have you covered in what I refer to as the “ones and zeros space.”  That’s technical jargon for digital information.

At the beginning and ending of each day, businesses are subservient to the “ones and zeros” and the machines on which they ride. If all your “ones and zeros” evaporated overnight, could you continue to run your business?  If so, how long would it take to restore normalcy?

If you are running a business which has reluctantly found itself in the technology business and this blog makes you queasy, then call a trusted friend and ask for some advice. We’re always available to chat.

Not everybody’s “got milk?” but every business has ones and zeros.   Are yours safe?

 

This morning I attended a National Safety Council breakfast meeting. Our topic was distracted driving. Forrest Gump tells us that “stupid is as stupid does,” or at least his mama told him that. He’s right. As I sat at the meeting, I recalled my return yesterday from the lake country of northern Minnesota. I make the trip regularly, and I’ve even managed to turn my F-150 into a mobile office.  Since Ford and Microsoft teamed up to help me make my mobile office even better, I can now use the Sync feature to load my Blackberry database into the truck. Add in text messaging, email, a diet Coke and you have “productivity”.

Our speaker this morning enlightened us with statistics on driving distractions and cell phone use.  I got kind of sick to my stomach. I’ve got a $12,000 cell phone rolling down I-29 and I have unwittingly increased my likelihood of not living to make any more trips by four fold.  Bob Glissman, of the Omaha World-Herald captures the story quite well this afternoon (read the story).

Suffice to say, this blogger will refrain from texting and driving from this point forward. I am still arguing with myself over the use of the cell for just talking.  You cannot explain stupid, but admitting it is a first step in correcting it. I’m stupid when it comes to driving and texting and talking on my cell. Other drivers, my friends, colleagues, and most especially my family deserve better.

In the late eighties, I was a mid-level manager at a glass company. It was a big company for sure: about ninety million in revenue on the way to almost a billion. I was having fun; winning, selling a lot, and making no friends along the way. Of course I was oblivious to the latter.

I regularly ruffled some fellow workers’ feathers. Always pushing the envelope. Challenging dogma. Pushing slower, non productive people to the side and doing their work and mine. I was the “wunderkind”.  And I knew it.  Wow, was I special.

Then came a call from Minneapolis, our headquarters. The president wanted me, yes me, to fly to Minneapolis to meet with him. Imagine my triumph, my glory, my overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

You see, I do not have a college degree. I was the only employee to ever reach the level of management, at the time, without one. It was the late ‘80’s. America was getting it swagger back and I was getting mine for the first time and it felt GREAT.

So I flew to Minneapolis; I think it cost a fortune. I rarely flew in those days; it was reserved for the elite in my mind.  But I was arriving. I took a cab to HQ, took the elevator to the TOP floor. I was escorted to the Prez’s office. This is cool stuff huh? I walked in and sat down and across from me sat the President. For all my heart knew, he could have been President of the United States of America. Wow.

We sat and exchanged the weather watch chit chat.  Then came the big moment.  Was I getting a huge promotion?  Maybe SVP at 28 years old???? And then he said it.

“Wilke, you’re a jerk, nobody respects you.”

That was an expensive trip for that message. Damn, he could have phoned that nugget in. Now I was thinking I had to fly back to Omaha unemployed. Ick.

What went wrong? I asked. He talked. I paraphrase, for the years take a toll on one’s memory.

He said: “Jeff, I like you. A lot actually. But not too many others do.  (I was crushed.)  I like you because you know how to make money, and lots of it. It seems to motivate you. Presidents like employees like that. But Presidents do not like turmoil, and you create a lot of that on your way to making our shareholders wealthy.  I don’t think you know you alienate others. In fact, I am sure you don’t.”

At this point I blurted out something like, “If you’re going to fire me, you could have done so on the phone and saved everyone time and money.”

He explained that I was not fired yet, but that it might come to that. He went on to enlighten.

Leadership does not come from being the best at throwing the ball, or catching it, or running with it. Leadership starts with blocking and tackling. Leadership is getting others motivated, attempting  the greatest of challenges without being frightened to do so. He convinced me that while I had a track record of success as a money maker, I had no legacy of building others’ resumes. I was breaking a lot of glass.  Others were weary of cleaning it up.  I needed to learn to create champions for worthy goals.  I was going to “attitude adjustment school.”

There is a wonderful business in the Twin Cities called PDI. Personal Decisions International. They assess and fix flawed executives, among other erstwhile services. I was given a scholarship and a message.  Pass or move on.

With two young daughters and a wife counting on me, all of whom I had apparently and gratefully spared the wrath, I was, as they say, MOTIVATED.

PDI sent me through a barrage of tests and role playing scenarios. Along the way I learned that being good was irrelevant if you alienated all your co-workers along the way. Eventually I learned that good, quiet, effective co-workers will get you fired if you remain an obstacle to their success instead of a vehicle thereof.

I learned that while my heart may have been in the right place, my actions needed some attention.

I graduated with a passing grade and a challenge from my instructors. “Always strive to create champions, within and beyond your personal boundaries.”

My PDI training had a number of interesting dynamics to it, many of which I still use to this day. Consider this an invitation to ask me about my experiences at PDI. I always have a story and always love to share it.

In summary: Be kinder than necessary to whomever you’re working with. Everybody has something they are dealing with.

 

Other posts in the Lessons Learned Series:

 Whose lawn are you mowing?

So I’m fifty years old and I am the co-founder of two technology companies which are 10 years old, as of March 1, 2009. And I am writing a “blog”.  I have no background in technology, I have no traditional college degrees and I’m not an expert on all we do or how we do it.  So what’s up with that?  Let me share a little secret: it is all about the people.

On March 1, 1999, I walked into a building at 69th and Grover in Omaha, Nebraska and officially opened Data Media Solutions Inc. (DMS).  My wife, Heidi, our two daughters, Kiley and Kristy, and I made up Team DMS.  I recall phoning Heidi that first morning and telling her I had never- I was forty at the time- felt more exhilarated in my life. We did not have a Web site or Internet access.  We had two computers, not networked.  We’d never heard of such a thing.  We were ill prepared for success.

So you have a forty year old, former meter reader, former janitor, former laborer, former coal handler, former heavy equipment operator, former glass salesman, former warehouse manager entering a business most competent folks would say I had no business entering.   So how’d we get this far?  Why have we succeeded, to the degree we have (we have a long way to go), when most small business start ups fail?

Why?

People!

Now I could end this blog here and you could probably figure out what I mean.  But, I will share what my experiences have taught me and why “people” are the keys to our success.

DMS is a provider of all things technological, from a floppy disk to a server.  Remember the floppy? We used to sell them by the pallet. Ask your dad if you’re not sure what they were.  The “floppy” is a perfect vehicle for illustrating this point. We sold floppy disks to people who soon purchased CDs.  We sold truckloads of VHS tapes to folks who then switched to DVD.  We sold them too; as well as DAT tapes and all sorts of hardware and software necessary to make “peoples’” businesses viable.

I digress. Oh yeah, people. There are so many.  But we’ll keep it simple.  Let’s start with Bob.  He introduced me to Allen. Allen helped me put the organizational parts of DMS together.  Our first client, Carrie:  She purchased a Zip drive and some Zip disks. Tim, he told me that any business worth owning needed to be part of the total fabric of our community.  We are.  Larry (not his real name), he introduced me to Leon just prior to heading to prison.  Leon taught us what computer networking was, and high-speed, and the Internet and so on and so forth.  He also became the co-founding partner of Jelecos; an acronym for Jeff and Leon’s Companies.  Theresa saved the whole enchilada by coming in several years ago and cleaning up the mess that people like me make in business.  People like John, Renee, Craig, Andy, Todd, Kristyl, Kristy, Jules and more contributed.  Oh, and Jack.  He thinks he’s a person.

I am told that today people working on a four year degree in IT will be taught things in year one which will be obsolete by year three. With scenarios like this unfolding across the world it is easy to discern that people are the key to success.

This is part one of a series of ramblings from an old man - old man by this industry’s standard.  Stay tuned for part two…