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Envelope Please

As a child, I watched the Academy Awards every year with my parents. Back when there were four TV channels, it was a big treat to stay up late and see the stars in all their splendor. I recall George C. Scott and Marlon Brando refusing to accept Best Actor Oscars for their performances in Patton and The Godfather. I remember Bob Hope returning after a 10-year absence to host the 50th ceremony and Johnny Carson doing an outstanding job hosting five times from 1978-1983.

The tradition continues with my family. Kathy and I always have enjoyed watching during our nearly quarter century of marriage. Our eldest daughter is a big film buff – and since she boomeranged home after graduating from college, we had the pleasure of watching the 85th edition with her. The glamour and glitz displayed Sunday night – from ‘Who are you wearing?’ questions on the Red Carpet, to the many musical production numbers, to the appearances of legends like Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand – continued the long history of celebrating the magic of Hollywood.

One thing that dawned on me as I watched is how much emphasis we, as a society, place on winning. Getting nominated isn’t good enough – and the ‘non-winners’ are quickly forgotten. Want proof? In 2009, Slumdog Millionaire received the Oscar for Best Picture: name one other film nominated. OK, that was hard. Here’s an easier one: The San Francisco Giants won the World Series last October – who did they beat?

Competition is great. Awards are important. Victory feels terrific. However, Vince Lombardi might have been wrong when he said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Perhaps commitment is what we should celebrate. So the next time you want to motivate employees, don’t create a competition to reward whoever finishes first. Focus on the effort.

By the way, when Jennifer Lawrence stumbled on her dress while ascending the steps to accept her Best Actress award, you may have noticed only one person in the audience jumped out of his seat to assist her. That gentleman displayed the humility and realness of a regular guy, not some Hollywood elitist – which is why I’ll be rooting for Hugh Jackman to win his first Academy Award the next time he’s up for an Oscar.

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Super Results

Yesterday, Joe Flacco awakened as simply another among the long list of quarterbacks who would start their first Super Bowl. Today, he’s going to Walt Disney World – at least that’s what he said in the commercial I saw at 5:22 a.m. on ESPN2 – then he’ll soon walk into Ravens owner Steve Biscotti’s office and say, “Time to pay up, sir.”

Reports are the Super Bowl MVP, who just completed the five-year contract he signed out of college, could warrant a new deal approaching $125 million for six seasons. Perhaps the only other person getting that big of a raise today is Beyoncé, who sold lots of songs and concerts tickets with her outstanding halftime performance.

Of course, the money to pay for all that talent comes from many sources, most importantly the always skyrocketing rights fees from network television. While the NFL is having a strong conversation today with the Superdome about what caused that 34-minute power outage, at least the 49ers’ comeback kept a bigger portion of the audience around to watch those $3.8 million, 30-second commercials late in the game.

One of the problems Super Bowl champions have is replicating success the following year. Businesses, too, struggle to continue to outperform expectations – quarter over quarter in the public sector and year over year among smaller companies. Sometimes, the best approach may be to go with proven strategies (i.e., don’t let the quarterback escape to free agency); otherwise, you might experience something like a ticked-off goat that’s frustrated by your change of plans.

For the record, the folks at our party laughed loudest at these commercials:

M&M’s – “I would do anything for love”
Audi – Prom Black Eye
Bud Light – Stevie Wonder Voodoo
Taco Bell – “We are young” Senior Citizens
Axe – Lifeguard/Astronaut
NFL – Leon Sandcastle
Tide – Montanaland

There was a lot of respect for the Jeep ad saluting the military and the Dodge Ram spot featuring Paul Harvey’s ode to farmers. However, the XLVII ad that brought the biggest response in our house was Budweiser’s Clydesdale reunion. You never go wrong sticking with the horses.

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Natural Selection

Yesterday I wrote about the great work Angel’s Lawn Service did sprucing up our shrubs and plants. The business lesson of that tale is the importance of taking a look at your organization with fresh eyes – and there is no better time than the beginning of spring, which comes to Houston far earlier than most of the country… much of which is currently in a deep freeze.

Angel’s crew left two of our pieces of greenery untouched at my instructions. One is the Knockout Roses in the backyard. I always cut those back on Valentine’s Day (because it’s easy to remember) and they grow and bloom throughout the year. The other is the evergreen vines that cover a trellis outside our kitchen window.

These are über vines. During growing season I trim them twice a month… as it seems they add two inches a night. A few weeks ago we were standing at the sink and I told my wife it looks like someone took a machete and hacked away at the top. Suddenly, a squirrel poked its head out and we realized she had chewed through to clear space for a nest behind the wood.

Now the cut vines are turning brown and dropping leaves. I realize the wise thing to do would be to clear the nest. (Assuming, of course, I don’t get bitten in the process.) However, I decided to let nature take its course, so sometime in the next 45 days we’ll have squirrel babies… each, one inch and one ounce. After a few months they’ll venture out on their own and play many games of chase in our trees this summer.

So, what’s this business lesson? Simple. Sometimes it’s best to leave things alone. Being a change agent doesn’t mean you have to change everything.

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Better View

Since we bought our first home in Fort Worth some 21 years ago, I’ve always done the yard work. When we moved to Houston in 1998, I discovered ‘spring cleaning’ occurs in February, so each year on or about Super Bowl weekend, I rake up many bags of leaves, pull weeds, trim shrubs and crepe myrtles, mow and edge the grass and put out mulch. All told, it’s a full two days’ labor. Tired arms and allergies arrive on Monday.

For several years my now-18-year-old son has been a big help. However, he’s down and out recovering from knee surgery that ended his basketball season. With the loss of his youthful endurance and my crowded schedule, I decided to outsource this year’s project to our neighbor’s yard service.

I called Angel last Sunday. He came to look things over that afternoon and gave me a reasonable quote. On Tuesday, his crew of four arrived and spent five hours working non-stop outside my home office window that faces the street and in our backyard. I left before they finished for our daughter’s basketball game – (lots of high school hoops for this house!) – so the first time I saw the results of their hard work was at morning’s light. Wow!

Angel’s team transformed our plants into artistic creations. Instead of one continuous hedge, now we have plants that stand out for their individual beauty. Angel’s vision for our flowerbeds was far beyond anything I ever considered. Instead of just another house on the block, I’m thinking our home has a shot at being the neighborhood’s next Yard of the Month.

Fresh eyes and new viewpoints are essential for long-term business success. So, as winter turns to spring in your community – and all things become green again – perhaps you would do well to take a cue from Angel and reshape what’s grown together and grown stale in your organization. You’ll be surprised how much impact a little trimming provides.

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Lessons Learned – Lagniappe

On this New Year’s Day, one more important lesson I learned during 2012:

K82wJz7Vn3L2G – We received a recall notice for the hard drive on the iMac I use to write these newsletters. As requested, I made an appointment and carried this computer into the local Apple store. There I learned the backlog of repair orders meant they ‘might have it completed’ in four days. Clearly, that wasn’t going to work, so I packed up and took it back to the office.

The next day Apple sent an email asking about my customer experience. I shared disappointment they couldn’t do the repair in a way that would keep our business operating efficiently. Within 24 hours, a rep called to thank me and to say they would work with us on the timing. A few days later the store manager called and said if I had it there at 8:45 p.m., they would put in a new hard drive and we could pick it up the next morning. I did. They did.

When I returned home and plugged it in, Kathy asked, ‘Where’s the old hard drive?’ I had no idea – then she said, what about all of our passwords? I’m not a techie, but there did seem to be a security risk, and while I trust Apple employees, who knows where that hard drive ended up. So I went to work changing every password… and you can imagine how long that took.

Fortunately, researchers have discovered how you move your phone to your ear is as distinct as a fingerprint: the speed and angle impossible to replicate. Soon you may not need all those random sets of numbers and letters for passwords. Your hand movement or how you sit will replace them. That will make a wonderful Christmas present someday!

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