Polly Pearson's Blog

"Honesty" is the new "Bold" in PR

Public Relations is generally known as "spin."  The exciting -- and oddly very bold -- opportunity in today's PR world comes down to one word:

 

"HONESTY."

 

Few management teams will be able to pull it off.  Few corporate lawyers will allow it. It goes against every protectionist bone in our suits. Thus, the even greater opportunity to stand out if deployed.

The market is transparent now. Your customers communicate with each other whether you like it or not. News, good or bad, gets out.  

Every sale takes both a buyer and a seller. In this 21st Century market, the two sides of that coin are now equals.

The best way to manage this is ultimately transparent market is not to fight it -- but to leverage it.

The social phenomenon is based on relationships and honesty. Success is having a trusted brand.

Every brand is subject to the social phenomenon.

Where are you in this dynamic?

• Ignoring it?
• Fighting it?
• Leveraging it?

The best salespeople (those with an eye on business longevity) have leveraged honesty since the beginning of time. Could it be time for the C-suite and PR folks to bravely do the same?

Google has had some massive play with its "Do no evil" mantra. Imagine if that were true?

It will takes truck loads of courage for any company to pull this off, and lines will have to be drawn in certain places, in the realm of disclosure, for example  -- but it could be really cool.

------------------- Talk Back -----------------

 

Would you, as a consumer, appreciate an honest dialog with the brands you favor?

Do you see opportunity to stand out in your competitive circle by being honest with the marketplace?

What are the risks? Will the reward exceed the risk?

Which brands are doing this today?

 

-- Polly Pearson

www.pollypearson.com

@PollyPearson on Twitter

 

 

What Does Branding Have to do with Culture, or *Gasp* Human Resources?

I scratch my head to this day that my professional life currently sits at the intersection of  brand, culture and human resources.  How did a business-centric, brand relations pro get caught up in HR?

Luck, mostly.  But I'm convinced that those three elements, together, are key to making a major impact in the modern organization. With social-everything, the power of your company brand is in the hands of "the people" more than ever. Are your people and your culture included in your brand strategy? They better be.

Branding, and what your brand shouts, needs to start in the heart of your organization.

 

Really?

I was delighted to see a post this week in FastCompany.com called, "Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch" by Shawn Parr ("The Guvner & CEO of Bulldog Drummond,") which outlines how the skills and disciplines of each of these areas come together to make magic.

I've been involved in big brand work both with, and without, the people/culture/HR side of the equation as part of the strategy. When the "brand people" alone were involved, we could show the optics of success, but the emotions of the people never came along for the ride. That oversight set us up for years of pain internally, and years of "two-or three-sides-to-the-story" in front of customers.

The next time I addressed the brand subject in a big, concerted, way, I was involved from the inside, in a Total Customer Experience role that bridged both marketing, business analytics folks, and human resources, and looked at our behavior from the eyes of the customer. This also brought great results, and won back a ton of business -- but, candidly it wore the cloak of a corporate initiative more than it wore the sustained cultural fabric of passion. Like most corporate initiatives, it started with a bang, and wore on over time.

The third time was a charm, and personal favorite. It focused on the people of the company, and enabled them to BE the brand.  Human Resources, Marketing and Passionate Employees Everywhere had the big seats at the table for this work. The approach took significantly fewer budget dollars, was more fun (even for the customers, prospects, and potential employees) and continues to offer sustainable, visible impact. Unlike a classic corporate initiative, this approach starts nicely, and grows sweeter over time.

Brand always begins on the inside.  The smart companies, IMHO, take the time to embrace that reality.

Suggestion:  Elevate your brand by getting to know your true brand first. The one your employees either praise or swear at. Include your employees in your vision and brand goals.  Then enjoy it as THEY make it theirs, and make it happen with more glory than your millions can buy.

 

--------------- TALK BACK ------------------

Any great brand building tips or strategies for the new era from you?

Serendipitously enough, as I was image searching for a photo to add to this post, I found this blog post, "Culture Isn't Enough," on the same subject by the fascinating Denise Lee Yohn.  Excellent read.

 

-- Polly Pearson
@PollyPearson
pearson_polly@gmail.com

When Silos Don't Speak: a Leadership and "Social" Opportunity

It isn't just your company -- a common denominator I'm finding in my work with small and large companies alike, is that communication across business silos is a major issue. And it is an issue that, in the context of business dynamics today, is GROWING. I hear phrases like "the leaders don't talk with one another" and the mission of our company is "lacking clarity" all the time. Sound familiar?

Executives, perhaps surprisingly, are yearning for more clarity of direction and overall connection to the greater organization even more than line-employees.  (I suspect the line-employees are used to feeling a bit left out -- executives are not.)

I was called on to help with just such a situation of company-wide low "strategy engagement," shortly after the prior recession. Below I'll share two strategies which were deployed. One worked, one did not.

PLAN A: Data, and a Tops-Down Approach.

After a series of one-on-one interviews with the company executives to understand and validate the problem, I started with an analytical approach. Essential information about the company's, and its business units' annual and quarterly goals, priorities, and objectives was documented in an easy to read format -- everything "on a page" with hyperlinks to drill downs. Visability into how goals did, or did not, dovetail with one another and the overarching company priorities was part of the design. (Don't assume this information is written down until someone asks for it!) I quickly found that divisional leaders were eager to see the document. That's right about where this particular approach ended.

It didn't work.

Despite high praise for the work from the most data-stringent of the executives, and an executive round-table reviewing the data where they outlined the next session where they would go deeper, and start having "prioritizing talks" -- the body of work became a hot potato doomed to be roadkill. 

[*This company certainly had constructive strategy-dovetailing conversations down the line. My point here is that is this was not the ideal place to START when you want the company to start communicating, getting more connected with one another, and the greater mission.]

PLAN B: Emotion, and an All-Around Approach

Plan B came about almost by happen-stance. After about six months into the job of "Strategy Engagement," I found myself helping out a division articulate the value prop of their organization for recruiting purposes.

This exercise prompted some community-involved conversations about what they, as individuals, looked for in an ideal job, and what inspired them to work there.  The "inspire" word was the key to the kingdom.  What emerged when asked that question was visceral. 

Thus began the more bottoms-up and community-based "Strategy Engagement" work -- which, when paired with social technology and BEHAVIOR, greatly fanned the flames of cross-silo communication, innovation, revenue generation, and more.

What was at the core of Plan B? Two Things.

1.  "Social Media at Work" 
   
   The company had a nascent internal social network at the time. My role, and that of many others at the company, became one of listening, genuine participation, sharing, facilitating, and removing of road blocks in the way of goodness.
   
   When enabled and welcomed to do so, employees embrace communicating with one another!  When they feel safe to share, they will share ideas that will spawn wonderous cross-silo communication -- and as a result, community spirit will take root and grow.
2. LEADERSHIP STYLE 
   
   The leadership increasingly displayed a self-less/ego-less style and avoided trying to control the conversation.  They learned to listen more to the "global genius" of the workforce, before calling the play. 
   
   Reminds me of something I heard from Jack Welch of GE fame, once:  He described his role as "Leader" by saying, "I walk around with fertilizer and water." 
   
   When this leadership style is blended with the tool of social networking at work, amazing things happen!

RESULTS?

After just two to three years of Plan B's leadership-enabled organic growth -- one marked with inclusion, "water & fertilizer leadership," and social technology -- this particular company (EMC) was rewarded with results which included record levels of employee satisfaction, product innovation, customer satisfaction, market share, and revenue.

MOST ADMIRED COMPANY

And another thing:  Continued respect.

The people who conduct the survey behind FORTUNE's Most Admired Companies once shared with me their findings on the single most important factor to STAYING on that list:  "cross-silo collaboration." 

----------------- TALK BACK------------------------

What is your company doing -- or not doing -- to help enable cross-silo communication and collaboration? 

Is it a challenge where you work? 

If you would like to explore this subject more for your business or consulting practice, feel free to contact me.

Thanks for engaging.

 

-- Polly Pearson 
pearsonpolly@gmail.com
@pollypearson on Twitter
http://www.pollypearson.com

Workplace 2.0: Timeline, Year TWO

The prior two posts covered Year ONE.  Now, the following is a look at Year TWO, 2007.

 

TALK TRACK:

2007

RESEARCH -- TOOLS & CULTURE:

"Look with Honesty."

From the Employment Brand side of things, I was tasked by Jack Mollen, EVP of HR, to look "with honesty" at the culture, and on the perceptions of EMC as a place to work -- our strengths and our weaknesses. We had an eye to promote our strengths of course, and to improve our weaknesses.  I surveyed our recruiters and recall that they reported perceptions of EMC, in the negative column, as being "old school; old processes; bureaucratic." The positive column had attributes such as "Results-driven, Successful, Brand leader, Financially Strong."

I met with a half dozen agencies on the HR and Marketing side of things to learn what other companies were doing to enhance their employment brands.  In my opinion, there were not a lot of best practices to leverage -- for the EMC culture, at any rate. (posters, mugs, and/or expensive and deep process changes need not apply.)

INTERNAL ENTHUSIASTS

Meanwhile, there were several pockets of people and activity taking place internally with social networks. Examples: in our CTO office with an Innovation Network; in our Content Management Group with Developer Networks; and in HR (yes, HR!) with an internal Ning platform for internal collaboration, and with career fairs in the virtual world collaboration platform, Second Life. There were also a few people who were  blogging (I started around then), or who simply "got this world" and started to gravitate toward the conversation.

Major sides of the house were coming to the same essential conclusion -- and IT was bending over backwards to figure out ways to help, while keeping the IT infrastructure secure.

Momentum toward 2.0 was building -- but in an un-unified (schizophrenic?) manner.

MARKETING, HR and IT (and more Enthusiasts) CONNECT

The bloggers and project skunk works taking place in Marketing, HR, in the Field, and in the Tech groups started becoming aware of one another's activities, and began sharing their breakthroughs and tips. More and more social media light bulbs started to turn on in workgroups, and with leaders, around the company. We began bouncing ideas off one another and collaborating on projects -- a major one being our first, (internal) Global Innovation Idea Contest & Conference, where Don Tapscott, author of Wikinomics, was our keynote speaker.

A "cease-exploration and experimentation" of sorts was called by Q3 of 2007, and we were all encouraged to focus on our efforts toward a singular internal social network and build from there. We called this platform EMC|ONE.  Everyone interested was encouraged to join an email distribution list where we posed questions, voiced concerns, debated answers, and made streamlined decisions on the experiment.  We discussed subjects such as "what communities should we launch on the network?"  

[Answer:  WE don't launch any. The people participating in the network decide what community groups to launch.]  

I can not recall even ONE physical meeting during these "incubation of the internal social network idea" days.  We had participants in the string from all over the world, and from multiple areas of the company. Titles made little or no difference in the debates. We were operating with the unsaid desire to do the right thing for the business, and in the process, stretched our individual resolve with "trust," over individual opinion and/or organizational constructs.  

[Example:  I recall the debate around having people learn 2.0 norms first "inside our firewall," vs. having it be cool for anyone and everyone to participate "externally" on behalf of EMC immediately as well.  I was in the "inside and outside" immediately camp. I listened to the views of others, got over what I thought was optimal, and trusted the conviction of others to go with/encourage the "inside first" behavior model. In retrospect, I believe the "inside first" decision was the right one. While building the 2.0 skills of our workforce, I see the biggest benefit was actually the side effect of encouraging the formation of deeper, trusting relationships between the people of the company, (aka the EMC family) -- which has served the company very well once the EMCers started engaging "outside" the firewall.]

Check out the white paper Chuck Hollis wrote which covers 2007 & 2008 key decisions and approaches rather well, including points on the business case (or not), and the tech decisions. Chuck was an early leader and an evangelist on our journey.

See also the recent blog post on EMC's 2007 journey by EMC's WebMaster, Len DeVanna for the platform story. Len was an early leader as well, and had the added responsibility of actually managing the tech platform, the user experience, and building community participation.

EMC|ONE SOFT LAUNCH & PURCHASE OF SOFTWARE SEATS

Three of my favorite elements from the Marketing/Chuck and Len side of the journey were,

1. "This is about social media proficiency within workforce as the key focus area."
2. "We should figure out this space before our competitors do."
3. "Funding for this is like a rounding error to our coffee budget." 

The marketing group handled the (un-budgeted) cost question by buying software seats in small lots, expanding the purchase as the network was discovered and used ... and along the way by building and exceeding expectations. The soft launch of this tool -- word of mouth only -- was brilliant.

... to be continued

------------------- Talk Back ------------------------

Is there anything here, so far, that catches you off-guard, or of particular interest to you and your journey?

For me, a person generally affiliated with the Marketing side of the business, but was actually part of the HR organization at the time, I couldn't believe that the employees/workforce side of things was actually an area of interest from Marketing people. Marketing folks are ALWAYS focused on the customer, the products, and the competition, right?

Why did customer-centric marketing people care about employees?

They realized that if our people did not have the skills to engage externally in this 2.0 manner, we would be out-flanked by our competitors.  They saw this as a skill that could and should be learned first inside (where it is better to make a mistake) ... so that when they're ready to go "outside" we'll know how to do it -- engage with customers and prospects -- well!  Along the way, it was realized that there was an even BIGGER benefit to engaging first on the inside: 

The hearts, minds and PASSION of engaged people are bigger than any sales & marketing budget on Earth.

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson on Twitter

Workplace 2.0: Timeline, Year ONE

My prior post kicking off the Timeline of one company's  2.0 journey prompted sharing of more perspective on what was happening at our company around the time we got motivated to move down this road.  See the following from Chuck Hollis:

Comments

Chuck Hollis said...

Great perspective, Polly.

If we're thinking about 2006, I'd add a bit more context to what was going on at the time.

-- we had about a dozen or so "skunkworks" social media things floating around the company, none being done particularly well.

-- as a result of rampant acquisition and globalization, it felt more like an army of fiefdoms, rather than one company; we couldn't connect ourselves internally for a variety of reasons.

-- and, as our external conversations were getting richer, we were increasingly frustrated by our inability to connect the inside and outside of our company using traditional 1.0 means.

-- frustration levels were rising exponentially across the business; we needed a new type of answer.

You're right -- the BOD meeting was in many ways the "tipping point" -- it gave us the license to look at this strategically vs. tactically.

But many of the underlying forces were well in play.

Thanks for writing this down!

-- Chuck

_______________________________________________

I'm happy Chuck shared this.  It prompted me to look for a one-page report I wrote for the EVP of HR, Jack Mollen -- dateline May, 2006.  Jack had recently tasked me with "Strategy Engagement" and his problem statement was, simply, 

"The company revenue is back on track, the strategy is getting high marks from the marketplace, but it doesn't feel "hot" in the hallways.  Why?"

Adding to the backdrop, our employee motivation and satisfaction scores were not improving in tandem with the business results, and scores were not good in areas relating to employee connection with the company strategy.

The report I wrote for Jack was a one-page situation analysis.  It contained the findings of a research project I did to better understand the state of disconnect we were looking at.  I figured we couldn't start to solve it, until we knew, in the most honest and genuine fashion, what was on the minds of our leaders.   So I set up one-on-ones with about 25 VPs who I believed would share their most candid thoughts.  The results were potent.

Following is the core of the report:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 10, 2006

Challenge: 

 

EMC complexity, many moving parts, and pace of the business is resulting in a sub-optimal level of information sharing and engagement with and between our VPs, and follow on information flow to their organizations. Select VP quote:

 

 “We have VPs here with millions and millions in budget who have no idea as to the ramifications of their actions on other organizations.”

 

On a score of 1-5 with 5 being superior, VP’s score their ability to be fully leveraged and engaged in the business based on the information they have at a 2-3.

 

VPs are requesting:

-          At least 2 face to face meetings per year

-          Webcasts/Webseminars, perhaps quarterly, on topics of significance.

-          Regular communication that identifies top business developments and puts it in context from an executive viewpoint.

-          Visibility and clarity as to the near-term and long-term strategies and goals of EMC and its major organizations/lines of business.

-          Arranged social interaction time with their peers.

 

As for content of the face to face meetings, one SVP outlined the following:

 

“Strategy development and deployment. -- Easy to develop it; hard to execute on it.”

o       Review challenges facing the business

o       Cover how do we collectively meet the requirements that we’ve signed ourselves up for? For example, if software missed its number, how can my organization’s business perhaps help it?

o       Where can we get synergies across the business?

o       How do we make it look like one EMC?

o       Where are the operational efficiencies?”

--------------------------------------------

Looking at the report I can't help but make a mental bookmark on our still very hierarchical thinking in terms of information sharing; and be VERY PROUD of how far we've come.

-------------------- TALK BACK --------------------

EMCers, do you remember this time?  We had put forth a singular EMC strategy to our customers, "Information Lifecycle Management," yet we were still acting like several distinct companies inside and outside of our company walls.  

It was very hard on all of us.  We are an engaged culture of passionate, innovative people who focus on successful results.  I think there was a funky mood in the hallways because we all knew we weren't operating as cohesively as we could. But how to solve it?

We're far from perfect today of course, but gosh are things so, so, so, so much better! We ended the year 2009, of course, with a quarter showing RECORD revenue and customer satisfaction, as well as RECORD employee engagement.

-- Polly Pearson
- http://www.pollypearson.com
@PollyPearson on Twitter

The New Important Currency

I saw a futurist recently recap a conversation she had at Davos with a room full of CFOs.  She asked them, "What is the second most dominant currency in the world?"

Not one of them got it right.

Can you?

The answer might make you think about a lot of things -- such as marketing, product offers and pricing, and even employee incentives.

THE ANSWER: 

POINTS

 

------------- Talk Back --------------

Make sense?

Virtual Money.

Bartered money of a sort.

Consumer-centric, consumer-decision-friendly money.

Globally-friendly money.

Airlines and credit card companies have been using it for years.

10 FREE RESOURCES for your Journey with Social Media in the Enterprise and Employee Engagement

My friend Allan Steinmetz of Inward Strategic Consulting and I just finished a Webcast featuring EMC's story on building an employment brand and engaging employees by leveraging web 2.0 and social media behaviors /tools.

I discussed how the body of work started, our strategic approach, how the brand was built out across multiple mediums and social properties, and how along the way organic brand ambassadors emerged and started making real magic happen.

This topic always draws a large audience and today was no exception. 

For those who want to start the social media/Web 2.0 behavior and tool movement at your company, I thought I'd share a few resources which could help:

• 1st:  This white paper, "A Journey in Social Media," by EMC VP and Marketing CTO Chuck Hollis.  Chuck was instrumental in this movement at EMC and kindly dedicated his personal cycles to pulling some of our strategic inflection points, key learnings, and approaches together in this white paper.  The white paper is marked "draft" and his promises likely typos within it -- no matter, this is GOLD for anyone about to start the journey. It is a superb documentation which should save you a ton of headaches and unnecessary consultant fees. It is also filled with the type of frankness you just don't seen enough in business.  Like this, which addresses the likely request for a business case,  an ROI justification, or another means to counter the concerns of your Chief-Apprehensive-Executive.

One of our most effective justification techniques tended to be slightly manipulative given our corporate culture.  We frequently pointed out to people that -- due to the extremely competitive nature of EMC and our business -- we would not want to be in a situation where our competitors had a significant competitive advantage through social media proficiency that we did not have. People tended to understand that concept in a very visceral manner.   ---->  I love that explanation! It is very "real world."

• 2nd: The blog, "Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang." Jeremiah is the top rated analyst in the social media and the enterprise space.  He has the top blog on the subject, has been named the top (and most trusted) analyst on Twitter ... and puts out non-stop gems via his Twitter feed and blog.
• 3rd:  The blog, a Journey in Social Media.  Chuck Hollis documented EMC's journey over the first year or so on this blog.  He doesn't post any longer, but the content is awesome and could answer lots of questions for those companies of this FORTUNE 500-size.
• 4th: The blog, "Confessions of an eBiz Junkie."  It is written by EMC's Web Master -- the guy behind those .com, and Knowledge Management Platforms of the '90s ... which are morphing into the social platforms of the 21st Century. Len has been the guy getting his hands dirty in this technical stuff from the beginning -- and today serves as our head Social Media Strategist as well. Check out his tag cloud on this blog -- that will give you a feel for what he writes about all the time. I think you'll enjoy following his work.
• 5th: The blog, "Social Media Musings."  It is written by EMC's Jamie Pappas, Len's parter in social media strategy and the woman who was chief community manager and chief Road Show Pitch Person at every staff meeting at EMCin the early 2.0 days doing show & tell on how this social network thing worked. Jamie is in the top professional organizations and can give you the inside scoop on worthy and waste-of-time things to consider as you move forward.
• 6th:  My blog, "Building and Branding Careers, Culture and Cool."  Hardly  a post goes by here where I don't reference the positive transformation evidence at play in cultures, careers, brands, and business strategy as a result of the behavior models and tools in our 2.0 world.  This blog provides case studies and stories, along with strategy and reports on our latest thinking with regard to engaging people and building brands.

And for those individuals who are still on the journey of understanding how this all works and getting personally comfortable with the tools and the career benefits, I recommend these resources:

• 7th:  The blog, "Community and Social Media," by Chris Brogan. Chris offers a ton of free eBooks, a free newsletter and a very friendly blogging style which taught me a lot. Now he's a top consultant, and author in this area as well.
• 8th:  The "blog roll" of every one of the above blogs.  This is generally a list, listed on the right or left rail of the blog, of the favorite blogs these authors read. Poke around in there. See who these people are following.
• 9th:  Twitter. Sign up and then leverage Twitter Lists or Twitter Search and type in words like "Social Media."  Follow the pre-populated lists of people who write about that subject.  Save Twitter, or a more robust version like "Tweet Deck" on your desktop.  Visit it a couple times a day -- like when you need a stretch from email.  See what content the gurus in this space are attaching, forwarding, and talking about.  You'll be up-to-the minute in no time!  
• 10th:  Google Reader. This is your new daily newspaper and on-line mentor for how this world works. You pop all these blogs onto this one space, set it as your home page, and experience the learning start to happen!  If you have an internet-enabled mobile device, be sure to bookmark your Google reader so you can have your "newspaper" with you where ever you go!

Okay, that's 10 Free Resources that will get you smart in no time. I'm talking about 30-60 days if you dedicate just a little bit of time each day on your Google Reader (it will also suggest blogs to you as well, based on who and what you show an interest in!), and on your Tweet Deck. You'll learn even faster if you join the discussions, post a comment and -- horrors -- start a blog.

For those who have a decent Gen Y dynamic at play in your company, here's a bonus:

• #11:  Personal Branding Blog.  Get in the head of the 2.0 movement via this blog's 20-something leader, author, speaker, and career counselor, Dan Schawbel. Dan has been my reverse mentor and chief cheerleader in gaining a hands-on experience in this space.  I encourage you to get a reverse mentor of your own (someone of any age or rank who gets excited about this subject and clearly seems to 'get it.') Until you get that person, subscribe to Dan's blog. It is loaded with fresh research and insights and shows you how this 2.0 world can put a brand, including a personal brand, on steroids.

-------------------- Talk Back -------------------------

What are your favorite free resources?

-- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
@pollypearson.com

Learning, Innovation and Career Choices: Does Company Size Matter?

Last night I got together with EMC's Dr. Burt Kaliski, a senior member of EMC's Office of the CTO, and a rock star in the realm of collaboration with the top minds in global academia and tech.

(It was in a meeting with Burt back in early 2007 when we were planning our first Idea Contest and Innovation Conference that the light bulb went on my head on the power of Web 2.0 collaboration. My professional life hasn't been the same since.)

As we were going over the design of the 2009 Conference, Burt talked about how the size of EMC as a company is perfect for learning and application of knowledge.  Really? I hadn't considered that. 

He compared a company of our scale to a smaller company, where he used to spend his days.  "Everyone there knows the same things," he said.  He compared our company to a much larger entity, and said something along the lines of "That company is so massive, it would be miraculous if an internal collaboration network like our own could come off the ground. Ideas and people get lost."

 Here, he tells the story through the lens of our innovation project at hand:  (turn up your system's volume, please. My error.)

Juicy stuff.  The type of thing, now that I think about it, that Steve Todd often writes about over on The Information Playground  and in his new book, Innovate with Influence.  Steve compares every new EMC invention and every new acquisition as a type of toy he gets to think about relative to what is in his toy box. What if he mixed this with that? Could that combination solve a customer problem in a new and needed way?  I get that. I just never thought of it relative to the "have nots" or "have too much" companies of the world.

Career Choices and The Toy Box

It made me think of a conversation I had over the weekend with a friend, and former EMCer. He's at  another company now. It has about 100 employees.  This former EMCer's body language slumped visibly when he told me about all the collaboration they don't do, in part, because the company is so small. Everyone knows each other, and yet at the same time, they fear sharing. It is run in a total command and control manner. New ideas need not apply.

Can you imagine having a large toy box filled with diverse ideas to play with, and then having just one toy, one idea, one color, to tinker with, all inside of a box that someone else defined?

--------------------- Talk Back ---------------------

What is your experience in innovating, learning and company size?

I thought Burt's words, and the former EMCer's words were compelling relative to the EMC experience and triangulated well with the many interviews I have done with people where I asked them, "What is inspiring or compelling about working at EMC?"  The most common answer is this: "At EMC, I get to innovate (or solve problems) every day."  THAT is what people mean when they call EMCers "Intrapreneurs."  Love that.

- Polly Pearson
http://www.pollypearson.com
http://twitter.com/pollypearson
http://twitter.com/emccareers
http://www.emcfacebook.com

The Ultimate Entrepreneurial Intent ... and The Start of EMC

 

I've mentioned a few times here the "E" in EMC, Dick Egan.

He's made a huge impression on my life. Working for him was the best motivational experience of my professional career.  There were no limits to what could be accomplished. In fact, he used to say that roadblocks were thrills in disguise.

Over the years, journalists and MBA students have often queried me on how EMC got started or heard that EMC got its start in the furniture business. The latter is interesting, because I know full well that Dick never had any intent to launch or build a furniture business.  He did, however, have ...

THE ULTIMATE ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENT 
to get a business going and make a ton of money.

 

On Thanksgiving morning I received an email from an EMCer working on her MBA asking for the "start of EMC" story and mentioning the furniture business.  I suddenly recalled an interview with Dick in our employee publication, EMC.NOW, on how we got started. Who better to tell the story than Dick, himself?  The interview was done in 1999 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of our founding.  Monya Keane, Editor in Chief, conducted the interview and has since produced the goods, as follows:

**BEGIN EXCERPT**
 
    DICK EGAN:  But anyway...okay, so the first one is frugality on the office furniture.  I think you’ve all heard this story.  We started the company, Roger and I.  And there was sort of a third guy.  We used to meet in my basement in Wellesley and we all had jobs.  All of us knew each other but we all worked in three different companies. And the fellow, the C, he decided last minute, not to come.

 Why did we want to start a company?  We were, I think, in some cases, in our early forties or approaching forties and we felt that we could do it because we had worked with a lot of people that had started companies.  And we felt that we were as capable as they were.  

     But we didn’t have an invention or a product idea or a market concept.  That is, a market that needed a product or service.  But we wanted to start our own company.  Somewhere in my history I had helped a friend start a manufacturer's representative organization.  At the time, Roger was a manufacturer's representative, and we saw this as the quickest and lowest-cost way to get into business. 

     Starting a manufacturer's representative organization really requires little or no capital equipment.  It does however; require office space, phones, a desk, a file cabinet.  So we started the company and went out to solicit a principal: Principal is the generic term that one applies to the manufacturer or provider of the product or service as opposed to "customers," who just then sell them.

     One of my friends, a guy I knew from California, had an office-furniture company, and he had developed furniture which he wanted to sell to computer users because it made a good workstation.  He made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, but we didn’t want to do it.

     We started the company: Roger and I were the owners, but we actually started with a third fellow who wasn’t an owner.  He was an engineer who worked for me at Intel back East.  So among the three of us I think there were five electrical engineering degrees.  

 And here was my friend wanting us to sell furniture!  I remember telling, I think it was Howard Wasson, I said Howard, “We’re all double E’s; we don’t want to do this!”   He said, “Hey, take the furniture; see what you can do with it. And by the way, it’s fifty-five percent gross margin for you!”  I said, “Howard, maybe we’ll do it, maybe we won’t.”  He said, “Hey, you’ve got to furnish your office; I’ll give you all samples.”  And that’s how we furnished our office.

 And we made a shitload of money.

 

 

**END EXCERPT**

 

I don't think they sold computer desks for more than 6 months. I do know that Dick used that free metal computer desk during his entire career at EMC, even while moving up the list of FORBES 400 Richest Americans list. 

----------------- Talk Back -------------------

Thoughts on this entrepreneurial story? 

I thought this story is nifty on a few notes -- but perhaps most of all on Dick's ability not to be snotty on how he brought in money to launch his real dream.

I can't say the same for myself. I've only had one resume in my life. I used it to get my first PR job, which happened to be at EMC in 1991. I was 25 at the time. On this resume I edited some work experience out.  I was embarrassed and felt this work experience did not reflect on who I truly was. The edit? I was an "Office Manager" for an "Office Products" start up company.  (I started this company with my uncle during the day while I finished my degree at night.) Office products are terribly unsexy, don't you think?

How funny is it that even today, EMC's government issued SIC code indicating what industry we participate in is, "Office Products!"  I still don't consider EMC -- or myself -- in the office products industry but I can say it has fulfilled a pretty good item on the checklist of life -- EMC has made a sh#tload of money. And along the way it has done some mighty fine good in the world, too.

EMC Strategy

A few years ago I was asked to help communicate and engage the people of  EMC with our strategy. A concise definition of our strategy had not necessarily been written down at the time, and we were in the midst of a total transformation and re-birth as a company. 

As part of that process, I looked into the definition of "strategy."  One definition that I liked was rather simple and went something like this: "Strategy" can be defined as "a general statement of direction inclusive of what makes you different than everyone else." 

At the core of our strategy? 

Information.

Or as we like to say it, to focus on the "I" in "IT".  We use more words to further define the precise strategy at any given time -- but the notion of "Information" is always at the core.

The importance of the "I" is kind of obvious right?  And yet, listen to most IT players.  Their conversation is about the "T."  The network, the appliance, the server, the operating system, the application.

50 years from now.

Think of 50 years from now. The technology will likely have changed. The people who manage the technology will have changed. The processes will have changed ... the information (inclusive of information we call "content") will still be needed. It had better not have changed.

-- I remember a meeting we had once with the CIO of the State of Massachusetts. 
He said it was easier for him "to find information from 1790 than it was to find it from 1970."
With all the benefits of technology, technology also seems to complicate matters ... if we let it.  --

I was reminded of this "top-level" and not-spoken-enough commentary as I watched again a great 5 minute video out of Kansas State U on "Information." Please, take a look. It will add interest to your day ... and help bring to life the importance of what we're working on over at EMC.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CV05HyAbM

"Technology" gets all the buzz ... (iPhone anyone?) .... but what is really important is the access to ideas and information/content the technology brings us, right?  EMC is the caretaker (think protect, secure, manage & store) of most of the world's important information. We are where information lives. Our work touches lives -- your life -- every nano-second of every day.

I sign all my emails with this simple statement:

 At EMC, we believe that information is a business’s most important asset.
Ideas—and the people who come up with them—are the only real differentiators.

 

------------------ Talk Back ----------------------

Time to chatter more about the letter with the top billing in "IT"?

-- Polly