Think

Salanalytics

Sales People: How much time do you spend with your clients discussing numbers, data or research?

Analytics & Quant People: How much time do you spend interfacing with clients?

The line between being a sales person and being an analytics/quant person is fading and fading fast.

Technology has enabled anyone and everyone with access to huge amounts of information at any given point of time and more importantly, has allowed them to access this information in real time. As a sales person, this makes differentiation that much more important especially in these tough economic times. How are you different from your competitors? What data can you not only show me, but what does that data mean?

In these situations, the tendency has typically been to rope in analytical individuals that are best suited to answer these questions. These are the individuals that are experts on the data and interpretation relevant to clients and their organizations.

Even so, can these individuals convey the data in the capacity needed to maintain, build and grow relationships? Furthermore, can the “relationship” people convey the data needed to grow business and establish meaningful credibility with a client?

I recently had conversations with a close friend of mine who works in the finance industry. His description of the sales-quant/analytics relationship relates directly to my experiences in the digital media industry. Numbers and sales are becoming one and it is becoming increasingly important to have skill sets in each discipline.

This begs the question…Is it better to be an expert in sales with the ability to understand data and analysis? Or, is it better to be an expert in data analysis, interpretation, and reporting with the ability to convey an overall, hierarching theme?

Both are critical and both are necessary in today’s environment. Today, you must become a salanalytic (Sales + Analytics = Salanalytics) but if you had to choose one skill set, which one would it be?

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Remembering What’s Important

The inauguration is right around the corner.

There are high expectations set for the new president.

I hope when Obama steps into that oval office, he remembers and keeps all of the promises he made, and does not forget what’s important. Even though the economy is in the dog house, there are still those issues that will never go away.

My sister put together this video for her high school class, and it happens to be excellent:  Remembering what’s important.

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Glorified Plumbers

Emergency medical technicians evacuating an in...
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I always thought I wanted to be a doctor when I was younger. I joined the National Ski Patrol at age 14 (EMT on a snowboard), attended a National Youth Leadership forum on Medicine, signed up for Biomedical Engineering in college, sat in on 3 open heart surgeries (thanks to my uncle who is an electrophysiologist), and set out on a path to
becoming Dr. Reich.

Now while I have THE utmost respect for doctors, above every single profession (most of my family are just that..and builders), I realized one day that doctors were nothing more than glorified plumbers.

(Before you say how absurd that comment is, please continue reading)

As I got older, gained some experience and business intuition, it just became clear to me that being a doctor was limited in growth potential. My earnings and output would be tied to a fixed amount of patients or hours, unless I pursued tangent endeavors. If I was going to become a doctor, I wanted to do just that and not become some medical adviser for a television station, movie consultant, etc for additional income.

When I told my parents I didn’t want to be a glorified plumber they laughed with discerning looks on their faces.

“A doctor is by no means a plumber. Are you fu$!ng crazy?”

I didn’t think I was crazy at the time and still don’t now.

I am currently reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb (have to see what all of this hype is about), and while most of this book is fairly obvious, what he wrote did however validate all of my “doctor” thoughts:

“Some professions, such as dentists, consultants, or massage professionals cannot be scaled: there is a cap on the number of patients or clients you can see in a given period of time….

If you are an idea person, you do not have to work hard, only think intensely. You do the same work whether you produce a hundred units or a thousand. In quant trading, the same amount of work is involved in buying a hundred shares as in buying a hundred thousand, or even a million. It is the same phone call, the same computation, the same legal document, the same expenditure of brain cells, the same effort in verifying that the transaction is right.”

The profession is not, as Nassim puts it, “scalable”.

Thank you Nassim. Case closed (at least for me).

What other jobs are scalable? What jobs aren’t?

Disclosure: I believe serving and helping others is THE very best thing a person can do, and there is no real way around this other than being a “glorified plumber”. This will be my 8th consecutive season volunteering or “glory plumbing” for Mount Snow Rescue. I will be volunteering this weekend for the AST Dew tour competition.

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University of Nothing – Part II

My previous post titled University of Nothing, generated a ton of meaningful, insightful, and thoughtful response.

J.T O’Donnell of Careerealism.com adds some tremendous value and insight to this subject as she draws some parallels between my post and that of Sir Ken Robinson‘s new book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. In her post:

However, I put my money on those who understand the simple truth to getting on track professionally: a discovery learning approach to finding a career that leverages a person’s own unique intelligence is the best way to find what they’re looking for. When put together, Reich’s and Robinson’s thoughts on learning and intelligence unlock the secret to finding professional success.

While I completely agree with this assessment, I would take this one step further:

When put together, Reich’s and Robinson’s thoughts on learning and intelligence unlock the secret to finding professional and PERSONAL success.

So what would the University of Nothing actually look like? I briefly outlined how the process might look if it were applied in an institutional setting:

Here are a few common themes I’ve noticed and how they could be applied to my University of Nothing (commented in Seth Godin’s Triiibes):

  1. Identify a general area of study (math, electronics, science, English, etc)
  2. Define a project, task, or end goal that is too hard for the students. (ie. prove a math theorem, build a robot, write a simple web application, write an essay using certain allegory or prose, etc)..just make it hard. And if they don’t like it, let them suggest a different end goal. One that intrigues them (within the same subject)
  3. Outline certain checkpoints for the students, and have them work towards each checkpoint (proof, concept, approach, methodology, etc). Build the approach so it forces analytical thinking and independence.
  4. Meet with the students at each checkpoint and discuss how they got there. Offer multiple suggestions for next steps without giving them a definitive answer.
  5. Review final product and discuss the various elements. Once the student has reached this point, you can take a more traditional approach to teaching (what I call cram-sorption), because by this point, the student will know the pain points, and will look to learn what they lacked in the process. They will most likely retain the information at the end of the process, than from the initial onset.

Teachers can help facilitate the learning process, and guide along the way, but at the end of the day, it’s all on that person to know how to get things done.

Bottom line: Education reform is needed and with question marks lingering over the economy, government, or society as a whole, 2009 may be the year that we see some of this reform. Whether or not it comes directly from government and the new Obama administration, private schools, or new and innovative startups, a change will occur because it has too and because people are fed up with this broken system.

Bailout in the financial sector, bailout in the auto sector, next…bailout in the education sector.

A complete revision of how we teach our children is long overdue. Whenever I go to school events I can’t help but notice what an unispiring environment these buildings are. – Bodo Albrecht

For those of you that haven’t seen Sir Ken Robinson speak, I highly recommend watching this:

My primary teaching goal is teaching folks how to think. I don’t care what they’re learning; the process is the real value. – Joel D Canfield

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The University of Nothing

I’m founding a school called the University of Nothing.

This is a school that teaches no subject matter directly. Instead, this university will teach you how to learn, and while learning how to learn, you will indirectly learn something else.

My past 4 years in college, I’ve learned by a process that I will call cram-sorption learning. Information is given to you (for the most part) and it’s up to you to learn it (or cram for it) and spit it back on tests. The reality is, after that test is over, many people forget everything they’ve just learned.

Students and schools today should learn through a process which I will call discovery learning. A process by which no information is given, except for an overall goal or objective. In this model, students will be required to do whatever is necessary to find, learn, and complete the task. Accessible Information has become so huge, widespread, and abundant, that I could learn anything I wanted to if I just knew how to look and if I applied a different way of thinking.

If this is successful, my students of the University of Nothing will be prepared to prepare themselves for any job or new career no matter what the situation.

Applications available soon…

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MySpace = Record Labels 2.0

When MySpace first announced their MySpace Music agenda, I remember thinking, “It’s ‘about fu$!ng time”.

Lately, whenever I want to listen to some tunes by a particular artist, I find myself going to their MySpace page. If I want to listen to streaming music, I’m either always signed on to Sirius, using Pandora or Last.fm, but when it comes to any one individual artist, I jump onto MySpace.

To me, MySpace is becoming an interactive record store, where artists can advertise their latest tracks or band using MySpace MyAds. You can buy the music right then and there through Amazon, and on top of that, you’ve got the artists tour dates, video messages, promotions, and whatever else they think is good to throw at you.

As the RIAA continues to straighten out its own agenda, with their latest announcement…

Music Industry to Abandon Mass Suits

…MySpace will slowly emerge as the new record label of the decade, if they continue to focus on music networking.

Cool video by Kanye West (from his MySpace page):

[myspace]http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=47150156[/myspace]

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Just buy something.

Warren Buffett speaking to a group of students...
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If you have some cash lying around, why not buy something in this market.

Prices are cheap, and while they may get cheaper, you can get a good deal on most companies listed on the market. If you are looking to get rich quick, then stay on the sidelines. But if you are looking to pick up some equity in your favorite companies and hold on to those shares for a few years, now is the time.

Consider the following when doing so:

  • Pay no attention to macroeconomic trends. You cannot possibly predict the future.
  • Stick to your “circle of competence”. Buy companies that you understand.
  • Try looking for managers that treat their shareholders money as if it were their own. Mangers that might have bought back their company stock in this environment. People interested in creating value.
  • Study prospects and competitors of a potential investment. Who else is in that space?
  • When you are convinced that a company is a good company and meets this criteria, why not buy it?

Believe it or not, these are some of the basic and core principals Warren Buffet lives by. Although it’s unlikely that you will ever come close to his skill at dissecting businesses, prices are cheap enough that you can get away with finding a good deal.

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Motivated by Money

You want to make a lot of money. Who doesn’t? 

You scope out industries, look at the highest paying jobs, somewhat consider the associated quality of life. Ultimately, you want a job that will make you a lot of money.

If you did this sort of exercise a year ago, or if you are still doing this exercise now. STOP!

The world is completely different now than it was a year ago. 

Ty this exercise instead:

Scope out emerging or exciting industries, look at the most rewarding jobs, completely consider the associated quality of life. In the end, you will find a job that you are much happier with, and ultimately, you stand to make a whole lot more money because you will be doing something you are passionate about.

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