Innovate or "Detroit" ?

HAWAII MOVES TO CAR 2.0 MODEL

With all eyes on Washington this week, Better Place, working with Governor Linda Lingle, announced a plan to help Hawaii move to the Car 2.0 model of electric cars powered by renewable energy. Hawaii, which has an annual $7 billion addiction to oil, has set a plan to reach 70% renewable energy by 2030, which we think we can help them reach faster. With renewable generation powering cool electric cars – like our Better Place Nissan Rogue demonstration vehicle – Hawaii will serve as a blueprint for the US auto sector's future.

While the United States debates a plan to spend $25 billion on Detroit's Car 1.0 model built on the internal combustion engine, China, Europe, and Japan are all quickly moving to the Car 2.0 model of electric drive transportation. In fact, the European Union just last week upped the ante, by announcing a $6.5 billion "European Green Cars Initiative" plan for European automakers to build safer and greener cars.

"What we have to do for the car industry is to help it transform into a more modern industry, more friendly to the environment and in fact adapting it to the new trends in overall demand," said European Union Commission Chief Jose Manuel Barroso when he announced the package. "We are not proposing an old-fashioned industrial plan for the car industry. We believe it is counterproductive to have this sort of thing."

Cheer up! Better Times Are Ahead

As I prepare for the final 2 CEO dinners of our 2008 'For CEOs By CEOs: Turning Problems Into Profits' series I wanted to share with everyone these words of wisdom from Roger Babson.

In his 1932 book written around the time of the Great Depression, "Cheer Up! Better Times Are Ahead", he shares inspiring insights on business cycles and how to thrive in them. Babson provides this for all to read: http://tinyurl.com/56juu3

I have personally spoken to 1,000's of CEOs across the globe this year and it's times like these that show us who the " Warren Buffetts of This Economy" really are.

They are hiring! They are buying! They are self-funding! They are taking advantage of this very market to disrupt those dying industries that had long since stopped innovating. They are focused and fearless. They are navigating the rapids of change.

And their vision is clear - better times are ahead.

Show Me The Money!

As CEO we don't have the option of being so "forthcoming" when people try to pitch us on - well, anything, as Cuba Gooding Jr did in the now famous clip from the movie "Jerry Maguire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7ir_6Hip1E


We can't jump up and down and scream "Show Me The Money" But there is one question we can ask of everyone who lines up outside our door. And they will either answer the "Show Me the Money" question themselves - or leave on their own.

Just ask "Where is the revenue model?"


I see this all the time and this is exactly where new products fail-at the very, very beginning!

I guarantee you they will reply with a wide variety of ways to package their idea, speak at length about the size of the market and download streams of excel spreadsheets. But none of that is the revenue model.

All of that is just a pricing model!

It's how that salesguy will buy the boat with his commission check.

It's how that technology guru will fund his private island in the South Pacific.

It's how marketing will justify a bigger budget.

Build, bundle, "market" and distribute is not a revenue model.

The only revenue model is "Who will buy it before I've built it - whatever the 'it' is".

So the next time someone hunts you down with the Next Big Thing, rather than roll your eyes in dismay, think about Cuba Gooding Jr 's rant and smile.

Ask "Show Me The Revenue Model".

Then just watch in amusement as they fumble through spreadsheets and charts dragging out all of the irrelevant data they can muster. "

Then you say no - You need to tell me "Who will buy it before I've built it?"

I do this at my own company now and it has saved me millions of wasted hours and lost productivity.

It has also helped me discover two products that I will now launch at the end of this year (because they did bring me customers who were willing to buy it before I had built it!)


So...ask your next caller to "Show You The Money" ? (He just may !)

THE Question is......

Just about all of the social networking sites ask the question "What Are You Doing?" - that's a great question when seeking collaboration on a problem.

But at the end of the day, as a CEO, the real question is "What Did You Get Done Today?"

No-it's not about activity. Email is activity- avoidance activity, so we can avoid picking up the phone and really communicating by listening - which we will never be able to do in an email.

(Recommended Reading for the email obsessed: http://tinyurl.com/Luis-Suarez)

What did you get done today........ that brought you closer to where you want to get?

As a CEO I am asked this question by my peers all of the time "How can I balance the day-to-day with strategy?" and my answer to every CEO, every time and everywhere is THE question.

There are an unlimited number of distractions brought right to you by those that would steal your time. So when I find myself just spinning in "activity" I recognize it's a sign. I stop.

And I ask myself THE question. I may be in a tornado of activity but at the end of the day what would I post on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, my blog or any other social networking site if I had to fill in a tiny box that asked:

"What Did You Get Done Today?"

There's THE answer!

It's Not Business - It's Strictly Personal - Are You Listening?

A recent post by John Furrier, a Silicon Valley pioneer in social media & advertising and Founder of Podtech ,was entitled 'It's Not Business - It's Strictly Personal' (http://tinyurl.com/4x5efz) and he is right on.

2008 is proving that the customer is driving. In a global economy the customer has access to an unlimited number of choices. In an increasingly fragmented market, every CEO is looking to laser in on what segments of customers want, how they want it and how they can deliver it to them - ahead of the competition.

Digital advertising is that laser. It is both content and delivery. It's a marketing dream, or nightmare if you don't understand it. Buying has never been about the business. Buying has always been personal, the "what's in it for me?".

From interactive games to cell phone-based behavioral metrics delivered in real-time to viral videos, customers are telling us exactly what they want, how they want it - and how every CEO can deliver it to them ahead of the competition.

Don't let the technology confuse you. Twitter, You Tube, MySpace, Ning...these are listening devices and your customers are filling them up.

So as my fellow CEOs, the real question is "Are you Listening?"

Be Strategic...and Do It In 90 Days?

Do these sound like two conflicting goals? "Be strategic and do it in 90 days"

In our ever-increasingly competitive global business environment, this is every CEOs reality.

No matter whether you are a publicly traded company sublject to the psychology of stock market trends or a privately held company managing cashflows in a tight credit market, we are all in one business today - the business of speed!

It's speed to market - speed to delivery of what customers want - speed to revenue recognition.. ..

A colleague of mine had recently stepped down as CEO of her third sucecssful entrepreneurial company to be the "VP of Strategy" instead.

When did we start separating "Strategy" from what a CEO does?

Is customer demand for "stuff" so voracious that companies are just giving them what they want and worrying about whether it is the right move for the companies long-term succes or not?


As the very first Sales Director dedicated to the Carrier market (ok, Guinea Pig) for Netscreen back in 2000, I was strategic sales. But I still had a quota every 90 days and had I ever missed it, I wouldn't have been around for more than 2 quarters. Yet those Carrier purchase orders were pretty big - albeit the revenue "hockey stick" every quarter aged us all.


So in 2004 when Juniper paid $4Billion to buy Netscreen, on revenues that were a fraction of that number, Bob Darabant who led our small team of 5 Carrier salesmen, looked like a genius. (Not surprisingly he's CEO of Montego Networks now) http://www.montegonetworks.com/ . Juniper looked to acquire a strategic entry point into that half of the Carrier market that their competition did not already own.


In today's fragmented market CEOs not only can be strategic and do it in 90 days, they have to.
With the "right" strategy, the rewards are exponential in both the near and long term.

So yes, you CAN be strategic......and do it in 90 days!


So share your own succes stories. Where else has a CEO been successful at being strategic in 90 days?