The “F” Word – Leadership Lessons from Failure

This Saturday September 06 I am presenting at The Institute for Contemporary Music Performance on the subject of failure. It’s a word that managers fear, yet any successful leader or entrepreneur will usually have failed a few times if they are talking honestly about success. The lecture offers practical lessons about entrepreneurship, strategy, creativity, project planning, team leadership and execution of your strategy for people trying to do new things, via the medium of a case study. Before you ask, NOOO, it’s not your usual dull business case study!!  Read on and check out the full conference at ICMP

Failure and Success – The truth

Some years ago, I sponsored an audacious plan to circumnavigate the world on a rock’n’roll tour, performing at the greatest venues on the planet and taking your audience with you. I invested nearly £50 000 of my life savings in order to help my friend John Otway to advance the enterprise forward. Alas, my involvement came too late and despite achieving a temporary turnaround in fortunes, it was not enough to recover the situation and I most the money and about 6 months effort in an attempt to help John realise his dream. I dubbed the project, “The Real Spinal Tap Tour”.  Take a look at the promo video for the tour to get a flavour of the ambition:

Like most business enterprises, the John Otway World Tour was a GREAT idea, poorly EXECUTED.  It is never enough to have a great idea in business. Meticulous execution skills are needed to bring the idea into existence and I will explore the successes, near misses and downright catastrophes that led to the eventual meltdown of the project.  To whet your appetite, here are a few stunning facts about the tour:

A comedy of errors…

Our presentation is available in your company with parallel lessons for businesses. We are also available to help you avoid similar flights of fancy or to turn difficult corners in your own projects. For the moment, here is the magical moment that started John Otway’s career, when he fell off an amplifier on The Old Grey Whistle Test, injuring vital parts. This is a stunt which Otway has developed in his career ever since, including our performance at Pfizer:

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Peter Cook leads Human Dynamics, offering better Organisation Development, Training and Coaching. He offers keynotes that blend World Class Leadership Thinking with the wisdom of the street via The Academy of Rock – where Business Meets Music. Author of seven books on Business Leadership, acclaimed by Tom Peters, Professors Charles Handy, Adrian Furnham and Harvey Goldsmith CBE.

Flaming Desire – Unleashing the power of social marketing

I was asked recently by BBC Radio 4 about how I use social media to achieve real results, bearing in mind that this artform also doubles as a ‘favourite waste of time’ for some people.  I was drawn towards two examples, one hugely successful, the other a comedy of errors which ended in glorious failure.  The comparison provides real contrast.  To read more about the Monty Pythonesque failure, go to The real SPINAL TAP tour – a story of a failed rock world tour which I sponsored to the tune of £40 000, to my wife’s great disappointment 😦  My story today concerns something much more positive for the enigmatic but reclusive rock star Bill Nelson.  To read up on some background check Bill Nelson out by clicking on the picture:

Bill had been persuaded to perform at a special series of concerts for the “ITV Legends” series.  Bill is not a great fan of music business contracts 😦  This meant that he stood to lose a considerable sum of money if the concert did not sell out it’s 125 tickets at £175 each.  His fanbase had drawn a deep breath at the ticket price and 4 weeks out from the date, Bill told me that ticket sales were very poor indeed.

I decided that it might be possible to use our social media and traditional media skills to see if we could improve things.  Nelson has a loyal but small fanbase, so I wrote them an open invitation entitled “Let’s make this a sellout for Bill”.  The initial reaction was fairly risk averse.  If  I could typify the reactions, they would include:

“I don’t know anything about marketing and frankly I think it is the pursuit of the devil”

“I would like to help but don’t know how to”

“I don’t have much spare time”

“Isn’t it too late now?”

… and so on

To address the concerns over capability and time, I adopted the following strategy:

• I provided the group with a set of sample letters that they could use or adapt
• We established a series of ‘media targets’ e.g. national media, related fanbases and so on
• I provided market intelligence on some of the people we were to attempt to involve and their personal connections with Bill Nelson
• Crucially, as time was short, we agreed to operate on a ‘seek forgiveness, not permission’ principle.  Just do it and then tell others what you had done – a kind of ‘constructive chaos’

At first, very little happened, but then we had a breakthough.  I had done some homework on the veteran BBC Radio 2 deejay Johnnie Walker and managed to get him to give the concert a mention.   Here’s the radio piece which I turned into a youtube video the same day to multiply the effect of the radio exposure with over 6000 viewings:

Shortly after that, another admirer managed to get a slot on BBC Radio 2’s Radcliffe and Maconie show.  Again, we quickly used this to multiply awareness and reach parts of Bill Nelson’s fanbase that had lost touch with his work:

Once the fanbase saw that their actions could have an impact, we gained momentum and morale.  The concert  went on to break through the break-even point for Bill, bringing new and old fans of his work back to the fold.  Bill himself said:  “Just to say thanks again for your kind and generous efforts to publicise the ‘Legends’ TV show amongst fans and the media. Ticket sales, as of this evening, are now 108 out of a possible 125 sales. Thanks once again, Peter”

What then are the transferable lessons from this project?

• This project could only be achieved with a small army of committed people.  I managed to secure their initial commitment to run a few ‘experiments’.
• Without an early success via the Radio exposure, it is my feeling that the group may have never gone on to multiply its efforts.
• The principle of ‘just do it’ and encouraging a sense of urgency were essential in getting people to move beyond ‘watching things happen’ to pro-actively ‘making things happen’.
• To make social media work for you, it takes BOTH numbers AND quality of the message / content.  Through a participative strategy without too much central control, we achieved both of these objectives, which fed through to ticket sales and mass media attention, which have since had other benefits on BBC 6 music and in other places.

Let’s take a look at one of the concert pieces – A masterpiece from Bill’s first Be-Bop Deluxe album entitled “Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape”:

You can find out more about Bill Nelson at his website Dreamsville, which includes all his current music releases, Joy Through Amplification and many more:

Flaming Desire – some of Bill Nelson’s albums – recent and ancient – with my Bill Nelson Campbell American Transitone – http://www.campbellamerican.com and my beloved battered and flamed Fender Strat

If you want to get more out of social and traditional media for your business, please get  in touch via Human Dynamics Social.  For extraordinary keynotes on how to use traditional marketing, social media and PR to stand out from the crowd, book us via The Academy of Rock.

Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Please

This weeks post concerns the accidental discovery of a Top Ten Punk Rock Hit by Max Splodge, enthusiastic motorbiker and leader of the cult punk band Splodgnessabounds.  I’ve performed with Max and escorted him and Wilko Johnson through French and UK Customs after they had both had a ‘heavy night’ performing with John Otway in France.  Here’s a picture of us at a gig:

Max, Peter and Anna Lisa consume 'three pints of lager but no crisps'

Max conceived of the title of this classic song whilst trying to procure said drinks and condiments at a pub in South East London.   Faced with the closing bell, Max kept urging the bar staff to serve him with his refrain ‘Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Pleeeeze”.   Shortly after this experience, he thought ‘that’s the title of a hit record’.  The rest is punk rock history.

What is the punk rock business lesson here?  Well, creativity at work involves seeing something different in the ordinary.  Most other people in Max’s situation would have just seen the desire to procure 1400 millilitres of lager and some munchies.  Splodge saw the potential for a Top Ten Punk Rock hit.  There’s a huge difference in the fortunes that come from noticing the difference.  He also then went on to put the idea into action.  Put in a more arty way:

Spot sublime ideas in the mundane as well as the profane

Ideas are nothing, execution is everything

Whilst we’re in the Punk Zone, grab yourself a free copy of Punk Rock People Management by mailing me with PUNK in the title at peter@humdyn.co.uk or click on the picture to find Kindle and other versions of the book:

Punk Rock People Management - No-nonsense business and HR strategies for busy people - available on Kindle, full colour print book and e-book - Book us for a Punk Rock Business keynote

Thanks to Bob Jones at the University of Manchester for this story.  Bob is a University academic and the ex manager of The Tramshed to boot.   He bears an uncanny relationship to John Peel.  Here’s the classic aspirational beer and potato crisp song to finish with:

Spinal Tap, John Otway and the not so gentle art of project mis-management

You could attend a 3 week executive masterclass to learn the principles of project management.  To learn about the practical stuff could take you a lifetime and involve learning from expensive mistakes as well as successes.  So, is there a way to learn about Project Management quickly and without risk by examining the spoof rockumentary ‘This is Spinal Tap’.  Of course there is! 🙂  Let’s examine the classic ‘Stonehenge’ sequence to get us started:

It’s obvious to me as a Taphead and sad business consultant with an MBA that the Spinal Tap sequence is a sorry tale of poor project management… 🙂  Just before the sequence starts a drawing of Stonehenge is drawn on a napkin by Nigel Tuffnell, the group’s guitarist and handed to the scenery designer.  This is unwittingly taken by the designer as a definitive project specification.  All the project resources are committed to the ‘model’ based on the dimensions (in inches).  The band is then forced to execute their strategy using a micro Stonehenge model, due to lack of budget to correct the mistake.   They attempt to accommodate the mistake in size by using dwarfs and bringing the Stonehenge model down from the heavens, but it is clear that they have failed.  You may rightly say “Well, this is a Hollywood comedy movie and nothing like real life”.  Au contraire, as a I break into French, as if to make the point seem more important – if I had a dollar for every company that has told me they have wasted millions on poorly specified projects that resulted in delivery of the wrong thing, I would have retired and you would not be reading this blog.  The comparison of the ‘project management gospel according to Business and Spinal Tap’ summarises this:

The Project Management Gospel according to Spinal Tap vs Business

Spinal Tap Business Lesson # 1.  If you are experiencing problems in executing a project, look back several stages to the project definition or proposal.  Fuzzy goals produce fuzzy action.

I had my own ‘Spinal Tap’ moment when I made a large investment of money and time in ‘cult punk rocker and two hit wonder’ John Otway’s World Tour, having done corporate gigs with John at Pfizer and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).  This was a wonderful idea to live the Rock’n’Roll dream on a record breaking world tour, calling at the greatest venues on the planet with a birth, death and car crash all in two weeks, but not necessarily in that order.  The idea was great, so what went wrong?  Poor execution of the strategy killed the project dead.  Watch the trailer video to see the essence of the project idea:

Read more about the comedy of errors that was John Otway’s world tour at The Real Spinal Tap Tour.  What was the project management lesson?

Spinal Tap Business Lesson # 2. Inspiration is essential for innovation, but perspiration is even more important to turn your ideas into profit!  Bright ideas are plentiful but people who are prepared to sweat it out are rarer.

Check out our seminar offerings based on project management lessons from the John Otway World Tour at The F Word.  A recent article about the self-proclaimed ‘Patron Saint of Failure’ can be seen in The Independent.  Check out our posts on real heavy rock bands – Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Prince and our evening out with Bernie Torme.

My new book ‘Punk Rock People Management – A no-nonsense guide to hiring, inspiring and firing staff’ is available for FREE as a pdf.  Please contact me directly here or via the Punk Rock People Management webpage for your copy.  A beautiful full colour print version and a KINDLE version are is also available.

We’ll finish with another classic Spinal Tap song, Big Bottom, a metaphorical tale about the bottom line…

Postscript – I was just sent this additional video by my Web guru Nick Power of ‘The Folksmen’ – faces seem familiar?

What’s new pussycat? – Musings on Innovation

What’s new pussycat? Click on the picture for the book

This is a preview for the new book ‘Punk Rock People Management’, available as a high quality print version at Punk HR and  as a Kindle book.  I’ve included an extract from the book on the theme of innovation to whet your appetite.  Our title suggests that we ought to have some music from Tom Jones – hardly punk rock!  But a sideways shuffle takes us to one of Tom’s classics performed by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band – the wonderful tortured tale of Delilah:

Here’s the extract:

INNOVATION – What’s new pussycat?

I once read a book entitled “Innovation in HR”, published by an HR institute.   I was moderately excited to receive the book, which was a gift for perceived services of acting as an ‘agent provocateur’ to the profession – by the way that’s ‘irritant’ in English.  You can be sure that, once an HR professional starts speaking in French to you, they are about to be inauthentic.  Imagine my disappointment when I opened the book to find it empty – ha, ha!  ‘Caveat emptor’ I should have replied to keep the foreign language HR intercourse going….

Yet, perhaps that is a little unfair, and I feel I deserve to have my bare bottom thrashed with hawthorn twigs for even having such thoughts!  Nonetheless, I must be brutally truthful, in that this rather long book had very little to say other than ‘be positive’.  This in itself is often only half the story in terms of innovation.  It may be nice to surround yourself with ‘shiny happy people’, but they don’t always succeed in the innovation game.  If Isambard Kingdom Brunel had decided to hold a series of ‘iron horse focus groups’, 360 degree appraisal forums and ‘drop in customer transportation strategy listening sessions’, he would probably have never built the Great Western Railway and the world would have never have discovered Swindon – some good points in this then – oops!  If James Dyson had written a pleasant letter to Hoover explaining his minor concerns with their vacuum cleaner rather than getting fed up and  making one that sucked (in the best sense), we would NOT now have “The Dyson” as a new name for “The Hoover”

In short, innovation in new products and services requires more perspiration than inspiration.  Innovation is not over when the flip chart is full in the brainstorming meeting and everyone has imagined 101 ways to use a paper clip as a labour saving device for nail care in HR.  Cold sweat, blood and sometimes tears are required.

If you want to innovate, know that perspiration matters more than inspiration, and comes AFTER the brainstorming session.  Too many so-called innovation social networks are only concerned with creativity.  This fine as far as it goes.  However, there is evidence to suggest that modern social networking websites are a new displacement activity, replacing ironing, daydreaming and focus groups at work.  In the words of Andy Warhol and Lou Reed “It’s work” that counts.  Toyota stands out by being excellent at execution as well as inspiration.

Punk Rock People Management offers us three lessons on innovation:

• Perspire more than inspire.  A walk on the wild side to discover new ideas is necessary but never sufficient for profitable innovation.
• Run the numbers alongside the brainstorming and recycle your thinking until the innovations have been tested to destruction to improve the ratio of new ideas : profitability.
• If your innovation is more ‘product push’ than ‘market need’, know that you need to work much harder and differently to succeed.

‘Punk Rock People Management – A no-nonsense guide to hiring, inspiring and firing staff’ is available for FREE via the Punk Rock People Management webpage.   If you like this extract, you will LOVE my other books – so ‘BOGOF’ – Buy One and Get One Free !  Contact us to book your next conference keynote based on our heady mixture of business leadership and music.  You can watch a slideshow of some Punk Rock HR women previewing the contents at ‘I Kissed an HR Girl and I Liked it‘.  Big thanks to Lindsay Wakelin Photography and Sue Cook for this.

To finish, here is Rock’n’Roll’s greatest failure John Otway performing Delilah at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD)  annual conference to the amazement of 200 HR professionals!  John attempted to innovate by organising his own record-breaking Rock’n’Roll World tour in the style of Spinal Tap, but failed.  This is an innovation story in its own right, more of which will be told in the post on Spinal Tap.

 

Kissing a fool