The Kmiec Ramblings

Tag Archive: Analysts

Who’s Analyzing The Analysts

Written on March 11, 2010 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

I remain troubled by the state of the analyst community. Companies, like the one I work at, pay serious money to companies like Forrester. Part of what Forrester provides is great research. But, another part of why we work with a company like Forrester is the “great” coverage their analysts offer. I use quotations around the word great, because honestly, I’ve been less than impressed with their analysis.

When Jeremiah Owyang worked at Forrester, my feedback to him was that he needed to be less buddy-buddy with the companies and people he was evaluating. Instead, he needed to be more openly critical. For what it’s worth, I still think Jeremiah needs to do that.

Forrester isn’t the only company that’s failed to offer honest, old school, real analysis. eMarketer, Nielsen, etc. have all stopped delivering the goods. Every analyst review reads like something our of Entertainment Weekly. There’s no bite. There’s no decisiveness.

Maybe I should take a step back and outline what I’m looking for in an analyst:

Knowledge of the space or industry
Clear understanding of what it is they are analyzing
Honesty, integrity and the brutal truth
A solid point of view grounded in facts

Here’s what I don’t want:

A puff piece
A middle of the road analysis that offers no conclusion
Softened feedback to maintain a “friendly” relationship with the company or person

The reason we subscribe to services like Forrester is ultimately to make our lives easier. In theory, they’ve already done all the digging, uncovered the good, pointed out the bad and offered up a real analysis that helps me make solid decisions. What I’m finding more and more lately however, is that I’m having double and sometime triple check all the work being done by these companies and individuals.

Frankly, I don’t trust what they have to say anymore because I think the analysts clearly lack integrity. Yes, I said integrity. It’s becoming more and more apparent that these analysts refuse to be brutally honest because they’re fearful of upsetting the company or individual they’re reviewing. I mean, sure, I get it. If you’re a tough critic, what company is going to want to let you critique them…especially when they’re in beta. But, for those companies fearful of receiving critical and negative feedback, I say, “shame on you.” That’s right. Shame on you for having thin skin and clearly lacking accountability. If you were acceptable you’d value the feedback because it would help you improve. It’s that simple.

Michael Gartenberg is one of my favorite analysts. His feedback is always honest, grounded in insights, specific and completely relevant. With is recent announcement that he was joining Altimiter Group, I had to cringe just a little bit. I wonder, will he now be less inclined to be straight forward and often critical analyst he’s always been? Time will tell and I hope he does remain true to his roots.

What we have going on right now is a situation where the someone needs to be analyzing the analysts and keeping them honest. Who’s going to do it? It’s a thankless job. You won’t make a lot of friends in the industry. You probably won’t get invited to the hip SXSW parties or get access to the early beta of a cool new product. Nope, you won’t be getting any of those things. But, I do think you’d be getting the respect of the paying clients. People will like me and the companies I represent will be thanking you for having the integrity that clearly so many analysts have forgotten.

Maybe it’s time for a new breed of analysts or maybe it’s just a case of old being new again. Either way, we need a change.

Tags: Accountabili, Analysts, Big Brother, Social Media, Strategist

ReThinking Mixing Friends And Business – Part I

Written on September 6, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising, Misc.

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This is going to be the first of a three part set of posts on ReThinking Mixing Friends And Business.

If you’ve been reading this blog long enough, you know I have a great appreciation and love for the movie, “Almost Famous.” It’s definitely one of my all-time favorite movies because not only is it entertaining, but it brings to light so many life lessons. One of those life lessons is the intersection of friends with business. Lester Bangs warns William Miller about the dangers of becoming friends of the band. His rationale is that it would hurt his ability to do his job well. His job is to write the truth about what he sees and what he thinks about the band. If you become friends with the band, can you really crucify them?

By the end of the movie, William is at a crossroads. He owes his completed article to Rolling Stone magazine, but is struggling with how to write it because he knows that the truth is harsh and Stillwater (the band) may not recover from such brutal honesty.

While at this crossroads William calls Lester for advice and the following is shared:

Aw, man. You made friends with them! See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.

That line is followed up with this gem:

My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You want to be a true friend to them? Be honest and unmerciful.

William, with amazing journalistic integrity unleashes the brutal truth in his article for Rolling Stone. During the fact checking process the band is blown away by what he’s written. It’s harsh, honest, and uncomfortable to say the least. The reason their shell shocked is because as Jeff states:

He was supposed to be our friend.

Talk about a life lesson and a half.

Our industry is filled with chances to be honest, authentic, and genuine. But, too often we pass on those chances. I’ve been overly critical of so-called professional analysts like soon to be former Forrester Social Media analyst Jeremiah Owyang. An analyst is supposed to dig in to a situation and honestly assess it. These analysts, with rare exception never provide the brutal honest truth. They avoid controversy and critique like it was the plague. In short, they don’t do the job they’re being paid to do.

I tend to believe the reason they don’t provide an honest assessment of company, person, or situation is that it’s not to their personal benefit. They need to maintain these friendships and connections for future gain. They need to keep things more friendship focused than business focused. You need only look at the number of people leaving analyst firms to join a company they’ve previously “analyzed” to see what I mean.

The other analogous situation where the role of analyst lacks objectivity due to friendships is with sports commentary. Have you watched Sports Center lately? There’s not reporting or analysis taking place, save for Bill Simmons. It’s clear that traditional journalists like Chris Berman would rather remain chummy with athletes than honestly critique them. It’s clear that former athletes like Mike Golic would rather stay neutral than provide the unique type of insight and evaluation only a former athlete can bring to the table. There’s no real critique taking place. There’s no real analysis. The depth they’re providing is about as shallow as Paris Hilton. Yes, we’re talking paper thin.

Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. If you’re an athlete, would you want to grant an interview to a hard hitting reporter or analyst who might make you look bad? Of course not. But, to the reporter who provides softballs, you’ll grant access all day long. The general public isn’t as demanding as I am. They can’t tell the difference between true reporting and a surface level puff piece. If your audience can’t tell the difference and your subject matter will shun you if you are overly critical, it becomes a means of self preservation to not be critical, hard hitting, or controversial.

It’s tough to mix business and friendship. It’s not easy. It shouldn’t be. If it were that easy you probably aren’t really friends in the first place. Parts II and III will be up later this week. Stay tuned.

Tags: Almost Famous, Analysts, Forrester, Friendship, Movies, Social Media

Truth Vs. Honesty

Written on June 5, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Misc.

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I don’t envy the job of an analyst or reviewer. People send you their hopes and dreams, often in the form of a “product,” and your job is to be honest. It’s a relatively small world we live in. It’s not uncommon for the product’s owner/manufactuer to be a friend or colleague of the reviewer. This makes the situation even tougher. But, this personal relationship shouldn’t change the job of the reviewer or analyst. Their job is to tell a truthful story.

Here’s the thing about truth and honesty. The seem similar, but they mean 2 very different things.

Here’s an example:

A wife confronts her husband and asks “are you cheating on me with Lisa?” The husband replies truthfully, “no.” Had he replied honestly, he would have said, “no, but I am with Mary.”

People can tell the truth and be very dishonest at the same time. Lately, I’ve been noticing that reviewers, columnists, analysts, and the like are becoming more and more dishonest. It’s very concerning. We rely on these people to add clarity and separate fact from fiction. But, if they’re more focused on truth sans the honesty their work is compromised. I don’t want to get into names here, but suffice it to say, the people we’re talking about are reputable well known industry names.

Credibility takes a while to earn, but can disappear very quickly. As consumers and people become savvier they’re going to notice the lack of “full” and unbiased stories. They will start to call them out – which will be a hell of a lot of fun to observe, but will still be disheartening.

Analysts, reviewers, and the like your job is to tell the full story. Your job is to be truthful and honest. Your job is to lead us. Stop protecting companies and your friends/colleagues. Start, doing your job. If you don’t you may just find no one wants to listen to you…leaving you without a job.

Tags: Accountability, Analysts, Forrester, Honesty, Reviewers, TechCrunch, Truth