The Kmiec Ramblings

Tag Archive: Culture

September 11th – Nearly 10 Years Later

Written on May 2, 2011 by Adam Kmiec in News

On the morning of September 11, 2011 I boarded a Southwest flight from Midway airport with my great friend and colleague Reed Roussel. We were both headed to Ft. Knox Kentucky for a full day worth of meetings with our United States Army client. When we landed in Kentucky, the first plane had already met its fate by flying directly into the twin towers.

We were oblivious to everything that had transpired as we hopped into our Enterprise rental car and started the 45 minute trek to Ft. Knox. During the ride over, little did we know, plane #2 had also crashed. This was 2001 and cell phones weren’t exactly in high use. The behavior of having it practically glued to your hand just didn’t exist. I did notice a call from my wife and Reed noticed a call from his mom, but we ignored them both. They were well aware of the tragedy and were trying to reach us to make sure we were both OK.

When we arrived at the post, there was something off. The vibe was all wrong. An hour into our visit (55 minutes of which were spent waiting for the client) we finally learned from our client that 2 planes had flown into the twin towers and it was to our advantage that we leave the post immediately. Why? Because, in about 10 minutes the post would be on lock down and all non-military personnel would be placed “under suspicion.” To be honest, we were still confused about the situation, but we had no desire to be locked up on the post.

Reed and I hopped in the car, called the airline, learned all flights were canceled, then called Enterprise and explained we would not be returning the car to the airport. Instead, we would be driving to Chicago and returning it there. We started the journey from Ft. Knox to Chicago. The roads were strangely empty. Keep in mind, at this point, while the rest of the country was transfixed to the television coverage, we hadn’t seen anything. With no smartphones, our only real option was the radio. The irony, was, the only radio station that was coming through was the one carrying Howard Stern. For the next 2 hours we listened to Howard Stern. He was our connection to the outside world and was the one who brought us up to speed on what had happened. It wasn’t till we stopped for lunch, that we saw our first visual. We were awe struck. Stunned. It’s hard to put into words the emotions running thorough me. I’m a born and raised New Yorker; this hit hard.

10 years ago, I learned about 9/11 via the radio. I learned about operation Desert Storm via television. When Sadam Hussein was captured, I learned about it via the web. Last night, I learned about death of Osama Bin Laden via text message first, then Twitter. The text message I received instructed me to check out Twitter, not turn on the TV. After reading the news, I found a TV and saw the president’s speech. As I watched his delivery, I couldn’t help but think about how we’ve evolved as a society…how our sharing has changed…how our means for connection have evolved. We operate in a real time and always on demand society. I think this was the first real moment where that wasn’t just rhetoric, for me, but a truly shared experience.

Tags: Culture, Sharing, Texting, Twitter

The PowerPoint Conundrum

Written on April 17, 2011 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

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If you’ve been working professionally for at least 1 year, I’m sure the phrase, “death by PowerPoint” is etched into your brain. PowerPoint and how we use has become a joke. A colleague of mine often jokes that with PowerPoint, it’s the one time that there’s too much time spent on foreplay. I chuckle, but she’s right. Stop me if you’ve heard this before; but here’s how the typical PowerPoint presentation is structured:

What we’re going to talk about (aka the agenda)
Why we’re (the people in the room) here
The challenge
The research done on the challenge
The hypothesis/point of view/recommendation
The budget
The timing/schedule
The obligatory discussion slide

Are you cowering in the corner, under the harsh light of this reality? Me too, and I was the one who just wrote it. Even Microsoft, the architects behind PowerPoint are fed up with this approach. CEO, Steve Ballmer was recently quoted by the New York Times with the following insight about Microsoft’s decision to move away from death by PowerPoint:

The mode of Microsoft meetings used to be: You come with something we haven’t seen in a slide deck or presentation,” he said. “You deliver the presentation. You probably take what I will call ‘the long and winding road.’ You take the listener through your path of discovery and exploration, and you arrive at a conclusion.

I decided that’s not what I want to do anymore. I don’t think it’s efficient. So most meetings nowadays, you send me the materials and I read them in advance. And I can come in and say: ‘I’ve got the following four questions. Please don’t present the deck.’ That lets us go, whether they’ve organized it that way or not, to their recommendation. And if I have questions about the long and winding road and the data and the supporting evidence, I can ask them. But it gives us greater focus.

In theory, that sounds perfect. Doesn’t it? But, it rarely happens, in my experience, for a few reasons:

Lack of Accountability: We sent you the deck ahead of time, with the notes, but you still didn’t read it ahead of time. Even I’m guilty of this one.
Lack of Trust: Similar to Gladwell’s points in Blink, it’s tough to believe the conclusion, without the foreplay. All the upfront slides help sell the conclusion.
Reliance On Linear Story Telling: We’ve been taught from a young age that stories are told in a linear fashion, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Telling stories in a non-linear fashion does not appeal to the lowest common denominator.
The Need To Make The Presenter Dance: And my personal favorite…if you’ve called the meeting to present your “deck,” then I owe it to the room to make you dance, sweat and present.

I’ve seen this behavior daily, especially in the agency-client RFP scenario. The number of times we’ve been asked to present “credentials” in the final presentation, even though by now (usually round 3) you should know who we are, what we stand for and why you should trust what we say, is just immeasurable. But, that’s the dance we dance.

It’s not PowerPoint that’s the problem. PowerPoint, Keynote and the rest are simply tools. And, great tools in the hands of poor craftsmen are disasters waiting to happen.

So how do we break this cycle? How do we change this PowerPoint culture? The short answer is, we won’t anytime soon. So long as corporate cultures punish risk takers, applaud playing it safe and treat “innovation” as a buzzword instead of a mindset, we’ll be stuck in the PowerPoint Conundrum.

In my own organization, I’ve tried to break free of the PowerPoint Conundrum. Ironically, I find the people above me on the organizational chart most open to change. It’s not the top of the pyramid that struggles with change; in fact, they’re often the ones demanding the change. It’s the rest of the pyramid that has the problem…or rather perpetuates the problem, because they believe the organization isn’t ready for change and it’s better to play it safe.

But, I ask you if MadMen, a series set in the 1960s can understand there’s a better way to tell a story, tell me why we can’t figure it out 50 years later?

Mad Men: The Carousel from ray3c on Vimeo.

It’s a shame, really.

Tags: Best Of, Culture, Microsoft, PowerPoint, Presentations

Can You Pay People To Change?

Written on April 11, 2011 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

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Can you pay people to change? Can you purchase compliance? Is social success predicated on company culture? Do people really want to be social? Are the social “gurus” (laughable) right in how the lofty and esoterica language they use to describe social? All of these questions and more are up for grabs with Google’s decision to tie employee bonuses to the succes of failure of their forays into the social space.

Last week, Larry Page, Google’s CEO sent out a company wide memo that outlined the importance of social, the role employees must play in driving social success and how their compensation will be tied to Google’s growth in social. If you will, Google is trying to buy employee participation, adoption, interest and promotion of social.

Ballsy, for sure. It certainly sends a signal that Google has flopped thus far in social and doesn’t want it to happen again. I’m not exaggerating when I say failure. Take for example the following: Knoll wasn’t a hit. Orkut fell on deaf ears. Jaiku was just bad. Wave was a failure. Blogger is nice, but is no WordPress. Buzz didn’t take off.

Over and over Google has flopped in the social space for one reason or another. Will this brave approach by Larry Page be the lightening rod that unifies the organization or will it cause irreparable harm because people will be faking their participation?

Time will tell. But, one thing is for sure, this is the ultimate social experiment.

Tags: Culture, Google, social

25 Random Things About Me

Written on February 23, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Funny, Misc.

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I’ve resisted this insane concept and craze for a long time. But, when you consider how big it’s gotten, I felt compelled to participate. For those of you not in the know about 25 Random Things About Me phenomenon, you can read up on it here, here, here, or here. In short, 25 Random Things About Me is a chain letter program. Person A lists 25 random facts/things about them. They then tag people in the list. The people tagged are then supposed to repeat the process…they create a list, they tag people, etc.

Someone tagged me on Facebook and I refused to participate. Like I said, I’ve put it off for a long time, but now I’m going to participate, albeit in my own way. I’m not going to put the list on Facebook, thus circumventing the process of the phenomena I’m calling it a personal victory! Without further adieu here are 25 Random Things About Me:

I clean while I cook because I hate a mess.
I’m long waisted; even though I’m 5’9″ my inseam is 30″.
I work in a paperless office. Seriously, no paper, ever.
Nike is the only sneaker brand I’ll buy.
I’ve been using the same AOL instant messenger handle since AOL 1.0.
On an average day, I sleep for 5 hours.
My first car was a 1987 Toyota MR-2; I still scan Ebay every once in a while for a used one so I can buy and restore it.
If given the choice between being blind or deaf, I’d take deaf.
I have a ridiculously large collection of offensive T-shirts.
When I was in high school I could dunk a basketball. Really.
The day when Madden Football is releases every year is a holiday for me. I take it off and spend the entire day setting up rosters and drafting a team.
I’m a vodka snob. If offered Sky, Smirnoff, Absolut, etc. I’ll decline.
I’m not a fan of voicemail. I loath it’s existence. If given the choice between emailing someone or talking to someone, I’d take the digital communication.
I don’t drink coffee, only hot chocolate.
I can read books ridiculously fast. 400 page books get knocked out in about 2.5 hours.
I think there’s a big difference between truth and honesty.
I hold grudges for years; probably too long.
I’m not a fan of following the heard. For example, I avoided watching Lord of The Rings for nearly 6 months. I watched it in a nearly empty theater and loved every minute of it.
I’m a huge Beatles fan. To me they aren’t just a band, they’re an iconic BRAND. From shirts, to hats, to CDs I’ve got a massive collection.
I love change. I’ve owned 3 houses and lived in 3 states in the last 6 years; and I’ll be on to state number 4 shortly.
I find great meaning on movies and music. There’s a tremendous amount that can be gleaned, quoted, and shared from films and songs.
Strange, but my shoe size when I was 13 was 13, but now it’s 10.5. Crazy. Are shoes just being made bigger these days?
My dream job is working behind a bar in Costa Rica…granted it’s a bar that I’d be owning.
I love speed, one day I will drive on the Autobahn.
I just became an organ donor. Never was before. However, for some reason, I decided to do it when I got my Minnesota driver’s license.