Jerry Maguire

Tonight I came close to writing my Jerry Maguire memo...

I was out with colleagues from a separate business division and we got talking about work and the underlying issues.

There was a big positive moment and also a big wake up call too.

The big positive moment was about uniting the team around one individual goal. A singular and focused initiative that was all encompassing and had customer and consumer appeal.  Namely gifting.  Encouraging the consideration of gifting by all consumers in this particular business was an audacious customer proposition.  Gaining the conversion of all those consumers who thought gifting was important into a specific category represented £37bn of incremental sales value.  If they bought a gift twice per trip it would double to £74bn.

Now we're not in a position to make this happen as in a number of occasion we can't even get the stock there in time and in full (and there's more than that problem with this business unit).   But uniting behind this one goal would make ALL the other things actually happen.  The team currently have 34 business priorities right now.  The thinking tonight was to say forget the 34 and focus on this one because we can actually deliver all the 34 through this one, and probably deliver more than that, because to deliver this one big goal means we have to deliver the simple stuff too...

But the bad thing about all of this was that fact that 8 of my colleagues could only talk about this and a number of other issues with the help of a glass of wine and not be upfront about the need for change and how to make the change happen for the benefit of the business and the benefit for the individuals.

I was left with a feeling of my colleagues use language and behaviours to manage their careers rather than using all the tools at their disposal to manage the business performance. 

Tonight I could feel a revolution in the air.  I could feel energy and determination to change.  But I know it won't last.  I know nobody will write their Jerry Maguire memo saying what is wrong with the current culture and how to change that culture to offer benefit both to our customers but also to the shareholders.

I need to write my own Jerry Maguire memo soon to help me paint the picture of what I want from taking on this challenge...

A Crap Juggling Act

Looks like the voyage is taking shape...

I am growing more and more confident about leaving Shawshank, although I am prone to the odd bit of self doubt about how I'll cope and what my life will look like.

 

My plan is a bit like a crap juggling act... start juggling THREE balls, and then drop at least one of them, if not two of them depending upon how it goes.

Ball 1 - Interim management.

 

Ball 2 - Small Business Coaching.

 

Ball 3 - Develop & nurture my own business ideas.

 

Interim Management - is that not just going back into Corporate life? I see Interim Management as a way for me to wean myself off the corporate lifestyle that I've become accustomed to and also to become more financially secure as I can charge myself out at a higher daily rate than my current salary, and accept that I won't work everyday (I'll be amazed if I can get 50% of my weeks filled).  It's really appealing as it's what I essentially did in Japan and that was massively rewarding to me professionally as I was able to deliver a short term objective free from the politics (mostly free from the BIG politics), so I'm hoping for more of the same...  Over time I would like to drop this as the other two elements take off and as my need for corporate succour diminishes.  I'm assuming that Innovation, trade marketing and trade terms would be the main elements here.

Small Business Coaching is something that excites & interests me.  I would help out management of small companies (circa 100 employees) by asking questions, provoking thoughts & options and giving them the structure to decide & act upon their own options, and hold them to account.  I'd hopefully instill a guidance & leadership discipline that they may not have already.  I feel it needs to bridge the gap between lifestyle coaching & management consulting, as I don't want to do either, nor do I think that is my forte.  I'm kind of already doing this with my business buddy and also a collection of others.  My corporate training will help me structure the thinking and my functional skills will help me pose the questions & layout the options.  I'm not sure how I will really make money from this, so I really need to research this further by contacting some friends of friends who do a similar but different type of job. Will this bring me the lifestyle I want?  I see it as being rewarding me "spiritually" by helping others and I hope it will give me a full & financially strong  way of life, though I'll be no millionaire. I already have a marketing position which is to offer "training" for free based on being able to receive grants from Business Link in return for the small company recommending me to 5 other companies.

 

The third ball is my own business.  I know that the first & the second ball will not fill up my time and I know I have a tendency when there's not a lot on to become lazy and I want to avoid that.  So I'm hoping that I can balance my "downtime" from either of the above with the other one and if there is still time remaining then work at my own things.  I'm really motivated about having my won thing on several fronts:  it seems like "destiny" in that it fits everything I've done thus far; it could financially reward me in a significant way; it would fit with the my ideal lifestyle (lots of time mulling about, then an idea, lots of energy, lots of late nights...); and I would feel a great deal of pride in what I do.  My ideal would that the other two balls would drop as this ball becomes bigger & bigger...

 

So that's the plan, but I need to get some of the details clarified to make sure that the three balls are things I want to do and that I have the necessary skills to juggle all three balls at once and make sure I don't drop the one I want to keep up!