Time in the Sun

You are in a country with an apartheid government in the mid-seventies, you have this plan to open a hotel and a casino but the local laws are restrictive about gambling. What do you do? Well you exploit a loophole to set one up in the then independent territory of Bophuthatswana which existed within South Africa at the time but had no problems with people betting their money away. Thus Sun City was born. Being close enough to Johannesburg and Pretoria meant that it had enough clients coming through. It suffered at the hands of an international artist boycott in a stand against apartheid (the artists recorded a song against the resort). It survived and when democracy finally arrived in South Africa it expanded to include extra hotels. Today Sun City stands out as a premier resort in Africa. Enough with the history lesson and more about the business.

If you have ever stayed there you will appreciate the effort that has gone into the resort. There is a backstory that feeds into the entire theme of the resort. The décor is not just random ‘because it looks nice’ but planned to go with the entire feel. For example, there is an entire ‘rock feature’ that incorporates several animal sculptures at an immense scale. Someone planned it and planned it well. Here is lesson one for the week: Plan based on Vision! If you do not cast the vision clearly and let it provide a road map for clear planning then well you could end up anywhere (probably penniless and looking for another gig).

Second lesson: Get the right people to cover the planning. You may have final say on the output but the right people, with the correct expertise, need to be putting things in place. This sounds so simple, so logical, yet we stuff it up a lot. I was talking to the manager of a décor firm this week. They design and fit corporate and private rooms out. Need a new boardroom; speak to them. Need a new kitchen; they are your people. She was saying one of the big problems they have is getting the designers to understand the materials that they are wanting used in the products they are busy creating. A three metre square black granite table top may look stunning on a delicate aluminium framework when it is conceptualised on your computer screen, it may just not work when you dump the real, heavy, solid granite onto the fast collapsing lattice you envisioned. So get people who what they are doing or people who can figure out what they are doing without making too many expensive errors, people who can find the information.

Get the best advice and information you can afford (now the best advice may not be expensive, but it often can be). I did ballroom dancing for a bit when I was younger. I started out socially but realised pretty quickly that I would enjoy competition work. Now my social teacher was just that, fantastic at giving you steps to get you round a party floor. Come the more technical competition work he was awful. My dance partner and I won our first competition not because we were good, but because everyone else was worse. Soon we came to our senses and moved onto better teachers who made dancing seem effortless in comparison. We became better dancers. Lesson learnt.

A bit of a side track on the ‘best advice’ thing here. Remember that best advice may change over time. When Christopher Columbus was born the best sailing advice was not to go too far because you may fall off the edge of the world (no seriously, that is what people where told based on the science of the day). By the time he died people were trying to get around the globe. The ‘best advice’ had changed. Likewise, the best advice for someone else may not be the best advice for you; in which case it is not the best advice then.

There is a device that is a ‘4D’ rollercoaster ride simulator at Sun City. It is not unique to the resort but if you ever find one take advantage of it. You get strapped into a chair suspended on hydraulics, stare at a ‘3D’ screen, and air is piped past you to simulate wind. You go on a ‘ride’ that seems as though you are hurtling at high speeds yet you never pass 0km/hr. Your mind takes the visual and sensory cues and fills in the blanks for you. Your imagination is that incredible. The founder of Sun City had a problem with starting up in what seemed like an impossible situation but found the solution. Maybe you really want that granite top on a pretty framework, there is a solution somewhere that probably involves a stronger metal than aluminium. You can’t afford the best advice, there is a way of obtaining it. It just takes a little more mental planning, thought and idea creation.

The Three Year Mark

Sirius is what I use as a humility check. It is the brightest star in our sky and is a mere 8.6 light years away. It is twice as large as the sun, which in turn is 330 000 times the size of earth. Thinking of that ratio makes you feel small; a tiny speck living on a speck of dust in the universe. That sort of perspective can dwarf you a little bit and put you slightly in awe. This week I had a Sirius moment.

You see this marks the third anniversary of this column. Time truly does fly when you are having fun. I was getting all geared up to celebrate when I read another blog. In it the author, who I highly respect, listed 30 years of business success and experience. It made three years look trivial, not quite as small as Earth to Sirius but small none the less.

Now I am still going to celebrate three years in print. I firmly believe in celebrating achievements even if they are small steps to a greater goal. The last anniversaries I have celebrated by looking at the past articles from the previous twelve months, this year I am going to do it a little different. Read on faithful follower and rejoice with me.

When starting out I wanted an attention grabbing title, something that would stand out and require a bit of thought to get your head around. It also had to encompass what the article would be about. This would serve a dual purpose of priming the reader as well as keeping me focused as I wrote (I can write about a whole bunch more stuff that has little to do with business). The purpose of the article is to challenge people to do things different from the mundane, to inject a healthy dose of fun into the workplace, and to raise the bar in terms of how things get done. The picture of ordering a double-thick, strawberry, pink milkshake at a stoical boardroom meeting sums that up. It took some kicking around to come up with the idea (original ideas fermented around a coffee theme as that is a massive passion).

Over the last three years you will have seen a number of common threads start to form in the tapestry of the column. I never sat down before the first article and decided on a list of ideas that would form primary values, rather they appeared on their own as thought processes coalesced into written words week after week.

The power of relationships probably stands out as the most prevalent thread. Life truly depends on ‘who you know’. Relationships are not developed to be exploited but rather through seeing a common goal that you can work towards. A true relationship is not a score-keeping ‘what can I get out of it’ but a genuine concern for the other person’s wellbeing and the vision you are working towards.

This brings me to the second thread. The need to genuinely care for people. This has many expressions ranging from not ripping people off to stopping to hear how a member of staff is doing and finding out the score from their kids soccer match. It is a passion for people that will see your products translating into meeting real needs in the lives of the people who buy them. The universe is getting better at spotting a phoney so be genuine.

Going above and beyond the norm and doing things excellently go hand in hand. There is an unwritten set of rules that governs the status quo in your work environment. Often these produce mediocre results and a contentment with the second best. In order to stand out there is a need to go the extra mile with creativity, with service delivery, with shipping, with just about every aspect of what you do. The economy will not stay subdued forever. If you are not looking at what you are doing right now you will be left behind later.

Finally everyone has a story. I was reminded by this at another Sirius moment this week. I attended a farewell function for Marlene Brand, a physiotherapist who is moving to Bulawayo from Harare. She has spent over fifty years in the profession and has selflessly given to the promotion of the profession in the country. Person after person stood up and gave testimony of her care, compassion, and character. Hearing the words spoken made me truly wonder what will be said of me when I reach that milestone, and reminded me how far I still have to go. At the end of it she reminded attendees that ‘everyone has a story to tell’. While she said this in the context of health care provision and the healing process it applies in all aspects of life. In business it is how well that we tell our story that determines how well we perform. Being attentive to the stories of our staff and clients will improve how we can serve them. I have spent the last three years being a storyteller. I’ve loved every minute of it and look forward to many, many more. So join me in raising a glass in celebration. And as we look once more at Sirius, the brightest star in our sky, be reminded that, despite any present hardship, the future is indeed bright.

The Kitchen Effect

My mother was a progressive woman. Early on she realised that one day I would leave home, saving her a fortune in grocery bills, but that if, when that day finally rolled around, all I knew was how to boil water I would probably starve to death. In an effort to save me from a decade of meals involving cereal and milk she taught me how to cook. Back then there were no dedicated food channels, Gordon Ramsey was not a household name, and my only sources of culinary guidance were a few cookbooks and my mother's ineffable knack for creating mouthwatering masterpieces out of almost nothing. I learnt fancy terms like 'julienne' and 'rotisserie' although the testosterone in me still prefers to say 'cut' and 'oven'. I learnt to appreciate flavour and texture, that sometimes knowing when a dish felt right was more important than following the exact instructions. Above all though I learnt the first baby steps of managing a business. Anyone who does not see a kitchen as a business model has never truly appreciated the stock control that goes into managing a pantry, the pressure to deliver goods on time to the most difficult of clients (that would most likely be you and your family), the quality control required to hit the mark every time, and the mental process and mapping that goes into managing five different processes on the go at once to get them plated all at the same time. Stick your head into the kitchen next time your spouse is in full culinary flight and be amazed at what goes on.

This last week I though it would be a fitting tribute to share with you some of the basics in business that, without realising, that my mother showed me.

Quality Matters. If you want to appreciate the difference between butter and margarine then eat shortbread (for the non-cooks in the readership the primary ingredient that determines flavour in shortbread is the butter/margarine). The difference in texture and taste will astound you. Where ever possible use the best possible options you can afford; be it the raw materials you use, the people you work with, the equipment you use. The quality of what you put in determines what you get out.

Be content with a bit of mess and foul tasting flavours. The kitchen is a messy place; flour flies everywhere, fluids spill, pots sometimes boil over. The ingredients on their own often taste disgusting; egg white, vinegar, vanilla essence are horrible on the tongue. People are messy. Being creative is messy. In business tempers will get frayed, people will drop the ball, system changes can be chaotic. Persevere through the heat and the result will be spectacular (too much heat and you will get burnt so moderate the intensity and duration).

Know your market. My mother knew the list of foods never to serve me. The big question in a kitchen is not 'Does it work?' or 'Is it cost effective?' it is 'Will they eat it?'. The clients matter. In this case a spouse that could learn a few more compliments and a bunch of screaming ungrateful whelps kicking each other under the table. The focus is on what the client will do with your product, not if it will make you money or not.

Have them coming back for more. Some people will eat almost anything put in front of them, especially if they are hungry. Take the average Zimbabwean who accepts substandard goods at an inflated price because there is nothing else on the proverbial table. The real acid test for the chef is whether or not people will come back for more. It is the 'second-helping effect' that you are looking for here. I browse a lot of websites as I trawl for information and ideas, there are very few that I subscribe to. Subscribers are the people who keep coming back, who make purchases, who tell others about your product. I have lost count of the number of times I have quoted Seth Godin in various media; I have read hundred of books over the years, but I cannot wait till he has a new one. For him I am a subscriber.

Passion produces results. Stop trying to motivate people. If people need some external force to kickstart them into performance then ditch them quick. True motivation has to be internal and it shows in the product. I have met people who loathe cooking, I have been in kitchens where the designated cook sees it as a chore and nothing more. These are people who produce mediocre meals and should hire someone else to do the work. I don't believe that everyone should have a passion for cooking, and probably the best thing such people do is acknowledge that they don't and pass the responsibility onto someone who does. I love watching celebrity chefs. It is not the dishes they produce that keeps people watching their shows (after all you cannot taste the food) but the passion they bring, their personality and love for what they do. Nigella, Gordon Ramsey, Jamie Oliver all passionate people. Passionate cooks explore new meals, fuse flavours creatively into new concoctions, work out how to do it better.

The final lesson my mother taught me from the kitchen was to build people. For us the meal was family time, no distractions from the television, from books, or from phones. It was face time, where over good food we would interact and grow. Were we perfect; by no means, but those moments together moulded our family unlike any other activity. The effort of cooking was not about creating food, it was about the family time at the table. It was about creating a story in our lives that we could not obtain any other way. What story are you creating for your clients?