Rocks Are Hard

Hire a Waiter or a Bartender

Recruiting is a tricking business in the best of times -- add the situation we live in today and it's even nuttier. Definetely an art form, not a science (no matter what anyone tells you). 

At Double Forte we've tried many different processes to recruit great people. Today we have a bit of a different approach that takes into account the situation we find ourselves in today.

• No one with 10 years of experience: for one thing there are VERY few people in our biz with 8-12 years of experience -- why? because almost no one got hired between mid-2000 and mid-2004 --so there's a big, 5 year donut hole in the talent pool)
• More people want to manage than want to work (don't get me started)
• An abundance of people who feel certain types of work is below them
• A tidal wave of applicants who want their career handed to them

.... to name a few. 

So we look outside the check list of traditional requirements to find that special person that fits our purpose.  And we're down to this:

• Does the person have a lean-forward, can-do attitude. Does their current situation prove it?
• Can the person write two sentences, one after the other, that convey a powerful thought with proper spelling and grammar? (I assure you this rule DQs a large percentage of people)
• If it's a higher level position - what does the person bring to the table to augment what we already have? 
• Does the candidate exhibit initiative?
• Teamplayer? Yes or No. 

This net -- with weird-shaped holes -- catches a lot of great candidates...  for other jobs.

Then the last filter -- BIG BONUS points if they've been a waitress or bar tender and put it on their resume.   (See this great New York Times profile of Amy Astley of Teen Vogue "Always Be Proud to list 'Waitress' On Your Resume). When you have to live and die (or pay rent or eat ramen) based on tips, you learn SERVICE the hard way...and it doesn't leave you.

 Who gets through is a special  breed - our breed.

Our herd is getting larger, one special person at a time. 

Double Forte Acquires The Barn Group

Well I haven't attended this blog in a long time, but have exciting news to share.

Double Forte has acquired long-term partner agency The Barn Group, a specialty artisan wine and food public relations and marketing services firm!

Together, Double Forte and The Barn Group bring deep expertise in large-scale national food and beverage companies as well as in smaller, artisan wine and food companies to offer exceptional experience from both worlds to our growing list of clients.

The Barn Group was founded by Managing Director Maggie Zeman in 2006; it will maintain its headquarters in Healdsburg, Calif. and will also have offices at Double Forte's HQ in San Francisco.

Maggie and her team have built a stellar reputation for The Barn Group with boutique wineries, wine organizations and food companies throughout Northern California.  She is a brilliant strategist, an amazing client advocate, and a consumate communications professional.  The Barn Group is a perfect complement to Double Forte's Food & Bev practice. 

I've known Maggie Zeman for a long time -- first as a competitor, then as a client, then as a colleague at Red Whistle, then as a partner firm and now as a partner.  

Frankly we've looked at partnering with many boutique firms in the last year or so and The Barn Group is the first to pass the Double Forte sniff test:

1.  "Do we have complementary work styles, ethics and priorities?"
2.  "Can we help each other?"
3.  "Will our businesses be stronger together?"
4. "Will we have fun together?"

I'm sure these are not in the right order, but they work for us! The Barn Group is in and already our clients are benefitting from the added expertise on both sides of the business.

I'm thrilled that Maggie and her team are part of the Double Forte family and we look forward to a great future together.

I invite you to check out The Barn Group at www.barngroup.com.

Cheers! 

 

Drive A Stake Through Bad Ideas

"There are no bad ideas."

This is an excellent way to start a brainstorm -- because ALL ideas can be built upon, and sometimes the worst ideas spawn genius.

However.

Ideas that are "fun" and "will get results" but don't drive to a postive long term conclusion are "bad" ideas -- not (necessarily) because they're "stupid" or "dumb," but because they don't trigger the action you need to succeed.  

So before you go off and pursue things that will work (but won't work for you) -- pull the string through on the idea.  Where will it lead you if you're successful? Will it drive the action that you require? Or will it just add fluff and noise or drive action to someone else?

Bad ideas of all types need to be killed and killed fast, or they'll keep resurfacing and throwing people off track. (Read  here for more on being really busy and getting nowhere.)

 

And Then We Wave The Magic Wand

Planning is important -- not because anything ever goes to plan, but because (for one thing) it charts out a desired result and the steps you need to take in an ideal world to get there.  Good planning should also include several escape hatches if what you think will happen along the way does not occur.

When you've thought out what you want and how to get there, then dealing with the guaranteed variables along the route is easier to manage.

However -- no plan should rely on "...and then we wave the magic wand" -- EVER.  

It worked for Cinderella and Dorothy, but the fairy God Mother and the Good Witch are busy and can't be counted on to show up for you.

 

Take All Those Good Ideas OFF the Whiteboard

Too often with bright, interested, curious people brainstorms result in too many good ideas (I know, what a problem to have!).   And they're good ideas so everyone wants to do them all.

STOP THE MADNESS!

Doing one thing great is much better (effective, efficient, manageable -- I could go on) than "trying" to do all of the good ideas sort of well.  Or as I like to say "Less of good is better than more of crappy."

The key to great campaign/project/idea management is taking the Good ideas that could work OFF the board and LEAVE only the great ideas that you can get done that will achieve the business goal ON. 

So have the brainstorm. Generate tons of ideas. And then really look at what you have.  Sift through them all.  Are they good ideas or great ideas? Can they stand alone or as parts of others? Can you get them done or are you too dependent on other factors?  And then take the good ones OFF and leave no more than 2 GREAT ideas on the board.

In the end, the most effective whiteboard is the one with one or two ideas on it that can be mapped, planned for and executed against. Everyone can see it, no one gets confused, and you don't run into each other in execution.

 My friend Nilofer Merchant calls this "murderboarding"  and you can read all about her process and ideas about it in her book The New How. 

 Next time walk in into the brainstorm with a big eraser you're ready to use, and you'll be WAY ahead of the game you're about to start.

Deadlines: A Primer

Deadlines aren't for you, they're for someone else. Because someone else needs what you're working on to get what they're working on done. So with that in mind, let's review:

1.Never EVER set Friday 5pm as the deadline. All that means is that the person you're sending something to is going to have to stay late or work on the weekend to act on it. And you're on the hook until your work is cleared...so you're working late or over the weekend too.  If someone gives you that deadline, RESET it to Friday at noon.

2. Same thing with Monday morning. All this means is you're working over the weekend.

3. Any day at EOD as the deadline guarantees a crappy day and working into the night. Move it back so you have time to answer any questions the person you're delivering something to might have.

4. If you're not going to make a deadline, tell the person ASAP and renegotiate   to   figure out how to get it done. RUN, don't walk on this one.   Your work not getting there on time can set off a whole domino effect you can't see and the fact that you missed it will feel MUCH larger than you can predict.  Really, if you have a 3pm deadline, you are sure to know before 2:59 that you're not going to make it.  Renegotiate a deadline as soon as you know you're in trouble so everyone around you can plan too.  No excuse.

5. No matter how great your work is, if it's late  it doesn't count.  No, don't argue with me.

The End.

The Real World Out There Beyond the 415, 650, 408 and 510

Well E3, Board Work and then 2 weeks in the land of lakes and cheese with an almost obsessive desire to "unplug" will do it to ya'. Get you (ok, me) some perspective I mean.

For there outside the 415, 650, 408 and 510 (oh heck let's throw the 707 and the 831 in there too)  where "real people" live, the world operates a bit differently. A bit differently than the hype-aware, hyper-connected, hyper-what's-new land of the SF Bay Area and its extensions.

And while it's true that so many markets are made on the edges, there's a reason CPG companies do their best testing in places like Eau Claire Wisconsin. Because it's there that money is not so plentiful, where consumables are not as attainable, where people have to make what seems like harder choices on how to spend their hard-earned money.

So get out there into the great expanse between 415 and 212 and spend some time observing how those outside our bubble live.  You'll learn something about how to move some markets and be better for it.

Say It Out Loud

Too often I watch people rush into projects and their work without taking the 30 seconds to say "what do I want to achieve with this _thing_?"

Off they go, working away diligently on their to-do lists.  They eventually cross everything off and sit back to survey their accomplishments and are disappointed.  "All that work for nothing?"  Like ducks paddling wildly against the current, they're tired, have done things, but gotten nowhere.

Stop! Wait! Before you start say what you want to achieve OUT LOUD (this is not a time when your inside voice need stay contained!).

"To land the NYTimes Magazine and California Report and ______"

"To get 100 new people signed up for the community from Stanford Hospital."

"To recruit 4 kindegartner parents to _____"

"Introduce myself to X Y and Z and get a presentation opportunity out of 1 of them."

Say it out loud. Write that down and put it next to your computer. Leave the piece of paper alone.

Go about your project (which one assumes you have altered a bit to accommodate what you said out loud).

Measure yourself against that and I bet you will cross everything off your list with satisfaction for a job well done with travel upstream.  You may even turn the current.

Raising Your Hand is Not A Sign of Weakness

I was in Boston last week, where using your blinker to indicate turns or lane changes is considered a sign of weakness, and frankly am suprised that I came home in one piece!

But it got me to thinking -- why not use your damn blinker? Why not give people a head's up on what your plan is so that might let you in their lane or move the left so you can turn right on red faster?

It's the same in business. We're all working together -- with colleagues, clients, partners, media, whoever -- and if we all gave each other a heads up when we needed help or information or more time, it would make life so much easier. Because, you know, people WOULD figure out how to help you get where you're going. Not just to help you, but to help themselves!

So raise your damn hand! Let the people around you help you get to the destination -- even if it's a 3pm deadline.

The End.

When The Situation Changes, ADJUST

We all have plans and to do lists. And there are some people who are SO wed to the plan or to do list they are incapable? unwilling? of adjusting the plan when the situation they planned for changes.

When a condition DOES NOT EXIST or is DIFFERENT than what you thought - ADJUST. Don't keep going on your merry way across a bridge to no where-- or you'll get there.... NO WHERE.

  

'nuff said.