Career Advice for the Perplexed

Career advice from some of the leading guru’s in the field suggest that one build on one’s strengths and give up on trying to shore up one’s weaknesses. Great advice!

I’ve done an inventory of my skills and have identified three things* which I believe I am world-class at performing:

1. Guessing what time it is without a watch. My wife will often say to me, “What time do you think it is? DON’T look at the clock!” Invariably, I will give the right answer to within about a 15 minute range. Awesome, eh?

2. Finding things (specifically my ear plugs) in the dark. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night. I take my earplugs out (My lovely wife snores.) and put them on the nightstand. When I return, even though I can’t see a thing, I can put my hands right on the place where those soft spongy things are resting. “So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice.”

3. Filling the coffee maker with water. I make six cups of coffee each morning. I can turn on the faucet in the kitchen and add exactly the right amount of water to make the 6 cups of coffee. First time! No going back to get more and no need to pour the excess water down the drain. I start every day feeling good about myself.

So, of course, the big question is: How do I “monetize” these skills? I am open to suggestions from any of the vast number of readers of this blog.

* I have some other skills (remembering people’s names from grade school, walking with my shoe laces untied, finding free wireless signals, etc.) but these are less unique and I’m probably not really top drawer in these departments.

Outcome-driven Innovation

A client recently recommended "What Customers Want" by Anthony Ulwick. I found it to be one of the more irritating business books that I've read in quite some time. It tirelessly promotes Ulwick's consulting firm and makes boastful claims based on a few unconvincing (at least to me) examples. It claims superiority for its process by setting up very weak strawmen, and then easily dispatching them.

My basic issue with the Outcome Driven Innovation process is that it is extremely tedious and probably mind-numbing, not exactly what one wants when one is trying to be innovative. Ulwick claims to make innovation a scientific process, but he seems to just suck the life out of it with excruciating detail. I know that some people feel more comfortable when the have lots and lots of data to look at. They like things to feel "scientific." But I've found that clarity and a few key insights are more valuable for generating new ideas.

Gerry Katz of Applied Marketing Science has written an excellent analysis to Outcome Driven Innovation, which you can read by Googling his name and the topic. Gerry and his cohorts did a side by side comparison of ODI with Voice of the Customer. Thanks, Gerry.