The practical and slightly wacky guide to project management realism was just released in Japanese by the biggest business book publisher in Japan, Nikkei Business Press.  The Japanese version of Scrappy Project Management was translated by an experienced senior executive, Tack Tanaka, who claims that he found it deep, insightful, and . . . well, a heck of a lot of fun!  This translation came as a result of the books popularity in the US, my monthly trips to Japan over the past 4 years working to transform the mindset and results of Japanese business leaders, and . . . well, luck.  In fact, this is yet another example of something that seemed impossible, and then happened nonetheless.  The editor liked the word “Scrappy”.  Ironically there is no literal translation of this word into Japanese, so Tack had a very tough job!

By the way, the future of our world may depend on Japanese business innovation.  While many westerners still imagine Japanese businessmen as traditional, conservative – even old-fashioned – images of deep bows and tedious business card exchanges mask a new reality that’s emerging on the streets of Tokyo, Osaka, and across the country.  A global reality.  Businesses that had focused primarily on the domestic market now reach across the planet in search of growth that just isn’t available within the borders of Japan.  This globalization has created a growing need for leaders with a global mindset.  But where are these leaders getting their inspiration?  You might be surprised to find that the source of this transformation is partnership between a delicate-looking Japanese woman in her fifties and this wildly enthusiastic golden-haired female consultant from the Silicon Valley (Me.  OK, the hair color is “assisted”).
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I’m healthy and I have proof!  Yes, indeedy, I have a cheerful yellow A4 size piece of paper from the Japanese government that testifies to the fact that I survived and passed a quarantine inspection.  That’s no small matter, to be sure, but it pales in comparison to surviving: 1) the hellish drive from my home to the San Francisco Airport, 2) the security inspection line at the airport, where well-meaning security guards who remind me of my mother bellow admonitions like “Take your shoes off!”, 3) airline food, 4) economy seating (the meaning of numb-bummosis should be clear even to people who are NOT medical professionals), 5) Eight channels of mildly uninspiring movies to choose from on the 10 hour flight. Read the rest of this entry »

The current global crisis, which I’m calling the “worldwide economic mood disorder” (WEMD for short), hit right about the time I was feeling that I’d finally recovered from the dot-com bubble bust of 2001. Although that period of business convulsions did reach beyond the Silicon Valley, my neighborhood was definitely “ground zero”. My cushy job as VP of Program Management and Organizational Effectiveness at a Xerox Parc spin-off evaporated, along with my inflated six figure salary and a very snazzy Jaguar that I hastily replaced with a second-hand Mustang convertible. I watched my exceedingly brilliant, experienced and well-educated friends from Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the like, hit the job-search streets like bums looking for a place to crash for the night. I kept a list of all of the people I knew who were unemployed on my desk so I could send them job leads.

A half dozen friends decided to start their own businesses, most doomed to failure from the start, but with nothing better to do than watch daytime TV at least it passed the time, so I contributed my project management expertise to their ventures. As a result I currently own a decent chunk of two profitable businesses. Calling on my project leadership skills of distilling opportunity out of chaos, I did my best to counter the spread of doom and gloom thinking by focusing on what was possible in such circumstances. But after a year or two of scarcity and austerity the oppressive atmosphere really got to me. I noisily campaigned for “Prozac in the water supply!”, but to no avail!

“The last of human freedoms – the ability to chose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.” – Viktor Frankl Read the rest of this entry »

If you are genetically gifted with the ability to get results that other people claim are highly unlikely or darn near impossible, you don’t need to read this. But if you are faced with an insurmountable “To Do” list, here are twelve predictable (and avoidable) pitfalls that could stand between you and your goals.

1. Forgetting about the customer. Henry Ford said that the company doesn’t pay employees a salary, the customer does. The employer is just the middleman. But many businesses operate as though the customer is an afterthought. If you want to be successful, be completely and unrepentantly obsessed with the customer, whether internal or external.

2. Failure to set clear goals. According to a blizzard of studies and my own observations over the past 20 years, the number one reason people don’t achieve their goals is that they don’t have clear goals. Fear of failure prevent people from clear goal setting or makes them settle for fuzzy, ambiguous goals. Double your chances of success by making sure that you and your co-workers have shared, measurable, challenging, and achievable goals. Read the rest of this entry »

What SEEMS impossible, but if it WERE possible, would transform your job, your team, your company, heck . . . YOUR LIFE . . . for the better?  That is the paradigm-shifting question that I learned many years ago from Joel Barker, a Futurist who made a movie called “The Business of Paradigms” a way back in the last century.  The movie has been updated, and now it is cleverly called “The New Business of Paradigms – 21st Century Edition”.  No matter, it’s timeless.  (It had BETTER be, it is only 18 minutes long and it costs almost a thousand bucks!  But the preview is free. Check it out here if you haven’t seen it.  Tell them I sent you and you might even get a discount.)  This question has the power to unlock possibilities that otherwise would peek out from behind the cloak of consciousness, and I have have frequently used it to achieve what seems impossible, but is merely difficult.   Human beings are animals, and we spend a lot of our time on autopilot.  We live many of the minutes, hours and days of our lives in some kind of trance state, highly functioning, no doubt, but not exactly highly consciously aware.  I mean, really, haven’t we all found ourselves at the end of a busy day wanting to shout out “Has anyone seen where the day went?”  And I have personally been on long drives in the car when I suddenly wondered who had been driving the last 100 miles.  Most of my brain was off scampering around somewhere, but fortunately some part of it was driving the damn car! Read the rest of this entry »

In 2008 Kenichi Ohmae’s “Business Breakthrough, Inc.” filmed 14 episodes of me ranting and raving about “Breakthrough Leadership”. (Ohmae-san is famous for having directed McKinsey’s Japan and Asia Pacific operations, and writing many popular business books, like The Borderless World” and “The Mind of the Strategist”.) It was a thoroughly terrifying experience, which I described in gory detail in a previous blog. Someday soon they’ll be shown on Japanese business TV. Here are the Power Points for the first episode. It’s just not the same without the video (as with all PPT, you might be tempted to say “I don’t FEEL the power and I certainly don’t SEE the point!”), but for now it will have to do. Let me know if you want a copy of this first set for your very own and I’ll send you a pdf. The who series of PPT can be viewed on slideshare by clicking on the link above the PPT in this blog.

In the videos that accompany the PPT, I speak quite slowly so that non-native English speakers will be able to easily understand what I’m saying, even when I’m ranting. (They’ll be sold through BBI.) Let me know if you want to hear when they are released (kimberly@wiefling.com) and I’ll drop you a line and a link. You can always play them with the sound off to amuse your cat! – Kimberly

If you’ve ever been inside of a tin of sardines you will have a pretty good idea of what it’s like to ride the subways of Tokyo during rush hour – only in the subway the sardines are still alive. Even though we are packed together with greater intimacy than most sexual encounters, my inscrutable Japanese companions manage to wear a mask of serenity and composure. Most of my fellow riders have their eyes fixed on their mobile phones, looking up train schedules, checking email, texting their pals, or doing a little shopping on-line. These 21st century urban dwellers use their phones for everything! (I’m told that the average mobile phone purchase in Japan is over $50!) My phone works there, but it costs a bundle per minute, something approaching the cost of a college education, so I tend not to use it much. Instead, I’m looking around to see if anyone else notices that those of us fortunate enough to have a seat have our faces at crotch-level with the people standing. Read the rest of this entry »

Thomas Edison, when asked why he had a team of twenty-one assistants “If I could solve all the problems myself, I would.”  Another rather amusing fellow I know said “There is no “I” in TEAM, but there is an “I” in WIN!”  Whatever your philosophy, working in a team is challenging, especially when separated by distance and time zones.  Team work requires taking into account the views of others with whom you may not agree, and working with people who may seem irritating, stubborn, or just plain sociopathic at times.  And there is always some level of conflict, which most people don’t enjoy (although some people argue for sport!), so the road of “journey shared” can be a bit rocky at times.Here are some survival tips based on my 20 years of working in teams:

AVOID TEAM WORK!

-          Well, only if you don’t NEED a team, of course!  If you can accomplish the goals without investing your time and energy into building a team, avoid working in a team.  Teams should only be used to accomplish what cannot be accomplished alone.  If you are playing a game that only a team can win, you’d better have a team!

“If you want to go fast, go alone.  If you want to go far, go with others.” – African Proverb

CHOOSE TEAMMATES CAREFULLY

-          OK, we don’t always have a choice of who’s on our team.  But, your individual success will be tied to the success of the team, so when you do have a choice, be selective in choosing teammates.  Personality clashes and lack of shared values are a recipe for lots of angst and very little progress.  I’ve quit plenty of teams, and even jobs, to escape torturous teammates.  Life is just too short! Read the rest of this entry »

Most of my work revolves around the power of creating breakthroughs through extreme optimism and hideously positive thinking for which “hyperbole” simply isn’t a big enough word. I frequently rant and rave about the hazards of know-it-alls who poo-poo every idea and wield their negativity like a scythe, cutting down anything new or imaginative in its path. But the popularity of negative thinking is undeniable, and, like most veteran business leaders, I’m a pro at it. I was reminded of this when I recently received a note from a guy I used to work for at HP who, after reading my book, mused “It seems a bit cynical. Is that intentional?” Jumpin’ Geezus on a pogo stick! Yes, of course it’s intentional! Any human being who’s been a manager in the corporate world for more than a couple of hours and hasn’t become a tad cynical simply hasn’t been paying attention.

Negativity for its own sake is an annoyance at best, and a soul-sucking experience similar to what I imagine a psychic vampire would produce. But in the right hands, it’s a weapon of mass construction, freeing the mind of half-hidden dark thoughts, and an on-ramp to the superhighway of results in your business. Jump in, strap in and hold on ‘cause we’re going to take the curves up on two wheels.

Negative Thinking is Easier, I’m Positive!
Perhaps due to some quirk of evolution and slight survival advantage (my apologies to the creationists out there), human beings seem to find it easier to think of things from a negative perspective. Don’t believe anything I say, of course; check it out for yourself. Read the rest of this entry »

“Hey, has anyone seen my rubber chicken?”  He goes with me everywhere as I travel the world spreading the word about breakthrough leadership and execution excellence.  You might say he’s a “frequent flyer”, or perhaps even a “frequent fryer”.  One thing is for sure, he’s vital to my work, which mainly focuses on helping people overcome the biggest obstacle to their success – their own self-limiting assumptions and beliefs.  When I want to help people learn something from the rubber chicken I just hold him at shoulder height and release him.  “What causes the chicken to fall?”, I ask.  “Gravity?”  That’s not the answer I’d give.  Not if I was determined to be a menace to mediocrity, a person who is committed to creating breakthroughs in their projects and in their life.  No, “gravity” is the victim’s retort.  The real reason the chicken falls is because I released him.Now there is always “gravity” out there on our projects – things we can’t control – but it’s no use rocking back and forth moaning “woe is me” while all hell breaks loose on the project.  When the doo-doo hits the fan a true project leader asks “How did I contribute to this and what do we need to do now to deal with this?”  It seems like a simple enough lesson, but that doesn’t mean it is easy to learn.  It takes courage to accept responsibility for what is happening around us, to avoid blaming circumstances and other people, and to focus on what we can do to make a positive difference.  Winston Churchill said “Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees all others.”  Read the rest of this entry »