Morning Walk

Every day looks pretty much the same. In fact, it can get sickening sometimes.

You leave the home, lock the door and the expected entourage of characters start to show-up.

The lady in the pink shirt walking the pomeranian, the asian guy that runs shirtless with a little dog that does not match his attitude, the woman in the hat.

After a while you just know them all, it gets boring and you just stop looking. So you come up with passtimes, you make up games.

This morning I spotted a gentleman on the other side of the street. I decided to get into an imaginary race. I was doing good under my opinion, my steps were long and cadence was actually faster than his. Still could not pass him. Stepped it up, lengthened my stride, still having a hard time.

He seemed to be leisurly strolling, and I still couldn't pass him!

Next time I decide to get into a race, I will pick the inner side of the curve...

The four biggest mistakes in Channel Management

In my 10+ years of managing Channel Partners I have had the opportunity to confirm over and over again my common-sense approach towards Management and Leadership. I have put together this list trying to make it as short as I could, forcing me to prioritize. This is what I came up with:

1.- Failing to choose the right model from the start.

It seems simple, but it can really make a difference. The right decision will depend enormously on the client base you are trying to reach and second, your product. There are certain products that are just not made to be sold through a distributor, or maybe the Internet. Conversely, there are customers (and demographics) that you will never reach effectively unless you utilize the same reseller/retailer that they are used to make business with. Same applies for wholesalers, your product has to be carried by those who sell to your retailer of choice.

2.- Not declaring it to the world.

We like to go around making our own decisions and we don't really bother on letting people know what we do but letting the market know what type of Channel you are using and what is your policy is crucial to have the community properly aligned. Those who feel that your model resonates with them, will look after you.

3.- Not being honest

If you have decided to sell direct, say so. You can suddenly become someone's competitor but you will still be known to be a trustworthy individual (and Company!) in the industry. Allways stick to the rules that you put out, if you need to change them, do so but honor whatever happened under them when they were valid.

4.- Not having a "Channel Specific" plan

Let's face it. Channel Partners in general are in the business of sustaining their own companies and they will only behave in a way that supports these objectives. Vendors and Manufacturers COMPETE for their mindshare. You as one of the many that they carry have to make it easy and profitable to do business with you. Failing to have a Channel-Specific team and tools such as Channel support, Channel Marketing, Channel Portal, etc. will not get you very far or at least, will make things much slower.
More on this on an upcoming edition.

Dogs on a leash...

Nice day to walk the dog. Kind of chilly for Florida.

It has been some time that I haven't taken my 9-year old boxer on a morning walk, so I thought it would be great that she would come with me this morning. Shorts, a fleece for the chill, leash and off we went.

There I was, pulling on her at every step when something caught her attention, and I got to say, this was pretty often. Every time I would get up to my burn-these-extra-10-pounds-that-I-packed-on-the-wrong-job pace, she would make sure to slow me down to do her thing.

So when I reached a stretch where there was no one nearby, I released her from her tether.

Now, we would walk harmoniously side-by-side. She would just wander out and investigate "places of interest". Would stay behind, but eventually speed up and come back to my side.
Now, my stride was steady, focused on the goal. I was walking in a straight line. We finished our walk at home on time an happier we could not be.

That's when it hit me, how real leadership has to behave.

The difference between a micro manager and a good leader who knows where he/she is going. A good leader sets the pace through example and recognizes diversity both in background, knowledge and style (BTW the similarities between my boxer and I end on how fast we both eat...), and allows his/her team to explore areas of interest that may seem important at their level of influence. Finally, lets them figure out the best way to keep up with the pace.

No leashes for me...

Why a Proxy makes sense (as a security device for exploring the web)

The Proxy is the ultimate security device, and I am going to make my case by an analogy. Let's say I need to go to some dangerous place, for example, my Inlaw's or my younger daughter's room (translate this into any treacherous place).

The safest alternative is to not go.

The next best thing, is to send someone else, Right? This is exactly what a proxy is designed to do and there are things that are possible in the virtual world. A proxy
can:

• Perfectly impersonate you
• Transmit the whole experience to you, safely

For this to work, the proxy also does some other things -besides having to be a heckuva robust machine-, to know:

• It has to know where NOT to go
• It has to know what not to touch, eat (or open, execute) and how to get rid of some stuff

On the other side proxies are not perfect, they CANNOT do all you can do. They usually don't speak all protocols, they give you a watered-downed version of the experience in some cases and on top of that, they have to know all your stuff to properly impersonate you and they will know all the nasty places where you want to go...

Help! I am buried by emails!

(and -by the way- I happen to be stepping on that important one of yours...)

Everybody seems to have this mixed rhetoric, everybody complains about how many emails they get, but they also use it in kinda fashion of "look how important I am, I get 150 emails".

I tend to measure workload more on how many I have to send, as this is a more accurate depiction on which ones are really relevant.

The truth is, it takes up a whole lot of our time everyday to sift through those messages and respond on those that are important. Anything we can do to make this task quicker and less frequent works in our benefit.

I have some suggestions to move in the right direction, some of these things are just common sense, some of them I borrowed from RFC1855 on "Netiquette".

Here I go:

• Be conservative in what you send
• Think twice on hitting "Reply all". Be toughtfull on who you copy, move away from a "Cover your ASSets" mindset. Encourage people to do the same.
• Be a man (or woman) of word. If you keep your word, people will not feel it is necessary to leave an email trail.
• Be thoughtful on who (and how) you copy. Who should receive this email and respond to it? (To) Who should just be aware? (CC) and Who should just be aware but is not part of the conversation? (BCC) Use this last one sparingly and with respect.
• Email, even when we have the Blackberry, is not instant. Allow 2 days for a response before resending an email, if your recipient is already overwhelmed, you are just making things worse. Type "URGENT" in the subject line if it is so, or pickup the phone.
• Use descriptive subject lines. If you are replying on an old message for a new topic, change the subject line.

Email is asynchronous and for medium sized messages (one page?). Use other forms of communication when you require:

• Quick answers: IM or SMS
• Decision from a group, coordination: Conference call
• An explanation that requires feedback if you are being heard: Phone, Face to face meeting
• A very long process or other that requires documentation: Make an attachment, point to a link.

Here are some good -already- old ones:

• Remember that the recipient is a human being whose culture, language, and humor have different points of reference from your own. This is true also on the receiving end.
• Use mixed case. UPPER CASE LOOKS AS IF YOU'RE SHOUTING.
• Use smileys to indicate tone of voice, but use them sparingly. :-) is an example of a smiley (Look sideways).
• Wait overnight to send emotional responses to messages. If you have really strong feelings about a subject, indicate it via FLAME ON/OFF enclosures. For example:

FLAME ON: This type of argument is not worth the bandwidth
it takes to send it. It's illogical and poorly
reasoned. The rest of the world agrees with me.
FLAME OFF

("The rest of the world agrees with me" ...Love it!)

Last but not least: Send less, receive less...

Social Networking comes of age

I was one of the early adopters.

Maybe because I did not have to pay a premium to be one of them, as you usually have to, to be the first to get the newest gizmo. I somewhat did foresee the benefits to be able to "virtualize" our social environment. I should be able to keep in touch in my own terms and through my busy travel schedule and to sustain friendship on our new global reality, where I have more friends scattered around the world than in my hometown.

I joined LinkedIn in 2005, when it was little more than a contact manager. It has evolved to what it is now, the premium Social Networking site for professionals, with capabilities that allow to create business and employment opporutnities, as well as to maintain a peer-support system, instead of trying to make it on your own. Now I count almost 400 real connections on it.

Social Networking sites have undergone a transformation in two major aspects:

1.- SN sites are becoming more and more useful. With the incorporation of new functionalities, SN sites are now addressing real needs and reaching a wider audience.

2.- SN sites are now experiencing geometric growth. With adoption, viral expansion of the use of SN sites is something that is happening finally.

A year ago, my oldest daughter perfected her MySpace template and introduced me to this teenage-bound site. Today, Fortune 500 companies and Presidential Candidates have MySpace pages, it is no longer reserved to "indie" rock bands.
Another popular site, Facebook, opened up an API for third parties to develop Social Network-supported applications, creating a burst of creativity.

These tendencies manifest in a number of obvious ways, and at least two not-so-obvious:

- SN applications are becoming a very important content provider, creating steady, heavy traffic.

- SN applications are starting to be looked at as something that can be leveraged by the business world.

After all, people are at the heart of everything.


A quick overview of the existing Social Networking sites:
http://www.MySpace.com
This is one of the biggest SN sites, in terms of subscribers, and probably the best known. Tends to be a more "push"-like site that allows users to post info about themselves. Applications are controlled by MySpace.
http://www.LinkedIn.com
This site is directed towards the working professional. A must to be in for anyone working in a technology-related field. Application is closed-developed by LinkedIn. Has remarkably good privacy guards.
http://www.Facebook.com
Often seen as a "MySpace for grown-ups", Facebook offers the possibility of developing applications that "piggyback" on the social capabilities of the core application. For example, an external "birthday reminder" application when properly installed and authorized, willtake your birthday date and will remind all your friends linked (that have the application installed too), of your upcoming birthday! Pretty good privacy features.
http://www.hi5.com
Very similar to MySpace. So far I have experienced privacy issues.
http://www.Plaxo.com
Not really a Social Networking application, it allows to update your contact list automatically. At the end, useful to keep in touch.

Useless typing...

I am pumping Gas at the station. And this time it is not the now expected high price per gallon that makes my mind wander.

I am paying by credit card, so I have been asked for a PIN.

I am always amazed about the random security measures I see. In late days, "two factor authentication" or even "three factor" has gained a tremendous momentum and is considered a must for certain applications such as remote network access. You can see the familiar "token card" dangling from peoples lanyards. But two (or three) factor authentication was also a very well known concept in the XVII century. In fact, much before than that, the Romans would already use some form of it. The "three factor" refers to features that can be produced to prove identity:

• Something that only we know
• Something that we possess
  
• Some feature on ourselves that can be shown

We have heard stories where the messenger shows a tattoo or a particular mole on his skin, or maybe shows a medal, a seal or just utters a password.

So it is not a new concept. How do we fail miserably at implementing it sometimes?

I am just ranting about this useless routine of entering my ZIP code at the pump when I swipe my credit card. It says "to prevent credit card fraud you are now required to enter the ZIP code of your billing address". Granted, it is "two-factor" authentication, it is something that is in my possession (the card), and something that I know (the ZIP code). That should make it stronger, Right?

Well, where the intentions fall to the ground is for the "Something that ONLY WE know". Haven't the security gurus at the banks thought about the fact that you usually loose your credit card WITH YOUR WALLET? Yes, where your Driver's License is merrily giving away your ZIP code....