I hear the words social and media together at least 10 times a day and I’m starting to hate them. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m an atheist, but a person with low tolerance to repetition. It makes me feel like when I listen to the same song 5 times a day! At first, the song might be just brilliant but three weeks later its a brain killer.

Anyway, I think the term Social Media is widely overused and not well understood. Let’s start by saying that this buzzword is a child of the Web 2.0 family. As such, it represents the democratic activity of sharing media, say content, with other people. Social Media is the phenomena of having millions of people sharing content with others.

Now, I hear many people talk about Social Media and Online Marketing. What they imply is that companies should use this kind of “new culture” to benefit their own marketing strategies. However, what most people don’t get is that this so-called Social Media is not something that you pay for as you would do with a billboard or a 30 second TV ad.

But that doesn’t mean its free or it won’t require any effort.

Social Media is about people, regular flesh and blood people. So, in order to take advantage of this trend, companies have to rely on their people to communicate the business message.

So, do you need to hire regular people for your new Social Media Dept.?

That would be too easy.

Social Media is not about a special department, is about the organization as a whole. Furthermore, it is about the entire business ecosystem around the company, let’s say providers, customers, costumers’ friends, competitors, partners and so on.

So, in order to launch a successful Social Media campaign, you will need to communicate effectively with hundreds, even thousands of spokespeople. This requires a huge effort.

Some good examples of successful companies leveraging Social Media, are Zappos and Comcast. The secret of these companies is that there are regular file and rank employees behind the web communication tools of the company (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, the blogs, etc.) Actually, most of these tools where first adopted by the employees without an specific request by their superiors. As this channels matured, the company got interested on them and they made the wisest of decisions. Instead of asking non-authorized popular spokespeople to cease their activities, they empowered them to communicate on behalf of the company.

Successful companies that care about the relationship with their customers, allocate resources in unauthorized PR efforts. Social Media works when people inside the firewall communicate with the outside world at a peer to peer level. Customers prefer to receive a simple and natural immediate answer by somebody that actually cares, than a long and rehearsed phone call by a guy that barely knows the company or the product.

So, is Social Media an effortless task? It depends. If the organization is a democratic entity where employees are empowered to try new things and act on behalf of the company, then Social Media will be a no-brainer

However, if the company is not familiar with this kind of behavior, then the effort will be huge. Many changes will need to take place even before the company sends its first tweet.

– CS

La semana pasada (en medio de la crisis porcina) renuncié a mi cargo como Director de CIMA Labs dentro de CIMA CI, y con ello terminó mi relación con Tikkia, el proyecto que había venido impulsando los últimos 8 meses.

Además de mi, todo el equipo de Tikkia también hizo maletas.

No intentaré explicar nuestras razones para tomar esta decisión. Tampoco intentaré describir el sentimiento de dejar atrás un proyecto que vi hecho realidad aun antes de que se escribiera la primera línea de código. Sólo diré que es una decisión que me llena de alegría, que dejo atrás una etapa sumamente importante en mi crecimiento personal y que le deseo mucho éxito a mis ex-colaboradores entre los cuales hay personas a las que en verdad les guardo mucho cariño.

Sin embargo, lo que si haré es un breve recuento de las últimas lecciones que me llevo de esta experiencia, y que soportan fuertemente nuestra decisión. Espero que a algunos les sirva.

Un startup sólo es un startup si es un startup

Cómo muchos quizá saben, Tikkia es un servicio que nació dentro de la estructura de una empresa ya establecida. A pesar de que las personas que estábamos detrás de Tikkia éramos emprendedores por naturaleza y por profesión, Tikkia nunca fue un startup. Esto tuvo tanto repercusiones positivas como negativas. Por un lado, todos cobramos quincena tras quincena nuestros salarios y nunca tuvimos que preocuparnos por abrir el refrigerador y encontrarlo vacío. Por otro lado, nunca tuvimos en realidad la autoridad para tomar ciertas decisiones.

A la larga, la incapacidad para tomar decisiones rápidamente hizo que invirtiéramos demasiada energía en ejecutar acciones que no creíamos convenientes pero que “se tenían que hacer” porque así lo requería la dirección general.

Si vas a emprender algo, asegúrate de que corres todos los riesgos pero también de que puedes tomar todas las decisiones necesarias. En otras palabras, un startup es como un barco y el capitán debe ser el emprendedor, nadie más.

Toda organización da y quita energía

Las personas que están a tu alrededor son tus mayores fuentes de energía, por tanto, elígelas sabiamente. Pero así como pueden nutrirte, tus compañeros pueden robar tu energía.

Los ex-miembros del equipo de Tikkia/CIMA Labs somos personas que siempre buscamos aprender cosas nuevas. La experimentación está en nuestros genes. Tan pronto como encontramos una herramienta que nos puede ahorrar tiempo y esfuerzo o que puede aumentar la calidad de nuestros resultados hacemos algo muy sencillo: la probamos y en su caso la adoptamos.

Sin embargo, el resto de la organización no era así. Decenas de veces nos vimos en la situación de invertir más tiempo y esfuerzo en explicar cómo y para qué funcionaba la herramienta que el tiempo que nos ahorramos utilizándola.

Asegúrate de que toda la gente que te rodea en tu organización son personas que aprenden rápido y que requieren una atención mínima para ejectuar acciones tan básicas como utilizar una herramienta de productividad (ejemplo: PBworks).

Las políticas matan la creatividad

Muchas veces discutí con directivos de la empresa acerca de la existencia de políticas innecesarias. Por definición, las políticas matan la creatividad; disminuyen el poder que un individuo tiene para tomar una decisión y para asumir sus consecuencias. La creatividad es una característica fundamental del emprendedor y las políticas van en contra de esta naturaleza.

Si vas a poner una política en tu startup, asegúrate de entender sus implicaciones y de que esta es absolutamente necesaria. Por el contrario, te invito a escribir directivas. Éstas son formas aceptadas por la comunidad para evaluar una decisión.

Ejemplo de política:

“El horario de trabajo es de 8 am a 6pm”

Ejemplo de directiva:

“Trabaja tanto como quieras, trabaja tanto como puedas”

Si no entiendes lo que hace tu gente, no decidas sobre sus acciones

En muchas ocasiones, cuando trabajamos dentro de una estructura empresarial tradicional, estamos acostumbrados a recibir órdenes de personas que no saben hacer nuestro trabajo. No sólo eso, sino que no hay explicaciones ni derecho a replica. Esto mata la productividad de un empleado y puede matar a un proyecto completo.

Si eres el líder de un equipo tienes dos responsabilidades muy importantes:

1. Saber cómo se ejecutan las tareas de la gente a la que diriges, de forma tal que puedas tomar decisiones con respecto a estas.

2. Permitir que tu equipo tome las decisiones que tú no eres capaz de tomar. Esto no es nada malo, sin embargo es muy difícil de lograr. Se requiere trabajar en tu personal para permitir que tus colaboradores brillen por las decisiones que ellos saben tomar y tú no.

A eso, en el mundo de la administración, se le llama empowerment, y es fundamental en un startup.

Comparte y comparte formalmente

Invita a otras personas a colaborar contigo, sobre todo para que contrarresten tus debilidades. Es una excelente idea desde que inicias un startup, traer a otras personas talentosas, trabajadoras y entusiastas al proyecto.

Si invitas a otras personas a colaborar en tu emprendimiento y les prometes que el riesgo y la utilidad serán compartidas, ponlo en papel en ese momento. Cada segundo en el que el equipo ya está trabajando, es más difícil formalizar una sociedad.

Recuerda que todos los involucrados están poniendo en juego su proyecto de vida y lo mínimo que esperan es despertarse todos los días sabiendo que el riesgo que corren viene acompañado de la posibilidad de cosechar grandes frutos en el futuro.

A lo que sigue

Espero que estas pequeñas lecciones puedan servirte para capitalizar mejor las oportunidades que tengas enfrente. A mi me han servido.

Fue un verdadero placer hacer de Tikkia una realidad y espero de todo corazón que CIMA CI tenga planes de llevarlo al siguiente nivel, además de que agradezco todas las oportunidades que nos brindaron día tras día. A mi equipo le agradezco todos y cada uno de los momentos que pasamos juntos. Ellos saben que este solamente es el comienzo y que lo mejor está por venir.

Bueno, último mensaje. Ahora soy libre y estoy evaluando proyectos y oportunidades para decidir dentro de 20 días, a qué dedicaré mi energía durante los próximos meses o años.

Mi escritorio empieza a llenarse de cosas como solicitudes para estudiar en el extranjero, propuestas para iniciar nuevos negocios (offline y online), ofertas de capital, ofertas de empleo y otras cosas que tendré que evaluar a consciencia para tomar el camino más correcto; aquel en el que pueda crecer más al tiempo que hago una fuerte contribución a mi entorno.

Si tienes alguna propuesta, con gusto la platicamos, estoy muy abierto a colaborar en toda clase de proyectos.

However, I’ve never felt this is a wrong attitude towards life. Quite the opposite, I have always listened this inner voice telling me “Accept no rules!”

If you don’t know me, maybe you’re starting to think I’m an anarchic punk going around doing whatever I want. Nonetheless, you wouldn’t be more mistaken.

I just feel that following rules imply that I’m stupid.

This morning, I was watching one of those TED Talks that just made too much sense. This time, it was Barry Schwartz, a professor who studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life.  At the time, he is studying wisdom.

During the presentation, he describes practical wisdom as the ability to “not follow” the rules.

Voilá! I might be wiser than I thought.

Professor Schwartz talks through a very simple yet powerful concept. Very often, in situations where human beings are involved, rules are not enough in order to perform correctly. Especially at unexpected deviations from the usual path, people needs the ability to act either against the rules or in spite to the lack of any. Wise people are the ones who make good decisions when there’s no precedent rule to follow. Furthermore, wise people are the ones that are able to break the rules whenever they think it’s for the best.

But it seems most traditional organizations don’t quite get it.

A smart organization has little to no rules. People in the organization are hired not only because they’re talented, but because they are good decision makers. On a daily basis, they are encouraged to make decisions, and either they win or fail, they are encouraged to learn from the process in order to improve their “decision making algorithm”. In the long run, this sort of players perform better than their “overruled peers”. People that makes decision becomes wiser by the minute, while people that follow rules become dumber in the same way.

Why?

Because rules are a way to keep people off thinking. Rules, in essence are a set of pre-defined decisions in the fashion of “If A happens, do B” or “Every time you see F, stop, F is a sign of danger”. Hence, people that follow rules are told that they are not intelligent enough to figure things out by themselves. As if that wasn’t bad enough, that thought is reinforced over and over again by their lack of decision making per se.

If you want to have a team that performs better day after day, rule against rules. Just write on stone that the only rule of the team is that there are no rules. Instead of making complex mechanisms to control people’s decisions, empower them to build upon their decision engine.

This is done through a couple of things:

Number one. Do whatever you need to teach, practice, preach, live, breath and eat morale. Morale is the most important virtue in life. Morale drives people to make things not just because there’s a profit after, but because it’s right. Morale helps every single individual, not to know, but to decide whether something is right or wrong. If people learn to make this decision, the rest of the way if a newly-paved six-lane downhill road.

Number two. Do whatever you need to let your peers decide and learn. Failure will be all around, especially at the beginning. But, trust me on this one. If people are let free to make their own decisions and learn from them, they will improve their algorithm until they’re as wise as Confucius (or at least close).

Does it work only with teams? No. I actually works with every kind of human form of organization. It’s even valid for society in the broadest sense. The education system should be more comprehensive in terms of “wisdom enhancement”. Let’s just assume that the younger the people are exposed to this sort of learning, the wiser they’ll be in life.

Once, I read a fantastic book called “Weird Ideas that Work” by Stanford faculty member Robert Sutton. It just changed the way I thought about business and management. The book described 11 and a half pieces of managerial thought that wouldn’t make sense outside the innovation culture of Silicon Valley. Ranging from defying superiors to hiring slow learners (of the organizational code), his ideas present a complete approach on how to build a creative company that delivers highly innovative products to the market.

But one of the ideas of the book, simple yet powerful, is: Reward success and failure, punish inaction.

This mind-blowing idea has changed the way I manage any team under my supervision ever since. Failure is a key component of innovation, because it helps people to feel comfortable with the cycle of trying and learning. Most innovations are non-predictable derivations of iterative experimentation.

Post It Notes are an example of this:

No one got the idea and then stayed up nights to invent it.  A man named Spencer Silver was working in the 3M research laboratories in 1970 trying to find a strong adhesive.  Silver developed a new adhesive, but it was even weaker than what 3M already manufactured.  It stuck to objects, but could easily be lifted off.   It was super weak instead of super strong.

No one knew what to do with the stuff, but Silver didn’t discard it.  Then one Sunday four years later, another 3M scientist named Arthur Fry was singing in the church’s choir.  He used markers to keep his place in the hymnal, but they kept falling out of the book.  Remembering Silver’s adhesive, Fry used some to coat his markers.  Success!  With the weak adhesive, the markers stayed in place, yet lifted off without damaging the pages.

But, failure costs big money, you’ll say. The company doesn’t plan to pay people to be playing with new ideas without knowing what to expect at the end of the process. If this is what you think, you’re probably right. But have you thought about the potential value of the  possible outcomes of that process? And you don’t even have to pay for a special team to do this.

Smart people at regular positions often comes with new ideas that could help the company  to make more money. As they’re doing their jobs or while they are in the shower, employees can imagine the greatest features of services ever. Actually, most innovation happens in a rather chaotic environment, where there is no specific intention to solve a problem but a constant positive attitude towards observation, experimentation and learning.

Employees at all levels should be rewarded for trying new things, even if the short term result is negative for the company. The positive results of innovation in the long run beat the small negatives.

So remember, if failure happens around the cubicles and it happens quite often, there’s a sign of a healthy organization. Encourage your peers to fail.

Only one more detail. If we’ve said there’s a big chance for your experiments to fail, then take this simple piece of advice: Fail cheap and fast.

Don’t keep up with experiments that take weeks or months. Start with a simple, resourceless, smart iteration and prove whether it works. If the answer is “yes, it might work”, iterate again with more resources. Otherwise, if the answer is “probably not”, then congratulate yourself and/or your peer for trying and go back to the beginning.