Breathing Your Own Exhaust

One thing that happens to everyone at one time or another is when you become so engrossed in your own world view, you start to believe everyone else thinks the way you do, or if they don't, your spin will fool them. Doesn't matter whether you're big like Cisco and Microsoft, or the latest startup on the block with a new mouse trap. You hear phrases like "he believes too much of his own press" (I'm sure that's been said about me more than once, lol) or "they've been breathing their own exhaust too long."  I blogged about what could be one such case of this, Microsoft's self makeover to be perceived as "open source friendly". Another example is Microsoft claiming it supports Linux in Hyper-V, but only if it's Novell's SUSE Linux.

I'm a big believer in ideas like enrollment, passion and engagement, and to achieve these you have to believe in what you, your product and your company are doing. Doesn't matter if you are the press spokesperson or the person answering the customer service phone -- everyone else can pretty easily tell if you are enrolled in what you are doing, or it's more a matter of your going through the motions.

But that same passion and engagement can also create a blindness, especially in entrepreneurial environment where passion, ideas and commitment runs high. It's easy to build a wall around yourself or your company, focusing just on what's happening inside your product, the product development efforts, or even the geographical market area where you are physically located. My very good friend Alan Shimel used to frequently tell me "you need to get out of Boulder more often", not because Boulder isn't a good town (check out Brad Feld's blog post about Twenty-Five Square Miles Surround By Reality), but to really understand the industry, competition, customers and the market.

I recently blogged about (tangentially as it relates to partnering) the bubble effect that can happen in a startup company. It is very easy to become so engrossed in what you are doing, crafting your marketing messages, building the product, training the sales force in the ways you want them to sell, that you forget there are other people out there. Companies may claim to already do what you do, cover the same supposed differentiators, or have already beat you to the punch but you just don't know it yet. I call this inward looking focus, "staring at your own bellybuttons."

There are many things I've found helpful to me to try and avoid this. In a leadership role you probably have more opportunity to take advantage of these but I believe in any of our roles you can find a way, or even ask to participate in these kinds of activities. Here are a few ideas.

1. Never turn down an opportunity to talk to a customer. Doesn't matter if they are a sales prospect, an unhappy customer who wants to scream at you, or one that's nicely tucked in and happy. If you have a chance to talk with or meet with a customer, always, always do it.

2. Support your company's trade shows and marketing events. I learn more about the industry at many of the trade shows I attend than I probably do by reading about companies and the industry online. Even if you aren't one of the marketing dudes or dudets who normally cover these events, ask to go and help out. Stop by everyone's booth, introduce yourself, listen to their pitch, ask questions and learn. It's so invaluable.

3. Be well read. Read everything you can get your hands on. I get between 30 and 60 Google alerts each day. That's in addition to all the email and blog reading I do. I don't read them all, just the ones that really catch my interest, are newsworthy, are something new, or are on a topic I follow. Read blogs, news sites and portals.

4. Inject what you've learned.  Share it in meetings, on calls, in product discussions, in planning discussions, with customers, etc. Bring that information to everyone. Forward relevant info (but don't spam) to others in your company. Add your comments/insights up front so they know whether the article is worth the read or the value is in your insights.

5. Talk to every company, not just the ones you like. Go talk to your competitors. You might find out they could actually be your partner. Or, they may still be your competitor. But go meet them. As Alan also told me many times, "stay close to your friends, and even closer to your enemies."

These ideas are pretty basic and simple, and while they might not shake up the world, they could redefine how you view your own business.