Lessons for small business from NBC, Jay Leno & Conan O’Brien

Ever since the whole disaster with NBC-Jay Leno-Conan O’Brien started, I have been thinking about how the situation applies to small business or just business in general. Mistakes a lot of businesses make, but here are just a few of the glaring red flags and something to think about when setting your own business strategy and making decisions.

Five years ago, NBC announced that Conan O’Brien would start hosting The Tonight Show in June 2009. I remember think, “wow that’s odd announcing that 5 years in advance”. I was never clear if Leno had asked to retire or was asked to “retire”, but the timeline seemed really long and why announce it. If Leno was asked to retire, think about the awkward 5 years he and Conan have had. What was the point of putting out that information and signing contracts 5 years ago? This was NBC’s first mistep - it is good to have a strategy and a 5 year plan, but companies need to keep somethings under their belt until they are confident there won’t be a change in strategy. I have made the mistake a few times saying I was coming out with a new product line, then in the end because of budgets and rethinking strategy put it on hold. Not an expensive mistake, but not helping to build my brand and strength of the existing products.

After the announcement 5 years ago, not sure about you, but I kinda forgot when the actual handover would take place, until NBC started promoting when it was all happening and after they announced Jimmy Fallon would take over Late Night. It seemed to be all moving along as planned, players were shifting, then NBC announces that Leno will have a 10pm prime-time show (essentially an earlier Tonight Show). My husband and I were like, that’s dumb, what’s the point? Why would NBC give up all that prime-time space for a show like that (at the time, knowing the network has been floundering, we chalked it up to a cost-saving strategy – Leno’s new show was cheaper than producing 5 dramas or a new Law & Order). This decision by NBC  was a sign that executives were not fully committed to the change of guard (maybe 5 years was too early to make that announcement?). Maybe since they were already going down this path, instead of just changing their minds and keeping Leno on The Tonight Show, they decided to hedge their bets and keep him with the network (just in case) – maybe because they had signed contracts, who knows.  Sometimes hedging too many bets is the downfall for small business owners. Splitting a strategy, can diffuse the impact and confuse your customers (in this case, viewers).

Before the mess began.

NBC invested millions – $50 million alone on the new Tonight Show studio that was used for just 7 months (and then breaking the contracts with Conan cost an additional $45 million). Someone at NBC must of had an inkling that maybe adding a 10pm show with Leno could affect the viewers of  The Tonight Show (in general, people don’t like change, it is uncomfortable, Leno fans may have just shifted to his new show).  I think NBC split their own audience – the purpose of having these two shows was confusing and unclear. It was a muddy strategy, it didn’t seem long term, and in hindsight, it wasn’t.  Fully commit to ideas and people you believe in or you will waste time and money on projects that go nowhere. Really think about the costs (financial, image, relationships, etc.) of going forward with a decision. It may have cost NBC less to have broken the contract with Conan when they decided they wanted to keep Leno.

Even though the whole situation has been visibly uncomfortable for both of the talk show hosts, I think in general they have handled themselves well (Leno a little more biting and smug – but that is just his style. Interested to see his interview tomorrow with Oprah!). You may not like a decision a business or business partner makes, but once the decision is made (or announced!), it is hard to get a take back. A good general policy is to take the high road. Don’t go with a knee-jerk reaction. Especially if your industry is small, burning one bridge can mean burning them all. Conan did his last show and he didn’t completely bash NBC, and did thank the network for the time he had been there (like 20 years). The end result wasn’t nice for him or his staff, but he wasn’t going to become cynical. A good lesson.

5 Years

It was 5 years ago on January 13th, 2005 that my mom lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. 5 years. 5 YEARS. I just keep saying it, over and over again in my head. So much can happen in 5 years, it is literally a lifetime for my son who is turning 5 in April. Looking back a the last 5 years, I realize so much has changed, life goes on, but at the same time I look around our house and so much of it is exactly like it was 5 years ago.

On the mantel above the fireplace sits a framed picture of my sister, mom and I, and leaning on that frame is the memorial card from my mom’s service. I placed it there when we came home from her service and it has been there ever since. I am not sure how many times I have picked it up and read it in the last 5 years. It feels like I just put it on the mantel yesterday.

I think of my mom often, I miss her every day. I wonder what it would be like if she was here, if she witnessed the funny little things Asher and Eden do. If she and Tatum could play together now. My mom relished being a grandmother (or Oma) to Tatum, but with Asher she just got to touch my belly and tell him she wanted to live long enough to meet him. Before Asher was even conceived, the doctors told her she had 2 months to live, mom lived almost a year from the day they told her. Until the end, she was defying odds – always a bit stubborn and just not wanting to believe she wouldn’t be with us. I look back and I know I was not believing. I remember back to 2002 when my mom was first diagnosed with cancer. I did all the research online and read that pancreatic cancer had a very small survival rate, but this was my mom and if anyone could beat it, she could. Miracles happen.

Sometimes knowing that you are going to lose someone close before you actually do is the miracle, the gift. It hurts and you don’t want to believe it, but there is the warning, expectation and with knowing comes the opportunity to not let the one you love leave this world without showing and telling them what they mean to you. We expected my mom not to live a year after her first diagnosis, but we were blessed with more than 2 years. Every day, week, month was a miracle. In our society, we feel there is never enough time to do the things we need/want to do, EXCEPT when you are told you only have a short window or deadline, then miraculously we find the time. That is what we did as a family, made time to be together because we didn’t know how much time we would have with her. And everyday I am grateful to have had that time, to have been given the gift of knowing (but still always hoping the doctors were wrong).

Tatum asleep on Oma, her favorite spot.

My mom came and stayed at our house every week for 2 nights a week. Even though my mom was sick with cancer, in many ways her illness was not apparent. She had become very thin and frail, but was still beautiful, strong willed and very active. When she came to stay with us, she was always the first one up in the morning. She’d go down to the kitchen an make coffee, before the rest of the house woke up. Just like when I was in high school, she would make me a cup of coffee and bring it upstairs for me. There was something so special about that to me, and just hearing her footsteps coming down the hall, brought me back in time. No matter how old I was, I was always her little girl and she was always taking care of me.

Over the last 5 years, sometimes when it is one of those weekend mornings where it is my turn to sleep in and Steve is with the kids, in a half asleep, I hear someone coming upstairs and the wood floor creaks just outside of the bedroom as someone is about to enter. As I open my eyes, just for a moment I expect to see my mom coming through the doorway with coffees in each hand, one for her and one for me. In that second, she is alive and her passing is a dream. My heart warms for that moment and I feel her. I wonder when I will stop expecting to see her, maybe it will take another 5 years.

A lazy morning, after our coffee together.

The thing about 5 years it is a long time, but at the same time it is a blink. Life goes on, but there are parts of my life, like the appearance of our house, that is almost frozen in time. Not the most organized, I believe I have been particularly neglectful in the last 5 years with moving forward. I haven’t updated any pictures in the frames around the house with new ones, there isn’t one picture in the house of Eden, and the ones of Asher he is a bald baby. The baby pictures around the house are still Tatum. I have boxes in the basement that I got from my mom’s house, I just can’t bring myself to look through. The boxes are sitting there, taking up space for 5 years, a half of a decade. I am still finding things around the house that are my mom’s. It actually took me 4 years to throw away a cocoa butter body lotion she used to use – it was so old, but if I opened it and smelled the lotion, it made me think of her. I have bottles of my mom’s perfumes in my room, that I am sure are too old and I don’t plan on using, but I can’t seem to part with them. I know logically that her things don’t preserve her memory. How do I move forward, let go? I know this isn’t an uncommon occurrence to find your house filled with things you don’t use, that may have belonged to someone you loved. To find your surroundings stuck in time.

In 5 years, my memory, love and admiration for my mother has not faded. I know it is time to sort through all her things, to purge our house of the clutter.  Keeping things the same hasn’t changed the fact that I miss her and will miss her every day for the rest of my life. I can’t keep the house halted. It’s been 5 years. The task is overwhelming and it won’t be easy, but it’s time.

A first step…scanning all the old pictures. Here re two of my favorites of her – very young in her modeling days in Indonesia.

52 to Fabulous: What A Girl Wants (Week 1)

At the beginning of a new year, resolutions are on a lot of people’s minds (except for those that have decided after so many years of setting and not doing, it isn’t even worth the time thinking about them!). I don’t set them every year, but I am feeling like 2010 requires a new start after an eventful 2009, that did not include consistent blog posts. So I made 2 modest ones in my post – A New Year, A New Start for…, – get a weekly routine (like writing a weekly post) and live in the present.

Right after I posted, I then saw a post from the always inspiring (and just plain cool) Kelby Carr about her 3 words for 2010. Which got me thinking about what mine would be/are for 2010. Then I saw Linda’s announcement of 52 to Fabulous (and after I read and realized it was not about being fabulous at 52 , I thought the stars are aligning and participating in this challenge may actually encourage me stick to my resolutions, well at least post weekly (little victories!).

For right now at this moment (a girl can change her mind…), my wants for 2010 are aligned with my guiding words for the year:

1. Focus because any one that knows me, knows that I am either over-focused or all over the map with ideas. And I want/need to trim to FOCUS on the meaningful this year. Finding what matters, what is important, and focusing my energy on it. This also goes back to my desire to have a weekly routine.

2. Present because I find myself never enjoying the moment. I want to be present when I am playing with my kids, not thinking about what other things I should be working on. Undivided commitment to the present. Not dwelling on the past and what might have been, or thinking to future. I know people should plan, and I will do planning for the future, but I will do my best not to pine for the week to end or long for the next sunny day. I want to be present in every experience – good or bad. Time passes too quickly, it is important to be present.

3. True by being honest with myself and understanding my wants. As adults we get lost in life, in pleasing those around us, particularly after becoming a parent. It gets hard to distinguish what I want (or is what I want just what is easier for the family?). I want to make 2010 to be the year that I am true to my feelings and separate them from what others want. This doesn’t mean to make decisions without regard to the wants or needs of those around me. Not to make decisions that are just the path of least resistance, but are true to what I believe is right.

Maybe these wants are too broad or general, oh well, have to start thinking about what a girl needs…

A New Year, A New Start for…

It is unbelievable that it is already 2010. I know I think this every year “where did the time go?”. Oh well, I am not going to focus woulda, coulda, shoulda, but on making a new start for this new year. New year, new opportunities. Not going to set resolutions that I can’t keep, like “to stop being a procrastinator” – maybe something more gentle like “to procrastinate just a little less”.

This blog has gone to the dogs. It is neglected, well maybe abandoned is a better word. I am full of ideas, things I want to write and say, but never seem to be at the right place at the right time to complete the actual act of typing my thoughts. Full of ideas, and full of excuses. Right now I am resolving to set some time aside to write my thoughts for let’s say the week, even if they are random. I really need to write for me, it is a great release. Number 1: Stick to a weekly routine, at least on some things. In my daily life this would be sticking to my weekly Body Pump class. For this blog it will mean to write a weekly post. That should be easy enough, right?

You would think, but I have about 5 drafts for posts from the last 6 months. I start them, then don’t finish. Kinda like the way I clean the house . A good friend strongly suggested that I read the book, Driven to Distraction. I told her, I don’t think I really need to read it to know that I am ever so slightly ADD, and I know I would buy it, look at it start, maybe even start reading it, then uh…get distracted, put it down and forget about it. I also have posts that are drafted and were essentially done, but for some reason, I didn’t post. Rethinking what I wrote, wondering if I should add or change it. Then I would not go back to it, and you guessed it…forget about it, until it was too old to bother with! So why do I hesitate to publish? Well to be truly honest, I am worried about what people with think when they read it. What if I come off bitchy, whiny, or worst of all stupid? By writing a blog, I am making myself vulnerable for criticism. And logically I realize that expressing my opinion from the heart, will likely bring other points of view, and that if someone doesn’t like what I write, they can just choose not to read it. Really all the back and forth in my head is redundant and stupid (ya, I said it). My next resolve should be easy too. Number 2: Write from my heart at the moment, from my point of view, and don’t worry about what others think. [And remember that I can always edit or delete later - it is MY blog for goodness sake ]. For my daily life, this number 2 translates slightly different.

I want to use this blog as the place that I talk about the experiences of the passed (particularly with the good, bad, ugly of having a business). I want to focus the rest of my life on living in the present, being in the moment and not focusing on what happened yesterday and what could happen tomorrow. I know I spend far too much time worrying about what might have been or what could be. The last month or so I have been almost fully focusing on the kids, taking a hiatus from worrying (that word again, maybe I should say fretting) about the state of business (something I am not going to delve into now). It has been tremendous to live in the present. Enjoying every giggle (every whine, cry and scream) with the kids. Because of the snow just before Christmas, we had 2 full weeks together. Everyday, all day. And despite the stress of making sure everything was set for Christmas (with Santa coming and all…), it has been a time of living in the moment. So Number 2 is big – focusing on the present, enjoying every moment, and putting the past in perspective (it can’t be changed, but can be learned from).

For now 2 resolutions are all I can handle, of course I will keep my standby of procrastinating less (which Number 1 is really just a product of…).
2010 is a new year, a new start for an abandoned blog, and an opportunity to soak up all the potential of today.

[Can't really find the words I want to express what I mean, but if I ponder too long, I will think and rethink, to the point of futility. Closing my eyes and hitting publish.]