Comments on: Motivational Cliches Aren’t Business Models

By: K. Warman Kern

K. Warman Kern — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:47:42 +0000

I suspect your point in this post would have been strengthened by the Temple presentation about the epic struggle of the Rocky Mountain News with its digital self. Temple's story describes a completely separate digital execution operation from the print version. The result was a lack of strategy and commitment needed to succeed. I suspect is also resulted in a lack of collaboration from Rocky Mountain News depts that could have contributed to success, too.

This implies that it is better to develop a strategy that is best for the entire business so there is commitment from management as well as other segments of the company. Just as you said: “What’s 'best for that business' can’t be looked at in a vacuum unless it’s wholly self-supporting, and most “new venture” revenues in publishing tend to represent a fraction of the “old”, while being completely dependent upon its continued existence to grow.”

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:31:42 +0000

Thanks for both the dialogue and the compliment.

As for Godin's talk last week, I tackled that one a couple of posts back. Love TRIBES, but he's definitely lost a step or three!

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 04:28:33 +0000

I mostly agree with you here, but the Amazon example illustrates a proactive move whereas publishers' approaches to eBooks (and most other transformational milestones) have been primarily reactive. And in that reactive state, they seem to be more susceptible to the hollow chatter of the pundit class.

Overall, though, I think this has taught me not to blog on a Sunday, and to choose a reference point that's closer to my real source of frustration than the straw that broke the camel's back!

By: markb

markb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:47:34 +0000

Guy — Irrespective of the Temple attribution, I really enjoyed your post. I watched Seth Godin speak at Random House earlier this week (posted at Galley Cat) and I thought he was passing tactics off as strategies. That is to say I am on board with your thesis re: transformation.

Cheers,
~mb

By: markb

markb — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 00:45:12 +0000

Guy — Irrespective of the Temple attribution, I really enjoyed the post. When I listened to Seth Godin lecture at Random House (posted at Galley Cat) I thought there is a guy who is prescribing tactics but calling them strategies. That is too say I am totally on board with your thesis re: transformation.

By: HughMcGuire

HughMcGuire — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:25:28 +0000

Re: “The new doesn't exist in a vacuum, and the rules are very different for a start-up than for an existing company trying to transform itself.” … I think that's really Temple's point: that if a company wants to survive transformation in the long-run, it can't hamstring new ventures because of the needs of the old business. Amazon, for instance, has set up Kindle & paper books as separate business silos, which actually compete against each other. The point being that the “winning” business is the one customers like better – and if one comes at the expense of the other – well, better Amazon itself winning that business than a competitor.

That approach causes problems of course, as does all transformation. Still, the *reason* transformation is needed in a business is because of a change in the environment (either competitors, or technology, or customer preference). So regardless of the noise made by sideline pundits, the change comes from external forces, not by the noise. And it's the smart publisher who figures out the best way forward.

By: HughMcGuire

HughMcGuire — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:10:51 +0000

You know, I thought about that as I made the post: I really should add the link – but of course was constrained by 140 chars. Should have added it in a follow-up.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:04:50 +0000

After reading through Temple's text version of his presentation, perhaps I should change my opening line to “I hate Twitter” because the snippet Hugh quoted is completely lost without context. I'm adding a bit to the end of the post to address that. Thanks for the link!

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:47:27 +0000

Thanks, Hugh. See my note above to Mark re: Temple and the quote.

By: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 20:45:25 +0000

Thanks for the clarification, Mark. I didn't make the connection to Temple's presentation as there was no attribution in the tweet I referenced. As I noted, it was an RT of the quote, without context or attribution, that really sparked this post.

As for Temple, the challenges he faced at the Rocky Mountain News are very different from those faced by book publishers trying to figure out where eBooks fit in their business model, but my core argument still stands: the new doesn't exist in a vacuum, and the rules are very different for a start-up than for an existing company trying to transform itself.