R.J. Stasieczko

Seat Based Billing is a concept bringing the future to the present.

Last week I attended Print Audit’s Seat Based Billing Roadshow. The Roadshow was held the day before the BTA meeting in Kansas City. I decided to attend both. The SBB roadshow was informative. It is always refreshing when I see organizations bringing the future to the present.

A company becomes obsolete when it focuses on bringing the past to the future instead of bringing the future to the present.

For that, I give Print Audit, John Maclnnes, West McDonald, their team, and the vendors who supported them a big thumbs-up. Seat Based Billing is a common practice in the Managed IT Sector, and it’s time the copier industry adds the method to their deliverable. It will be interesting to see how the print manufacturers, the IT sector resellers, and those who manage print service vendors will adapt to the SBB print services model. I believe Print Audit has many opportunities with their software. They are pioneering the transformation of a much-needed change to Managed Print Services, a decades-old deliverable. It will be exciting times ahead as Print Audit continues focusing their deliverables on the future.    

Next was the BTA Meeting, a reunion of the past.   

 About three years ago I decided, after spending over twenty-five years in the copy/print industry, that it was time to shift my attention from those who insist on bringing the past to the future, and instead focus on those bringing the future to the present. I spent this time living in and learning from the IT sector. My time at ImageQuest, where I helped lead the transition of a legacy Print provider to a Managed Services and Security firm, taught me many things. The most valuable lesson: transitioning to something new is easier with the revenue from the legacy deliverables still intact.

Many will wait too long and die of thirst as their wells dry up. This week reminded me that except for a small minority of players the Imaging Channel is still in the past. When you attend their meetings, it’s like going to a reunion. Reunions bring us up to date on the past. You laugh and joke about the good old days; you reminisce on what was; you run from the controversy of what could be, and you bask in a safe-zone where the truth is translated to what you want to hear by those who won't challenge you for fear of economic reprisal.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Imaging Channel, it is past the time for continuous reunions. The Imaging Channel must seek out the future, and even welcome those future competitors to the party. It’s time to look in new places and welcome new ideas. It’s time to run toward your future relevancy, jumping over your past.

The time has come for the forward thinking thought leaders of the Imaging Channel to throw a huge retirement party. They should invite all those who are betting that their retirement from their business will come before their irrelevance in business. This retirement party should not just be for Dealers. Invite manufacturers, software providers, consultants, and peer groups. Invite everyone who is holding back the future.

Far too often, I hear industry leaders say, “I’ll retire before I need to change." The copier industry is not immune from obsolescence, and without the ability to discuss how they can be defeated they are at the mercy of those who will defeat them.

It is not about Paperless

The threat to the Imaging Channel is not a paperless society; it’s an “Annuityless” business model. Yes, I made up that word. Ring the bell and remember this. It’s “Annuityless” that will destroy the Imaging Channel's decade's old reoccurring revenue model. As the manufacturers continue reducing complexity, expanding yields, and eliminating screws, the service model will evolve. If you think the pain of 0.003 is bad, wait until it is 0.0000, and is replaced by the Amazon website where the user simply adds the needed parts and supplies to their shopping cart. Wait until the service tech is replaced by the end-user or a freelancer from Field Nation.

Those in the Imaging Channel must repurpose themselves and start looking where they’ve never looked, start inviting their imaginations to their board rooms, start collaborating with those on the outside of their circles and quit believing that improvement will win-out over reinvention in a declining market. The Imaging Channel Dealers and the vendors who support them must stop fighting for continuous improvement, and begin fighting for continuous relevance. Diversifying a deliverable or completely changing your deliverable is always better when the current circumstances of the old way can support the transition. The time to benefit from the present circumstances is quickly running out. So my friends, stop going to reunions and start collaborating with those outside your norm. Start looking past what’s just in front of you, and stop denying yourself the thoughts of a different future.

No business is exempt from becoming irrelevant; however, all business leaders have the choice to change. By constantly surrounding ourselves with the cheerleaders for Status Quo, we will soon perish. Think about this; when the speakers at these reunions have to begin their conversations by justifying the relevance of what those attending do, who are they trying to sell on status quo? You or themselves? No one can guarantee the future, but as the leaders of your companies, you must not let the emotions tied to the way it was, highjack what your common sense tells you is the way it must be.

R.J. Stasieczko 

The old days of vendor complacency based on relationships are over. Today customers put more value on their Experiences, not only from the things they buy but those they engage to buy them. In a fast moving digital world, our customers can determine what they want, or believe they need long before they engage with those who deliver it. Organizations must learn how to monetize their Customers’ Experience, and then put the structure in place to exceed in providing a better experience than that of their competitor. The competitor who relies on relationship selling. Too many organizations focus on the things they deliver and their perception of the derived benefits along with their long status quo relationships.  Successful companies make the deliverable about the Experience. Think of this. When a potential customer is deciding on one vendor over another, the process becomes commodity driven. However, when prospects are introduced to satisfying experiences they then shop for the better experience. Exceptional Experiences are never a commodity, and Exceptional Experiences always challenge the arrogance of those banking only on their relationships.   

Some organizations are confusing the importance of balancing the scales between their “Internal Customers Experience” and “External Customers Experience” this out of balance is weighing heavy against customer service, and customer experience. I recently read a comment on LinkedIn where the commenter suggested that customer experiences where over rated and organizations should focus more on employee experience. Well, most logical business professionals would immediately realize if unbalanced how stupid that thinking is. Without the customer, it matters nothing on how well everyone on the team gets along, or how happy they are in their unchallenging existence. These organizations who put their employee experience ahead of their customer's experience will be defeated. Their defeat will come from the competitors who understand a business exists for its External Customers; they understand rewards for internal customers are paid by the External Customers, and they understand the reward amount is determined by the Experience their External Customers receive. In 2017 your customer relationships will not win over your customers’ desired experience.  

“You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships and quickly lose to the new unknown competitor who delivers a better experience.” 

 So next time you evaluate your vendors, ask yourself these questions. Whose “Experience Satisfaction” is more valuable to you? Is it yours or the vendor you hired? Do you care more about the perks your vendor gives its employees or the service and support they give you? Does the vendor tell you how great they are, or do you tell them? Does the vendor ever help grow your business even if they may sacrifice from that growth? Does the self-proclaimed great vendor charge more based on the words of their greatness, or the actions from their greatness?

Keep in mind you may not be asking these questions of your vendors, but I wouldn’t bet on your customers not asking these questions of you.

Today I believe the vendor who hollers the loudest about their Great Relationships should be the vendor its customer's audit first. Today customers are looking for solutions to problems or are presented products or services that capture their imagination. Today customers want to benefit from an Experience, today’s customer will determine their relationship to be second to their experience. Organizations who sacrifice customer experience based on their defined relationship will soon perish. Customers do not search for companies who put their internal customers over their external customers. Customers do respect the balance of happiness between both internal and external customers, well as long as the scale tips just a little more toward them.

"A business is rewarded by its customers, the size of the reward is determined by the experience they receive."  

R.J. Stasieczko    

The Imaging Channel, the home of printer sales and services, is waking up to the reality of transition. Over the last five-plus years, the talk of transition has outweighed the action in transitioning. It seems there are more statistics on what could be than any actual real statistics about what is. The talkers and their good intentions have hijacked the Imaging Channel. It seems that the longer the channel struggles, the more desperate they are to learn. It is in this desperation that these great organizations, built upon foundations of the entrepreneurial leadership of great men and women, are allowing the confusion spread by Master Service Providers to influence or confuse their entrepreneurial instincts. Over the last few years, as I participated in actually delivering Managed IT Services, I quickly learned that with leadership and a team void of the “need of buy-in,” you can transform successfully. Providing IT Services is a business, not a mystery understood only by Master Service Providers or their paid consultants. 

Managed IT Services is like any business, and it must start with a business plan, not a marketing plan. The Imaging Channel has weathered many storms. Moreover, so many of the leaders within the channel have prospered. So why is it that when they hear Managed Services, they lose their confidence and believe without a Master Service Provider babysitting them they will fail? Why do they believe outsourcing their SLA makes any sense at all? None of the founders of these companies, or those at the helm today, would have ever considered outsourcing their print services, would they? 

The reason many consider partnering with Master Service Providers is likely because they have no confidence or because they have bought into the statistics based on those who failed versus those who prospered delivering Managed Services. I recently saw a statistic published by a Master Service Provider that voiced if you did not outsource your Helpdesk and NOC you would lose 1.5 million dollars building a 7.7 million dollar Managed Service business in 6 years. That is insane! There are over fifty thousand IT services providers in the United States. Do you think even a fraction of those companies could afford to lose 1.5 million dollars building their companies? Averages are only relevant if you are average. My friends, the owners of and the companies within the imaging Channel are far from average. Most of these organizations are many times larger than the average IT company.

Perhaps the most ironic part of this discussion is the fact that the Master Service Providers, whom themselves are not cash-flowing profitably, are doing everything they can to convince the Imaging Channel business owners that without them they will be doomed to failure or massive financial losses. I am betting the V.C. investors will be forced to face reality sooner or later.  

I suggest that those within the Imaging Channel reach out to the organizations who are successful, both inside the Imaging Channel and within the traditional IT services channel. If you do, you will recognize a commonality among them. Most are not using Master Service Providers; rather they figured out how to deliver Managed Services themselves – successfully and profitably. All good business leaders should seek to learn what they do not know. It takes leadership to transition. Don’t let the need for education become a crutch to surrender control to others. Successful organizations are those who understand the facts and put more confidence in themselves versus allowing others to hijack it.

Obviously, as you build a new business deliverable, there is investment cost, and losses are expected, but should not be long-term. The benefit the Imaging Channel has is their leadership and their bandwidth to bring on new product and service lines. I participated in and witnessed first-hand the successful delivery of Managed IT Services. Don’t believe the industry noise about failure, but instead listen to your business instincts. Put together a business plan and learn the best approach to delivering from those who deliver.

I guess those who do not agree should consider this. It has been at least five years of the Master Service Providers trying to develop momentum within the Imaging Channel. To what end? Signing up dealers and putting them on their helpdesk is not helping them build successful Managed Service platforms and is not leading to lasting partnerships. My friends in the Imaging Channel, believe in yourself, build a plan, and execute as you do better than any other business segment. If you want advice, seek it out. However, if you need another company to do all the work you are probably not ready. Confidence is the key that opens the door to possibilities, and your determination is the catalyst to realizing success. The Imaging Channel has never been an institution which outsourced what it could deliver itself.

Managed IT Services is a complex deliverable, but you can deliver it successfully and profitably with leadership and discipline. There are no short-cuts, and there is no success without leadership. It is time those in the Imaging Channel wake up and surround themselves with the doers instead of the talkers.

R.J. Stasieczko     

It seems many leaders get stuck waiting on buy-in during times of disruption. A term I define as a fearful leader’s excuse to remain status quo. Leaders who always chase buy-in have the wrong team or don’t understand the importance of job descriptions. It seems that many organizations pride themselves on simply doing common sense things. They are excited by simply doing what is expected, rather than creating the unexpected. Is accepting change anything special? Or does that saying breed mediocrity? In today’s business climate everyone has to accept change, it’s a basic job description, not any great accomplishment.

“Accepting Change is nothing special, get excited about creating change.”

 Would it not be better to promote the ability to Create Change? If we simply focus on accepting change, we are then admitting this. Our organization will remain status quo until someone else creates needed changed. Then we will be eager to implement. Of course only if we get buy-in. When your organization voices loudly they accept change what they are voicing is this. “Our organization is reactive”. 

Don’t let buzz words cripple innovation. Words have power they create a mindset. Too many organizations are outlining and defining common sense accomplishments and then adopting this commonality as their keys to successes. In reality, they are merely the keys to status quo.

 Exceptional organizations filled with extraordinary people. Will create exceptional customer experiences and are driven to increase their remarkability. Exceptional organizations understand that their remarkability is more important than their marketing.

 Exceptional organizations don’t fool themselves into complacency by believing their customer relationships will survive a competitor’s better experience.

 Exceptional Organizations understand the value and importance of the phrase “Currently this is how we do it”.

 Exceptional Organizations look where others don’t. They collaborate with innovative thinkers and doers who create change.    

Exceptional Organizations understand the importance of building teams that challenge one another over teams that focus on pacifying one another. These Exceptional Organizations do not build corporate cultures based on internal customers, their culture is based on providing exceptional experiences to their external customers.

It seems that many organizations have allowed the needs of their teams to determine the needs of their customers. Obviously, organizations must provide exceptional work environments, and when the people in the organization can sacrifice their needs to ensure their customers’ needs are delivered, and delivered with an exceptional experience. It is only then they become an exceptional organization.

“The pain associated with improvement is only appreciated by those who are determined to improve.”

Improvement only comes from accountability and when accountability is put on hold waiting for buy-in, creating great customer experiences will suffer by default. Exceptional organizations will deliver exceptional customer experiences. Status quo companies will always believe their customer relationships are more important than their customers’ experience. This is the reason why that new vendor no one saw coming who delivers exceptional experiences. Defeat incumbents who believed their long relationships allowed them the comfort of complacency.

In closing; “Imagination, ingenuity, and fortitude will never be friends with complacency.”

R.J. Stasieczko       

Coming from a background in sales, and growing up in the imaging channel, I admit that saying "no" seems, well, stupid. After all, in the copy/print hardware world, if the price for a new product was a problem, you could always sell used. And if it wasn’t in the budget, they could rent or lease. Everyone with a checkbook and a heartbeat was a prospect, and your job in sales was to sell them something.

 One of the first things I learned in delivering managed IT services is this: “Delivering managed services are never about selling a bunch of things with or without service contracts to everyone; it’s about delivering everything to a select few, and profiting consistently from its delivery. Your bandwidth will define your select few.

"It’s that consistency in profit which affords the MSP the ability to deliver above the expectations of the right customers’.”

A successful Managed Service engagement is the delivering of results accomplished by a collection of components. These components on their own cannot achieve the total result. When Managed Service providers only provide the pieces they cannot control the customer's overall experience. If you can’t control the desired outcome, the client is demanding. You will find yourself struggling in delivering a beneficial SLA. So when potential customers only what you to participate in their IT infrastructure, instead of controlling the infrastructure be cautious. The noise of the uncontrollable will blast away any cohesiveness the right customers will expect. MSPs must say no to prospects who focus on things instead of outcomes. When this discipline becomes their process, they will quickly realize higher margins and much happier internal and external customers.

Delivering managed services is complicated, takes talented people, and is not a commodity business model. MSPs that can’t say no to the wrong prospect will always make excuses to the right customers. So, when you think about it, saying "no" to the wrong prospect is the only way to say "yes" to those who understand and appreciate the value provided by the outcomes they demand.

So never believe that successfully delivered managed services are something everyone is a prospect for. Everyone is a prospect for a computer, a monitor, a server, an email platform. Anyone can sell things, and when customers just buy things, they will aim to pay as little as possible. After all, some sales organizations say yes to everyone. But that’s not selling Managed IT Services. I call it. "Order taking with low margin and unmanaged chaos."

As Managed Service Providers mature in their deliverable, they will realize the value of their remarkability. Regardless of any marketing strategy, all Managed Service Providers will be valued by their remarkability. Customers don’t refer based on your marketing program. Customer referrals are based on their experience, and they value that experience on your remarkability. Today service organizations are learning quickly that their customers’ relationships are second in value to their customers’ experiences.

“You can be the vendor with the greatest relationships and quickly lose to the new unknown competitor who delivers a better experience.”

Your current customers’ experiences will be greatly impacted by the future customers you select. Without standards regarding not only the what, and the how you deliver. Managed Service providers must understand and clearly define who they deliver to as well. 

Ray Stasieczko

Some Managed Service Providers believe that giving things away will lead to sales. Why do some Managed Service Providers give away technology assessments? Who was the consultant that charged these service providers a fee and then told them to give away their services? Or was this decision self-inflected? Are they convincing themselves a “free assessment” as an application process towards acquiring customers makes sense? Simple Answer It does not. It cost Cents and lots of them. Don't be the MSP who believes providing a client free services and doing a good job will get you their business. Their business is getting things for free; they gave you the business alright. People who demand things for free should never be considered a prospect for Managed IT Services. Doing work for free is a hobby, and no one wants their Managed IT Service provider to be hobbyists, do they?

“This first it's free approach when delivering Managed IT Services. Is a quest at outrunning cost instead of catching sales, and sooner or later the bus of debt will run over those being chased by their heavy cost of lack of confidence.”

So now you sold the assessment congratulations! But remember. Managed Services is about processes. When you get consumed by the excitement of the deal, you can get swallowed by the complexities in delivering IT if you go off course. Stick to your work scope and your defined processes. The assessment is the first deliverable of your Managed Services package. The assessment should not be a proposal. The job of the assessment is to clarify the current circumstances, potential problems, and threats. When the customer buys and assessment, they are paying for an education. The service provider should deliver an unbiased assessment not a litany of all the great, wonderful things their company would be more than happy to sell them. They paid for an assessment deliver them an assessment. Deliver that assessment with unmatched Remarkability.    

 In Managed IT Services everything must start with an Assessment, a Paid Assessment. So if your marketing slick has the words "Free Assessments" throw them in the trash before they cost you more money, than stop at Walmart on the way home pick up a black marker and cross those words off the service vehicle. Believe in your deliverable the serious prospects you are looking for are expecting to, and will pay for an assessment and when they do (Deliver an Assessment) not simply a printout of information gathered by an RMM Tool and remember don’t deliver a proposal. Deliver an Assessment. Your capabilities in the delivery of Assessments will be what defines your Managed IT Services deliverable; it will also establish your company’s reputation as a top rated Managed Services provider. It’s from the assessments value which will drive your prospect in allowing you to remedy and manage their technology platform. There is nothing free in Managed Services, what you charge for your services is directly correlated to how you and your prospects value what you do.

 “Giving things away is a crutch to hold up a weak deliverable.”

When Managed IT Service providers focus on paying customers, they will also be focusing on being more remarkable. It’s in the results of your remarkability that your prospect and your clients are more than happy to compensate for services rendered. The best marketing program is when your customers experience your remarkability.

“When you put being remarkable ahead of marketing customers will come to you, when you do it backward you will always chase customers.”  Ray Stasieczko   

What we see is only visualized after our mind translates the image. In business, our actions can easily be highjack by what we conditioned ourselves to see. Why is it that some can look through things and some only see things as painted with no interpretation? I remember years ago there was a poster the picture was a bunch of squiggly lines. As you stared at the picture squinting your eyes just right, the squiggly lines would come to life as a recognizable image of a person or thing. It seemed every office had these posters hanging in the breakroom.

“When you stop looking for absolutes is when you discover the excitement of the unknown.”

 Organizations or industries become victims of obsolescence when they refuse to look through, over, and under what is presented as an absolute. Companies can be so stubborn to what was, it becomes their what is. I was listening to a webinar recently where industry leaders were discussing a threat from a disruptive competitor. First, I would say collaborating with peers in times of disruption is a must. However, when the collaboration becomes a cheerleading session for the past, those trying to get to the future will be sounded out by the noise.

“When you’re stuck in the past run from its cheerleaders, to those with an opposing view of the future.”

 When collaborations purpose becomes a sounding board for status quo reinforcement, the collaboration then becomes a reunion. Reunion's brought us up to date on what happen in the past, and Collaboration should be about what can be better or new. As I thought back on this webinar what I didn't hear became more important than what was said. The collaborators all recognized the disruptor as a competitor. A fatal mistake. Disruptors do not see themselves as competitors they instead see themselves as creators of a new way. Disruption changes the game and with its success the legacy players fight for survival, while the disruptor becomes the customer's choice. No industry or organization can force a client to stay in the old way, and when they believe they can obsolesce is their future. I call this the “Taxi industry syndrome” Yes some Taxi organizations will still pick up and deliver customers, however, the how, and the means will definitely be a new model. Industries are disrupted when the monetization of the old way is no longer relevant in sustaining the new way. When this happens, the old business model is destroyed and replaced by that of the disruptor. Disruptors change the business model forcing the implosion of the legacy model.

“Innovations come from what others didn’t pay attention to and destroys those who refuse to accept there could be an alternative way.”

 Recently we all read where Amazon Web services have become the world’s cloud leader. They went from the laughed at competitor to the disruptive leader. Cisco and others saw Amazon as a weak competitor they could easily win against. Amazon had no intention of competing their goal was changing the game. The legacy players needed to adapt if they did maybe they could have challenged Amazon instead of falling to them. Amazon ignores the legacy ways and reinvents the means; Amazon understands that replacing the past with the future is more rewarding than being a competitor fighting to be the best of the past. With today’s technology being the biggest last one standing in the ways of yesterday can be a shorter than ever tenure. Organizations must include adaptation in their vision. The future used to be a quest. Today the disruptor brings the future to the present while the competitors of the old way fight themselves for relevancy of the past. 

 When fighting disruption, the conversation must start with this question. What is the worst that can happen? Without the ability to understand how we could be defeated. We are at the mercy of those who plan and execute our defeat. Many industries will be challenged in this new century. Today’s corporate threat is not a competitor it’s the disrupter which is fueled by technology and driven to innovate. The disruptor changes the means to the result, and when the customer accepts the changes, the old way dies.

R.J. Stasieczko

Thanksgiving Dinner

The table is dressed with the linen table cloth handed down from grandma’s grandma. The centerpiece came from grandma’s attic. The millennials’ dinner contributions come in deli containers. The baby boomers deliver theirs in Tupperware. The skittle casserole that a Gen Z cousin insisted was a secret recipe they found on the internet.

Yes, some believe the internet is full of secrets and truth. I guess you could say earlier generations believed that about books: if it was printed, it must be true, and if proof was not available, faith would take over one’s ability to rationalize. As the family meets and discusses the world around them, some will be right, and of course, some will be considered crazy.

This Thanksgiving, like all those before, will be our chance to reminisce on what was, share our plans on what will be, see family members we hide from all year, and eat like polar bears getting ready for winter. We will hear about the cousin things which shock grandma, the breakup of one sibling and the getting back together of another, and yes, the drunk uncle who recently married the drunk lady he lives next door to, oh, and bringing her to dinner would be his surprise.

The baby boomers are watching a football game, and most are hard of hearing, which causes an increase in volume competing with the aunt who moved to New Jersey years earlier now bringing back home her loud voice. The millennials are playing Xbox with the Gen Z, hoping that they never transition in looks or act like their relatives in the kitchen complaining about how hard their lives are and how lazy the younger generation is.

Soon everyone recognizes the voices of the family’s favorite guests -- the neighbors who have lived next door for thirty years. They either have no family or decided it was much more entertaining eating next door. Every year they come and sit in no judgment. They just take it all in, and more than likely they come to witness the complexity of family drama they are thankful is missing from their quiet lives.

The smokers gather on the porch, and it seems the tobacco smell brings back memories to the baby boomers, as a cousin from Denver lights his pipe, which does not represent the looks of the pipe all their dead grandpas used. It seems like in school all the cool people were the smokers, or is it just they all have one thing in common? Killing themselves is more satisfying, as they listen and participate in the arguments of relatives reliving why they don’t trust or even like those they call family. Of course, like any family gathering, the passions of individualism sooner or later merge with the calmness of compassion inherent in most families, or it could be the calming brought on by a gut full of turkey, causing most to forget each other’s shortcomings as they plan next year’s dinner. It’s the family drama that attempts to describe the family. It’s the attitude of the individual which allows them to define their family. 

As the family ages, the holiday gathering will change venues. Some will become isolated by their circumstances; some will begin their own family’s tradition. They become the grandparents; they use the linen table cloth from their parents stored now in their attic. The Millennials become the older generation, and the Gen Z are still defining what their generation will be known for. More than likely, many won’t eat turkey, as stuffed spinach and other new recipes will replace the Plymouth Rock recipe book. Time transitions all things, even traditions. We all have the power to create something new which may then become a tradition, or simply just something new and different for now. The look of the family will continue changing. The attitudes of the generations will always challenge each other’s relevance. The melting pot of generations is a family’s greatest asset in which each of us is invested, and our divided is paid when we gather invest wisely. Happy Thanksgiving.

R.J. Stasieczko

Sitting on the cold marble chair under the canopy of a pillared room, this statue oversees our National Mall a most sacred place. They called him honest Abe he was a great president, a great man and to some an enemy. He died at the hands of a coward and was immortalized by a nation with gratitude. Today as Lincoln sits on his chair under his pillared gazebo his spirit can hear children at play, children of all colors greed’s and backgrounds. Sitting in his chair the spirit of Lincoln has witnessed things that in his lifetime were unimaginable.

It’s been decades and centuries since these marble men and woman walk and talked amongst the living. Now they sit stand or their names are carved in stone. These stone men and woman will carry on conversations with those who visit by creating thoughts of what was and why it is. The school children, the war widow, the suppressed looking for inspiration as they fight for new rights, the fellow soldiers touching the names on a wall of their fallen comrades, or even a current enemy looking to validate more hate, or a past enemy sharing the sorrow of past hatred. The statue is always both a symbol of what was, and inspiration to what can be. The shadows of the monuments at our great mall travel the grounds and as their shade touches the other monuments their spirits inner act in the stone world they share, its visitors should listen to the advice these spirits will share. It’s in this world of remembrance which brings the cause to what will soon be remembered. These statues tell us through the silence of reverence that everything has meaning and what we describe as current absolutes are merely current circumstances.

“Past yesterday’s can be a reflection of tomorrow, so today we should listen and reflect from what the past tells us, it is then we can improve our tomorrows.”   

As these past spirits wander in their shadows they must be amazed by what they see. The reasons for so much pain and sorrow in their live time is validated or explained in their immortal lives. These monuments must be anxious to yell and scream as they see today’s atrocities, or as they witness what those living today believe to be right, knowing their history will prove was wrong. They know this from their experiences and their own history. The past tells us what can happen when the arrogance of men both good and bad drive their aspirations to a conclusion with or without mercy. These monuments will weather and the current care takers will preserve for the future generations. As these future generations visit to remember those long before them. They will also bring life back to these monuments, as all who visit - when they think and dream with the sprits in the shadows of the statues.

“One should focus on why they would be missed rather than on what they are missing.”    

   R.J. Stasieczko

Note from Art:  If you're liking RJ's Blogs, then please make sure you click on his collection link @the top of the blog. I'm moving all of them there over the next few days

As I attempted to open the front door this morning. I quickly realized that Otis, the neighbor’s bulldog, had decided to sleep in front of it. Otis occasionally visits because he likes the biscuits we give him. Dogs are matter-of-fact creatures. They figured out through evolution that if they just use their eyes, they can stare a hole through the thickest wall of resistance and gain emotional attachment.

Otis likes to wander the neighborhood. He is more about what he can find than what he has. Dogs live in the now, and what they had yesterday is never more important then what they have right now, and right now is a constant quest. As I gave Otis his biscuit, I wonder did he expect the biscuit? Did he plan the walk to my house knowing a biscuit was waiting, or was it all just in the moment? Then I realized he didn’t eat the biscuit.

In business, whether you’re the leader or an eager follower, if you fear then avoid what is new in the moment, you will always look to yesterday for excuses to hold yourself back. You imagine that tomorrow will be comfortable if nothing changes today.

Otis decided that wondering would be more exciting than hanging out in the comfort and safety of his fenced yard, Otis wasn’t looking for absolutes, Otis was just living in the now on a quest to learn what can come. I imagine Otis had hopes of finding a biscuit, getting a pat on the head, or maybe a little game of tug-of-war. After all, everyone has an old sock on their porch, right?

Otis travelled the neighborhood simply because he was looking for what he might find. Otis wasn’t in search of absolutes. He may have had some hope and dreamed of biscuits on the porch of his neighbor’s house. Otis simply wanted to see what he could find. If leaders and teams took time to simply search for the unknown, they would more often than not be rewarded by finding what others missed by being static in their search.

Sometimes business leaders put themselves in what I call their “fenced yard of security.” They never stray the neighborhood for something different; they are too determined in needing the map with detailed instructions before they wander. They fear that allocating the time for understanding something they currently don’t comprehend is a bad investment. So I guess that unlike our dog friends, they are scaredy cats (I couldn’t resist.)

“When you stop looking for absolutes, you discover the excitement of the unknown”

Well, Otis is done exploring my porch. Today, he passed on the biscuit. See, the new neighbors moved in yesterday, and Otis went there first. The little neighbor girl fed him a package of bologna. Sometimes when you explore outside your fence, you find new friends and better food.

R.J. Stasieczko

You can view Ray's LinkedIn profile here

HP, Samsung and the Uber Factor

I am reminded of how Status Quo thinking is so attached to one's emotions. As you read this give your imagination power over your perceived reality. This will spark things you might not want to think about, but probably should.

I have argued the point that it’s not about how many pages experts say are printed. The disruption coming quicker—well it’s here!—is based on how many manufacturers can survive the consolidation, how technology will reshape the printing device, allowing alternatives to their delivery, and the way they are serviced. Some manufacturers, are barely hanging on, rumors spread on their sale, or not. Manufacturers, where print represents such a small part of their overall deliverable, will see more value in an exit strategy, than a growth strategy. More than likely their executives are eating lunch at the HP cafeteria listening to their Samsung friends explain how good the food tastes. The industry has too many players, and the customer base simply does not care about print like they used to. The facts are that most organizations spend less than 2% of their technology dollars on print.

The good bad or ugly—HP is the multi-billion pound gorilla and could be the biggest, last one standing. Everyone in the imaging channel should focus on business possibilities in a changing world. This can only happen when you keep the emotional baggage containing your product prejudices’, your spreadsheets prepared by some analyst describing the growth of print as a reason not to change, or having the attitude that HP can only survive if the imaging channel cooperates.

Lockup these thoughts in that emotional baggage and leave it at the train station as you get on the train to the future.

The catalyst which began the “Ubering” of the imaging channel started when manufacturers increased their footprint of direct operations. This forced them to make better products, with longer lasting consumable yields, so easy to deliver Amazon could do it. The new HP shown in Boston has only seven replaceable parts. HP had 13,000 resellers at their Boston meeting. When they talk channel they are not talking about the 2,000 or fewer copier dealers. HP does not see a border in service providers the way the imaging channel does. When Dion Weisler talks about disruption he sees a different vision of who delivers and services the equipment. Some will most surely be from the imaging channel, although HP won't care.

So, what’s the Uber connection? Go to the google machine as I affectionately call it, and type in Field Nation, or Work Market. These are just two examples of many companies like them. Then simply use your imagination. These two organizations and others like them probably don't even know yet, how they could disrupt the service deliverable of the imaging channel. Or is there an organization being created specifically to disrupt the service deliverable of both dealer and direct?

The future will not be the same even if we insist on it. All of us reading this understand that customers, or lack of them, determine the fate of all things sold, manufactured, and serviced.

This article is intended for provoking thoughts, tapping imaginations, exploring things and concepts which are different. Driving discussion based on reality, not emotions. If the actors in the theater of the imaging channel can look past what is in front of them, and leave their emotional baggage in the past, they can win.

I close with my favorite quote. “Status Quo is the killer of all that will be invented”.

R.J. Stasieczko

Is “Tired of Trying” an Excuse Not to Innovate?

I was talking with a friend the other day and realized just how infectious complacency is within organizations that stifle ideas and squash team members’ enthusiasms. These organizations have pushed their best asset -- their people -- into what I call the “Tired of Trying Zone.”

It seems anymore that all organization large or small believe they are innovative, cutting edge or some other tired phrase. The reality is innovative organizations are not the norm, and most organization won’t get out of their own way. The very essence of the term “innovative organization” means its people are innovative. So why is it that organizations spend more time deciding how not to do something than doing something? When you look at technology-born organizations, such as Facebook, Google or Netflix, the companies born after the 1990s, you see a stark difference in how the work force feels toward innovative thinking. Here’s why

“The organizations born from technology realize their very existence was created by innovation, and that someone else can at the speed of light innovate them out of business. “

Frankly it’s disturbing to see great people so disgusted with their organization’s attitude toward innovations they simply stop trying. Some reading this will say it’s their own fault; they should quite go somewhere and be appreciated. I must admit I think that way most of the time, as well. However, sometimes current life circumstances make that decision much more complicated for some.

So let’s blame the leadership, After all, if these leaders instead searched for better ways, they would welcome new ideas instead of slamming the door. They would force their lower-level managers to explore better ways, not simply manage older ways. Some organizations are so focused on “the way it is,” because they are only compensated on “the way it is.” What if organizations actually compensated their people to not only manage “what it is,” but also imagine what it could be?

I believe it’s time for the imagination bonus plan. Come on, leaders. Use your imagination and develop a program that rewards the team to think of ways to innovate. Then those great people won’t utter that dreadful commentary, “We’ll never do that,” or “We take forever to do something different,” or “I’m not going to say anything; it’s useless.” 

In today’s changing world, organizations must invest the time and resources in addressing the way it’s going to be. The RD departs of the past move too slowly and usually carry the weight of outdated policies. It’s time that legacy organizations innovate their policies and their attitudes about how they look for and bring back the future - allowing them to prosper even more today.

Everyone that works in the company should also be members of the R&D department. The amount of information available today is staggering. Today’s leaders must figure out how to manage an overload of ideas from their teams, instead of following outdated management practices that teach teams not to care.

In closing; to leaders who believe their team cares about the company’s future more than a pay check, you’re delusional. That is, unless you’re at leader who actually pays the team to look to the future. If you’re one of those organizations, kudos to you.

“Compliments are the nourishment for a repeating of what was complimented.”

R.J. Stasieczko