Thinking Like a CEO

ASIS&T Information Architecture Summit 2010Thinking Like a CEOBuilding design influence through business empathy
Harry Max, Clarify LLC
Jess McMullin, the Centre for Citizen Experience
April 7, 2010 | Phoenix, AZ

Welcome
Session Introduction, ASIS&T housekeeping
Ground Rules
Be present
No phones
No violent agreement
Ask about Acronyms or other Vocabulary
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurenmanning/2319062182

Introductions
Hi there.

Harry introduction

Jess Introduction

Introductions
You...

Houston, We Have a Problem
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cckaiser/3917277027

How come projects look like this?

Instead of like this?
Our overall challenge: Designers fail to influence business decision makers, often because we fail to communicate or appreciate
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/253409227

The CEO Design Crit
“
I like
blue...

Designer Advocacy
“
Design
is good

Designer Frustration
“
They don’t
get it...

Jess & Harry’s Guide to Getting It
Business
Fluency

Jess & Harry’s Guide to Getting It

Theory

vs. Practice

Having your hands on all the dials...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/philliecasablanca/2327115948

PART 1: Lenses
http://www.flickr.com/photos/clearlyambiguous/50654311

A Fable
Designer Goggles (img)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexerde/2252464567

Outside Looking In
Thinking about CEO stuff...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/visualpanic/407535225

GROWTH
The Big 5: It all comes down to this
Making $
Saving $
Achieving Goals
Hiring & Retaining Talent
Delivering Value
}

Making Money
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffbelmonte/8228640

Saving Money
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ecastro/3053916892

Delivering on commitments
Outcome Orientation
Achieving Goals
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joe57spike/3878578036

Smart x Gets things Done quadrant
http://www.flickr.com/photos/evert-jan/478482724

Customer
Employee
Shareholder
Delivering Value
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/3398923323

Making Money
Saving Money
Achieving Goals
Delivering Value
The Big 5 Keep CEOs Up at Night
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alyssafilmmaker/3687665853

Big 5
That’s great...
How do I
apply
the
?

Show us the most common situations where the Big 5 are in play
Help us focus our thinking about the Big 5
We need to focus...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rinzewind/133720761

Objective Lenses
Problem Solving vs. New Opportunity
Optimizing vs. Innovating
Short Term vs. Long Term
Familiar vs. Unfamiliar
Surviving vs. Thriving
http://www.flickr.com/photos/etharooni/3276254742

The Conversation Grid

Example of Grid in Action

EXERCISE
Map one of your own situations on the grid
Put someone else’s situation on the grid
Explain your placement
http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbanwoodswalker/4469149787

LENSESdiscussion
Q&A
The Grid facilitates translation between designers’ concerns and others’ concerns
At its heart, translation is about language
And that takes us to part 2...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/3610652504

PART 2: Language
http://www.flickr.com/photos/renaissancechambara/3461037682

A Fable
The Tower of Babel
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fdecomite/3872685816

The Tie
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerimp/3181052163

The Turtleneck
http://www.flickr.com/photos/quinet/73741549

The Grid is an index to Language
Conversations emerge from your location on the grid (or vice versa)
Off the grid, and you’re less likely to be having a relevant conversation
These conversations fall into three domains

The Three Domains
People
Projects
Money (triangle)

People

Projects

Unpacking the Grid
How do our previous patterns on the grid relate to People, Projects, or Money?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/roland/168791534

EXERCISE
Have a conversation in which you present people, project or money criteria

The Three Domains
People
Projects
Money (triangle)

Leadership (directing work)
Management (coordinating work)
Execution (doing work)
(visualized as a triangle with slices through it)
Shifting the Language

http://www.flickr.com/photos/junglejims/355831918

http://www.flickr.com/photos/beglen/157949348

People: Investors

Projects
Projects > Products > Product Lines > Portfolios

Money
Expenses, Salary > Budgets > P&L > Revenue > Share Price

MONEY – EXTERNAL VIEW
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindfire/315274981

Q&A
LANGUAGEdiscussion
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hauntedpalace/241961747

PART 3: Leverage
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mshades/2678944694

A Fable
Story: Mars probe lost in metric to standard conversion
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iliahi/2606645766

The need for Cultural Fluency
Without bridging the cultural divide, language isn’t enough to influence stakeholders

Cultureis Communicated through stance
Stance is...

How to manage your stance
Horizontal & Vertical Language
Abstraction & Generalization
Advocacy, Inquiry & Empathy
With a healthy dose of PQ
Status
Things you can do or say to increase or decrease your status or someone else’s status

Description
Example
Exercise – iterate the conversation
Horizontal & Vertical Language
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andresrueda/3064596190

Description
Example
Exercise -
Abstraction & Generalization
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thefangmonster/352461415

Description
Example
Exercise
Being a great advocate means not advocating 100%
Advocacy, Inquiry, Empathy
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rastafabi/529327298

Precision Questions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pfala/3108965331

For More on Precision Questioning
See Resources at Vervago for more about PQ
http://www.vervago.com/resources.html

Status Management
Description (from wiki)
Example
Exercise
http://www.flickr.com/photos/foundphotoslj/524306518

LEVERAGEdiscussion
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/292259730

Conclusion for Workshop
Q&A

Thank you! Keep in touch...
Harry Max
@harrymax
harrymax AT metamax DOT com
Jess McMullin
@jessmcmullin
Jess AT ctzn DOT ca

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Thinking Like a CEO

by Jess McMullin on Apr 20, 2010

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Thinking Like a CEO — Presentation Transcript