Debt Fear

Business finances and money management intimidate me. The numbers and math themselves do not bother me - it is the amount of detail and responsibility associated with these aspects of business that cause concern. My personal finances already add enough anxiety to my life!

A Pentagon employee, and close friend, recently told me that "the greatest threat to the United States is debt." It is the number one issue that crosses his desk each day. Other friends, primarily living in Kansas, strongly recommend the Dave Ramsey programs to reduce and eliminate personal debt. In today's economy, becoming debt free seems to be becoming a priority to avoid further conflicts. Yet, as potential business entrepreneurs, debt seems unavoidable, even necessary in order to translate an idea into a profit. Though we can obtain legal status to protect our personal finances, the risk of financial failure, loss or debt is daunting. This potential failure is the reason that business finances intimidate me. The idea itself can be paralyzing.

Aside from the fear of financial loss and debt, the other aspects of business money management, such as how to accept cash, credit cards, and checks is understandable. My father, as a dedicated Citibank employee, explained banking principles and credit technologies to me - it took me awhile to understand the technology required by credit cards and all the hidden fees, etc. that business must pay to use. Though it is a complicated process, with processing equipment and transaction fees, its benefits far outweigh these costs, as the article, "The Basics of Money Management" suggested. I have even began to wonder when cash will no longer be used, except as an educational tool for children.

I do have one question from the article, concerning checks. It suggested writing down the customer's driver license number on the check - how does this help protect your business? Does it simply provide a way to track down the customer upon trying to cash a fraudulent check?

Vision, Mission and Values

As part of my CCA application I included a short description of my core values as a designer. I was inspired to do this by my husband's organization, Mosaic, because their values are so clear and defining. In my opinion, core values are the most important part because they will determine how you accomplish your goals. The goals themselves, like the mission, can change, but the values will, or should, hold (relatively) steady. I understand a business' core values as similar to a person's character - they reflect what is most important and enduring. As a person's character should not easily change (as that would reflect a lack of integrity) so I think that core values should not be easily changed (without great consideration).

Though I am sure my core values will change as I continue through grad school... these are what I started with before I was accepted.

Core Values:

Vision: Without vision people perish. I think I chose this as a core value because I wanted to signify its importance to me. As a designer, I work best when there is a common and clear vision to move towards. I think I included this for potential employers - when I worked as an architect, I had a hard time finding employers that had a clear and compelling vision.

Character: Talent is important but the shape of your character is the shape of your future. A person's character determines if his/her talent is to be used for creatively good or creatively destructive purposes. I choose this core value, again for potential employers to see how I value character development and consideration in the workplace.

Change: Innovation requires change and a new way of thinking. Inspired by a quote from Einstein, "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Change is vital to innovation. This shows I am aware of how quickly life can change and wish to maintain an attitude that is open to change - in order to be the most creative and responsive to the needs of the time.

Creativity: Creativity is reliant upon one's understanding of the essence or core. This connection unleashes innovation beyond existing structures and systems. I value ethnographic research and designing with a community rather than for a community. I wish to be an involved, compassionate designer who empowers local communities rather than be an isolated designer removed from the context and consequences of the project.

Courage: Courage isn't the absence of fear; it is the presence of hope. Those who are driven by the hope of what could be create the future. I chose this as a core value because I knew I would face intimidating challenges and obstacles and wanted to remind myself to bravely face forward - to not let fear undermine hope.

Mission and Vision are harder for me to determine - especially right now as I am a new graduate student, however, I will try to draft a version below.

Mission: To be a holistic product designer who considers multiple factors in designing solutions for complex environments.

Vision: Be a designer who only creates good. It is not only neutral (creating no bad) but must have a positive impact. (This is extremely idealistic but aren't visions supposed to be nearly unattainable? Just attainable enough to keep you moving forward?)

Forgetting who the customers are

"The main reason business' fail is because they forget who their customers are." (Steve Arnold, Polaris Ventures)

This comment, given by a guest lecturer last week, immediately stood out to me. Its simplicity and clarity enabled me to understand its meaning at once - though I have limited business experience. As a designer, I realize how easy it is to focus on improving small details while losing sight of the whole. I also struggle with the pressure to serve a broad audience, which often accumulates in not serving any one group well.

The article, "What is Strategy?" gave language and examples to what losing sight of the client might looks like. One of the most memorable examples mentioned is Maytag. Pressured by dealers and worried about growth, they tried to extend their standard product line (laundry and dish washers) to include refrigerators and cooking products. Though the company grew, the return on sales declined. (Harvard Business Review, Page 76) Did they forget who their customer was? I don't think it is quite that simple, though in this example, they appear to have compromised for the sake of growth. The end result was an expanded company with less profits. They went from serving a select customer group well to serving a broad group with average results. I would argue that they lost confidence in who they were (strengths) and who they were serving. They gave in to the external pressure and to other people's ideas of success.

This leads me to revisit the definition of success - is it being the largest, most expansive company or serving a clearly defined set of needs well? This conversation reminds me of the film, Food Inc. I was deeply impressed by the organic, free range farmer interviewed. He spoke of his mission or desire "to just feed people so they can be healthy." His primary commitment is to health, not wealth. Therefore, he resists expansion and rapid growth that would lead to a short term higher profit - with a compromise on quality and values. His definition of success is linked directly to his investment in human health, not in buying more land, producing higher yields, and being able to compete with large corporations.

The article, "What is Strategy" can be summarized in one sentence - "The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do." (page 70) The organic farmer was strategic in that he knew what he wanted, who his customers are, and where to draw the line.

We must ask better questions.

My husband often says, "Whoever asks the question controls the conversation." And as I've listened to him speak (he frequently gives public lectures/presentations) and engage in Q & A sessions, I can see how these questions guide the conversation and limit his responses. Even in simple, one on one conversations, I've noticed that the way a question is asked is important. For example, he often asks others, "What are you passionate about?" Very few people can respond to this question quickly - they usually say they need some time to process or even that they aren't quite sure.

In an attempt to aid those who feel overwhelmed by this question, I've found a way to reword it to help uncover an answer. I ask - "What do you lose track of time doing?" or " What do you enjoy doing so much that you lose track of time?" Most people can respond to this question quickly and with confidence. Perhaps, for some, the first question is too open ended - too full of possibility - and this freedom intimidates and confuses the respondent to a point where they doubt themselves and forget what they already know to be true. In Barry Schwartz's Ted Talk, The Paradox of Choice, he talks about how too many options hinders people from making any choice at all. In the absence of constraints, people grow uncertain and uncomfortable and are prohibited from making any progress at all.

In the article, "Breakthrough Thinking from Inside the Box", the Harvard Business Review argues that "most people are not very good at unstructured, abstract brainstorming." Questions set up a particular approach to a problem. They will determine whether you are able to discover anything new - in how broad or specific they are and in what they address. Unfortunately, learning to ask good questions is often overlooked. In my experience, it is easier to stick to the most familiar set of questions, that will lead to common answers, rather than try to come up with something new to ask.

CCA's Design Research class emphasized the importance of asking thoughtful questions in an attempt to discover what isn't being spoken - the "latent needs" as the article mentioned above calls it. How can we bring this method into internal, business strategy sessions? Perhaps the mindmap exercise that we've engaged in recently will help. I am not sure. It does encourage questioning how two seemingly unrelated things might work together in new and unexpected ways. For example, on our mindmap, we had "landscape restoration" and "golf". We then asked ourselves how golf might work with restoration - and came up with an idea for golfballs that contain seeds or soil improvement mixtures. I prefer this method over simply looking for ways to incrementally improve an existing idea - innovation is much harder to find in these situations.