To Our Readers
I was at MacWorld Expo in Boston a couple of years ago and people were looking at me funny. The expo is for companies that make software and other products for Apple computers. The attention made me uneasy. Finally, someone asked flat out: "Are you Bill Gates?" When bad news is good
"No, I'm Jeremy Harris," I said (OK, I didn't really say that, but people sometimes tell me I look like the mayor, too).
Hearing one looks like either the world's richest computer nerd or politics' most successful marine biologist isn't totally bad news, I guess -- if you're older than they are.
Bad news is one of Gates' topics in his new bestseller, "Business at the Speed of Thought." He says top executives should embrace bad news and make sure their companies have a feedback loop to ensure that bad news is rushed to their attention.
The idea is that focusing on making your most critical customers happy will lead to continual product improvements. Being immediately and intensely sensitive to failures and shortcomings provides the guidance you need to compete successfully.
Sycophants beware! In the new digital paradigm (ugh!), yes-men are not only contemptible, but also impediments to progress. Thumbs Up Hawaii, indeed!
Gates says whenever he gets "good" news, such as an e-mail about a new account his sales force landed, he wonders about all the other accounts. Did we lose them? Are they just giving me the good news?
The Microsoft CEO makes another relevant, if pedantic, observation: Today, if you want to guess someone's salary, the most telling question you can ask is what country she lives in. Tomorrow, that question will be how much education she has.
If the successful organizations are those that turn bad news into a competitive advantage, what does that say about our state? Bad news at Bishop Estate? Fire the attorney general! Bad news in the national press? Deny it.
Listen to Bill. He knows competition.
John Flanagan is editor and publisher of the Star-Bulletin.
To reach him call 525-8612, fax to 523-8509, send
e-mail to publisher@starbulletin.com or write to
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.