Labels in Football and Software Business

It's been a tough year of football in my neck of the woods. As an IU alum, its painful to watch the slow progress the football team is making this year with its 1-9 record. There have been some games against opponents in lesser known divisions that have made a mockery of the team this year. But that is in some respects expected from a school that has never had a strong football program. What truly stings this year is that the Indianapolis Colts, without Peyton Manning, have gone 0 and 9 so far this year. From a team that has hadn't had a losing season in over a decade, its a stinging blow.

But when you break down the Indianapolis Colts, in hindsight, it becomes obvious that without their lynch-pin player, the system falls apart. Over the last decade, so much emphasis of the Colts has been placed on Manning. Manning of course is a stellar player, but he's just one player on the team. From a morale and recruitment standpoint, a stellar player can inhibit recruitment in other areas. If you describe your team as a power offense, it will be tough to recruit the best defensive players in the game, the best special  teams players, and the best running backs.

I've seen this happen in businesses too. A company that makes and sells software or hardware might change its language and begin to call itself a 'Services' company. This has the effect of preventing recruiters from bringing in the best and brightest developers or hardware engineers, as its clear from the language that the companies focus and emphasis is on the Services department. Likewise, its tough to hold onto the best and brightest developers and engineers as they are no longer appreciated to the level they once were.

In business, as in sports, its dangerous to become labeled. Any labeling has to be done consciously and with the realization that there will be negative consequences to the other groups in the organization. In the case of the Colts, This decision seems intentional. Over the years, its been discussed that the Colts defense is built to be light and play with a lead, with the hope that Manning and the offense can build up a quick lead and force the opponents to pass the ball. This has worked well for the Colts over the years, but remove the key player, Manning, and the system collapses in on itself. The same thing can happen to a business though. If the emphasis is placed on one department that implodes due to anymore of reasons (such as internal politics, turnover, a failed project, etc.), the other departments may be too weak to carry the additional burden.

National Novel Writing Month

It seems that most people I know aspire to write a Novel at some point, including me. Writing is a lofty profession and a book or novel is a path to immortality. How many people today know of Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens? These writers have achieved a sort of immortality through their writing, as they have written books that even today we read and analyze.

That is why when I found that November is National Novel Writing Month, I signed up to participate. The goal of the site is to write a short novel of about 190 pages within 30 days. While I'm no R.L. Stine or Stephen King, I still think a short novel can still be written in a short time. I'll know for certain in 30 days.

To foster my writing, I've drawn up a short outline of the novel that I'm going to write. It's based on some of my and my wife's encounters while living in a small town in Southern Indiana while I was going to college. Its one of a few stories that I've had bouncing around my head for the last few years. A National Novel Writing Month is just what I need to get one of the stories out of my head.

Writing a novel in a month on top of a busy work schedule will be a trick. In order to facilitate this, I've decided to write the novel in Google Docs, so I will have access to the novel from my laptop, either of my desktop computers, and my phone. I've used Google Docs for some writing before, but never for something as long or complex as a novel. It should prove as a good test to see just how far Web applications have advanced.

Do you have a few story ideas bouncing around your head? Would a National Novel Writing Month help to transfer those ideas to paper?

Strengths vs. Weaknesses

On the recommendation of the Startupsfor the Rest of Us podcast#38, I just read Strengths Finder 2.0. From a book that came highly recommended by others, I was a bit disappointed in the book, the test that accompanies it, as well as the test results that are provided after the test has been complete. If you can find the book at a reasonable price like I did, I still think you'll get your money's worth.

The book provides an introduction to the test and the 34 'themes' that the test can identify. The introduction explains the importance focusing on ones strengths by using a few analogies, yet most of these analogies involve sports. A personality test like the one that is included with the book of course would never work for an aptitude with sports. While sports analogies are easily accessible, with access to numerous individuals who have taken their personality test, one would imagine a more appropriate analogy would be available.

The test itself involved a series of two statements which one must judge which applies better. However, the nature of the test and the speed of which it must be finished (as each question has a set time period in which it must be answered), made me extremely nervous and had me second guessing myself. While I'm a very introspective person by nature, I also second guess myself as to whether I'm the best judge of my character or if my wife would have been able to answer more accurately.

Finally, I think it would have been helpful if the test results would have also revealed 5 weaknesses, so I could know what areas to avoid. However, with the description of the 'themes' in the book, I can identify which areas I'm weakest at myself, though it would have been nice to know this from the test.

While my review of this book has been harshly critical, I think there's a couple points to keep in mind. First, this book came highly recommended, so I had high expectations going in. Second, the book and test are a few years old, and as such, I think there are likely better personality tests out there now. The book touted itself as a revolutionary way to determine strengths, but in the end, it seemed like a standard personality test, one that I've taken for free on the internet every now and again. Having to pay $10 to $15 for the book to gain access to the test is a little steep. However, if you can find this book for less, I would say it would be a good deal and worth the couple of hours it would take to read the book and take the test.