Change never happens in a moment of crisis. Crisis is only a reflection of a system’s flaws. As with treating the symptoms and not the underlying disease, effective change almost never happens as a reaction to a crisis. The goal is to create a system that manages crisis much better than it avoids it.
Most creative businesses are seasonal, with varying degrees of lead-time to complete their art. There is no right answer how to best manage seasonality or lead-time. However, if you can figure out your “Herbies”, you will go a long way to finding the solution that will work best for you.
“Herbie” comes from Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt’s The Goal – a novel about systems management. The Goal is 25 years old and still one of the best business books I have ever read. Written as a novel, The Goal breaks down systems management and “throughput” into something digestible and interesting. As a way of understanding production, we are told the story of Herbie. Herbie is the slowest kid on a hike with his boy scout troop. The troop must stay close enough together for adult supervision of all hikers but get to the campground before dark. The speed of the hike is wholly dependent on how fast Herbie moves. So how to get Herbie to move as fast as he can? Distribute his load to the faster hikers.
There is no one Herbie and finding one will create others. The point is not to find him, but always look for him. No matter if your creative business actually produces physical art (i.e., a florist, cabinetmaker, set fabricator, etc.) or mostly intellectual property (i.e., any designer (graphic, interior or event), event planner, etc.), Herbie applies to you. If you are spending time on bookkeeping instead of designing, promoting your brand or meeting with clients, you are the Herbie.
The best way to identify the Herbies in your creative business is to bring yourself back to a Beginner’s Mind – the concept from Zen Buddhism (Shoshin) of approaching everything as if you have never done it before. If you give yourself the freedom to look at all that you are doing without the constraints of your knowledge and experience, you will probably have one of those doh! moments and set yourself on a wholly other path.
An example: as it has for the last 15 or so years, an event production company creates amazing Christmas decorations for its clients along with producing large Christmas parties and other social events during the season. The Christmas season represents 50-60% of the total business. It just so happens that the vast majority of the Christmas decorations do not use anything perishable. Every year, the business strains to produce everything on time, something always slips and the profit is never close to what was hoped for. Every year the business has tried to staff for it, plan better, etc., but still comes up short. What would you do? What are the Herbies? The big events or the Christmas decorations? The design process or the production process? Does everything have to be done “just in time”? What would happen if production could be spread out beyond the Christmas season (i.e., when business is slower)? What could be moved? Solution: most Christmas decorations will be produced in August and September next year.
A big goal for 2010: clear your mind, find your Herbies and make them faster.
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Nice post. I really liked the Goal too. It’s probably one of the only books I have read and enjoyed reading twice, and certainly the only business book I have read twice. Funny how you can be looking for Herbies all the time and there might be one right under your nose and you don’t see it until a crisis occurs.
LOVE this post Sean! I so needed to be reminded of this and pay attention to long term solutions. Seeing the forest through the trees!
And better yet – now I’ve got my holiday reading material lined up 🙂
Sean, The Goal is the greatest book I have read ever! The lessons taught in this book can not only be applied to business but in life in general. I highly encourage all business owners to read this book. I knew I liked you!