Tag Archives: business

Conspiracy Theories

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A couple weeks ago, I wrote about financial karma. In my athletic life, I have been watching another example of karma – the exposure of an entire generation of athletic fraud. It’s a classic human drama and extremely painful to the millions that placed their happiness in the hands of sporting heroes.

When I lived in Asia, the staff at the office used to find my tendency to think the best of people to be quaint, and extremely naive. Despite chuckling at me, it was seen as a positive quality by my boss and peers.

The meltdown in cycling got me thinking about the different conspiracies I’ve experienced in my life:

  • Sexual Abuse of Children and Minors
  • Infidentily
  • Fraudulent Transfer
  • Larceny
  • Perjury
  • False Academic Credentials
  • Athletic Fraud (doping, course cutting)
  • Wilful Misrepresentation

That’s a pretty big list for simple guy from Vancouver.

As you’re pulling down the cycling posters on your garage wall, know that I feel your pain. I came to a similar conclusion about my own sport (triathlon) years ago. It really sucked for a couple weeks but I came out of it. You’ll come out of it.

Despite experiencing a laundry list of conspiracies, I continue to believe that trusting people is the best policy. However, I have certain rules of thumb that I apply in personal and business dealings.

First up, people generally focus on the financial risks of fraud. The true suffering is emotional and the true cost is lost time. So my tips are designed to minimize wasted time and limit the suffering when life disappoints.

There’s never just one cockroach – fraud runs in patterns, over time and in peer groups.

Force yourself to take references and listen to what people are telling you. People never want to give bad news, especially to strangers.

Check resumes – criminal and credit checks are far cheaper than what a crooked relationship will cost you. I’ve come across a surprising number of successful people that fake their credentials.

Follow the money – if you have concerns then audit the cash. A clear audit policy is a very positive incentive to the key people in your life.

Use the “death” penalty – remember that people rarely act alone, when you come across a serious violation of your personal ethics then clear out the entire group of peers. In business this can mean firing the entire management team. In my personal life, it’s more common to remove yourself from the peer group.

The points may sound draconian. To the above, I’d add forgiveness. Forgive people when things don’t work out – holding a grudge extends your suffering and costs you additional time, that you will never get back.

When you’re in the midst of the fraud, write everything down. We do a poor job of remembering when stressed. I started a habit of writing “file notes” when I was 20 years old and they have proven highly valuable.

While people change, the personality traits that cause people to make a habit of the easy way are tough to overcome. One of the reasons I write things down is because I’m always tempted to bring people back into my life after a few years have passed. Forgiveness is different than having someone in your inner circle.

In the uncertain world of human relationships, remember that past decisions are the most reliable indicator of future choices.

Be your own hero.

 

Ironwar, Pain and Doping

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A decade before I did my first triathlon, I remember watching Mark and Dave duel on Wide World of Sports.

We never know where life will take us and my life took me to both Mark and Dave. Until some joker writes an unauthorized biography on me, I’m the only one that truly sees the irony.

Because Mark, Dave and Jane (Dave’s sis) took an interest in me, my life is better every single day. I use what they taught me throughout my life.

If there’s a lesson in coaching then it is the long-term impact we can have on our athletes. My life’s mission is to share the lessons that I’ve learned from working with great men and women, people like Mark and Dave.

The guys told us what they think about the book (fiction, fantasy and fabrication) and, initially, I had not planned on reading it.  However, Velopress is my publisher and, on reflection, I wanted to know what my business partners are up to.

I’ll cut to the chase.

Ironwar lacks honor.

The book has caused unnecessary stress and pain to the guys, and their families. The book is a long-term business mistake. People of quality want to work for companies with strong ethics.

It’s in every one’s interest to do the right thing.

I’d like to see the parties come together, rewrite the book and tell the real story of Mark and Dave’s careers.  My family has heard it from both of them.  It would be a product of which everyone could be proud.

You can reach the publisher of Velopress at: Ted Constantino (tcostantino@competitorgroup.com) and the investors behind Competitor Group at: Mitch Thrower (mitchthrower@yahoo.com).

Always be willing to make a little less money to do the right thing.

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Athletes talk a lot about soaking up pain. Good, but not great, athletes are all about pain and depletion.

Here’s how going fast feels to a guy that’s gone 8:29 and won Ultraman.

If I feel pain in my body then I am feeling resistance, generally it’s a mental resistance to the way things are at the time. Whether I am experiencing physical pain, anger or fear – it all has the same root cause – resistance to the way things are.

The greats have a tremendous capacity to accept, endure and open themselves up to the experience of going fast.  Some folks call this Athletic Flow but the easiest way to explain it is a total physical relaxation with a mind that’s void, but completely open. It’s well documented in all spiritual, and sports psychology, texts.

This concept of flow is available to us all. It’s a mistake to focus on pain. Athletes that focus on pain, find it… …then end up chronically injured.

It’s the same with fear and anger, which are toxic to our lives outside of sport.

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Seeing as I’m telling you what I really think this morning… doping.

A number of my pals are racing Ironman Hawaii and a few of them have been targeted by the haters.

As an insider, what can I tell you about doping? With certainty I can confirm:

  • Athletes that cheat have done very well at Ironman.
  • Athletes do not need to cheat to do very well at Ironman.

You are the only person that will ever know if you are clean. You can’t prove it, so live true to yourself and love your inner circle.

Where I’ve ended up with doping (other than John 8:7) is to acknowledge that energy spent trying to “fix” others would be better spent improving myself and helping the stars in my life.

In terms of racing, if you want to avoid cheaters then race your pals, locally, in events without prize money or championship slots. It’s why I went to Big Kahuna this year.

Cheaters are focused on winning, external recognition, sex and money – these are false gods of achievement.  Success, and meaning, is found by overcoming ourselves.

To end, I’ll paraphrase Chris McCormack, as it’s relevant to all three sections:

Just because you can’t sort yourself out, don’t try to pull down another.

Be Great,

gordo byrn

If I Owned Ironman

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The WTC have been on roll the last two years. Last Sunday, on my flight from San Diego to Denver, I asked myself what I’d tweak if I owned Ironman.  Having spent two decades in Private Equity, I guess old habits die hard.  Here are a few things that I think would improve the strategic position of the company.

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Maintain Brand Integrity

Wave starts have been an excellent change for 70.3 racing.  They make the swim safer (and less frightening for new athletes).  Waves also spread the fast agegroup men throughout the field – historically we have skewed the female, and our own, results by offering drafting opportunities. Two ideas:

A – test wave starts with full distance racing.  I haven’t raced Louisville but its TT start seems to work.  Challenge Roth moves a lot of people safely through a looped course.  Mass swim starts with 2,600 people are dangerous – even if everyone signs a waiver, do you really want to make the call when an athlete dies.

B – continue to drop hoax races.  Dropping Clearwater for the 70.3 Champs was a good move – a championship series should have hills with a non-wetsuit swim to spread out the best athletes.  If the championship brand identity is truly “the best of the best” then be willing to make less money to preserve the market position.  I’d let the competition run long distance events on flat courses.  Ironman is a great brand.  Ironman Florida is a joke.

I have my doubts about the ability to run non-drafting short course events with integrity.  Unless you’re going uphill for eight miles from the swim start (Boulder 5150), it always packs up.  For this reason, I’d limit the investment in 5150.  Let others struggle with ‘fixing’ short course racing.  Drafting might be a structural feature of that event distance with large field sizes.

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The Best of the Best

Sticking with this theme, extend the points system to agegroup racing.  I’ll never race head to head with Andy Potts but I could score as many points as him.  Athletes love rankings and you’ll enjoy the benefits of owning the races that feed into the ranking system.  You can create:

A – an incentive for athletes to race more of your events

B – a barrier to entry for both federations (your ranking competition) and event directors (your race competition)

This keeps Kona special and gives you World Champions & World Ranked athletes.  Better for you and your best ambassadors.  This will increase your revenue per relationship.

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Don’t Be Evil

The largest agegroup in last weekend’s Cali 70.3 was the men’s 40-44.  We have jobs, kids and other things to do with our time.  We don’t mind paying $250 to enter the race.  However, taking extra vacation and time away from our families limits the number of events we can do each year.

Reduce the time I spend on site.  Time is my most valuable resource.  Get me in/out of your race with limited overnights.  How to do this:

A – mail shot my registration package // I’ll pay a premium for this

B – speed up awards // There is a lot of deadtime on race day.  See if you can speed that up. // Boise 70.3 seems like an interesting model with all the action on the same day (sign up, race, awards).

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When thinking business – consider both your share of time and share of wallet.  Also remember that the complainers will complain regardless of what you do.  Solve the problems of the people you want to retain.

The product is great and its been fun to watch it develop.

Gaining Expert Knowledge

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My last piece may have left you thinking that expert knowledge is over-rated.  What I wanted to get you thinking about was:
  • the way that we make decisions about experts — often independent of their knowledge and ability to assist us;
  • situations where knowledge is not decisive — mass market businesses;
  • the folly of justifying a point of view to the general public.
When does expert knowledge matter?
As individuals, we operate in a tight circle of contacts.  Within my life, there are a hundred people with whom I interact frequently and about a thousand that I come across annually.  Every single week I’m working with people in Singapore, Norway, Hong Kong, Switzerland, the UK and North America.  While the location of my team is interesting, the value of being a knowledge-based worker is my location.  All I need is a telephone and a computer that’s hooked up to the internet.  That’s good but also means that there are very low barriers to entry.

I never set out to become an expert in the fields where I have specific competency.  I was fortunate to stumble into areas where I could work really, really hard with world class people.  With both finance, and triathlon, I worked for a decade before going truly independent.  In finance, I helped establish an investment management business.  In triathlon, I founded Endurance Corner (coaching, training camps and adventure travel).  Both those start-up opportunities were rewarding and resulted from a decade of acquiring expert knowledge.

What does it mean to be an expert?
An expert differs from a pundit.  Experts help people get stuff done — raise money, invest capital, communicate with others, focus on what matters, deliver results.  Pundits are viewed as experts due to our human bias towards people that make a lot of noise and critisize others. An easy way to spot this bias in action is write a list of “the smartest people” on a public chat forum.  Our minds will default to what stands out (noise, negativity, scandal).  If you want to appear smart then get out in public and criticize.  It’s not a healthy way to live but it is effective for one’s market position.

How can I acquire specific, unique, world class knowledge?
  • Train yourself to be world class – be the brand
  • Associate with world class individuals – everyone loves talking about themselves, learn from the best
  • Share your knowledge, and hone your market position, by sharing and teaching
  • Specialize — focus where you can be uniquely world class
  • Complete a thousand of case studies — you will be deeply biased by your personal successes (and failures); counteract bias by working against your preference
  • Write a thousand blog posts on your passion
  • Write a book based on the twenty five posts that most responded with others
That’s the road map that I followed.  Accidentally at first, then, intentionally.

If that seems daunting (and it would have been for me) then do this:
  • Daily – help one person in your area of passion (chat forums are golden for this)
  • Weekly – write a short article (300-400 words), or make a video clip, about something that you recently learned
  • Monthly – read a best seller, or watch a documentary, about your passion
  • Annually – attend a seminar from a world leader in your field
While you are doing your “homework” (above), become extremely proficient at doing what you hope to teach.  If you want to make a living then you need to be balanced in your approach between learning, doing and teaching.  Each of us will have a weak link.  Get help for your weakest link. It’s a lot easier to partner with an expert in your weak area than try to change the way you are.  That’s why Endurance Corner is a team of coaches and we work with really smart athletes — we are all better off together.

Becoming Independent
Does the above result in a job, a business, a career?  It does but only if you are willing to work at the business of helping others.  Finance is a field that’s weighted to helping one’s self and I didn’t make the leap.  In triathlon, once I (truly, and honestly) made the jump the results were immediate and material.

Consider:
  • What do others think you do well?
  • How/when do people respond to you?
  • Where do these people spend time?
  • How do people find out about you?
If you listen then the market (and your circle) will give you feedback on the above.  Pay attention to what you do well, do more of it, and expose yourself in areas where people can see you performing well.

Be ruthless in your evaluation of the competitive position of your knowledge.  Here’s my knowledge funnel:
  • Valuing businesses and investments (competition is tens of thousands)
  • Coaching endurance sport (competition is thousands)
  • Coaching triathlon (competition is hundreds)
  • Coaching Ironman (competition is tens)
  • Coaching high performing amateurs for long course triathlon (competition is a handful)

While there is a lot of margin available in finance, my competition is tens of thousands and I’m probably going to be tied down geographically.  By narrowing my niche, I reduce my competition but make sure you’re left with a market!

Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Annually — focus on that.

gordo

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    NOTES:

    A – Here’s an article on a Thousand True Fans as well as a counter argument.  The articles, and comments, will offer insight.  A comment in the counter argument points out that it takes a decade to build a viable market position (as an expert).  Ten years to become world class at a unique niche… that seems fast to me.  Helps to enjoy the journey!

     

     

    Understanding Expert Credentials

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    I gave a talk recently on success.  Within that talk, I spoke about what to look for when choosing an advisor.

    A – Success in multiple fields (to reduce the role of chance)

    B – Experience helping people like you, achieve goals like yours (specific advisory competency)

    C – Alignment of values (we trend towards our role models)

    That’s all fine and dandy but I get hired on that basis less than 5% of the time!

    Here’s what most people look for in an advisor:

    • Tall
    • Good looking
    • Well dressed
    • Specific personal success.  For example: wealthy (financial advisor), fast (athletic advisor), intelligent (academic advisor)
    • Well known in personal peer group

    The above are what generate initial enquiries (and why this blog is light on photos – I prefer to stack up on my merits).  If you don’t believe me then invert (short, ugly, poorly dressed, visible personal failures, unknown in your peer group).  The five points are what get you a chance to bid on the business.  The fact that this has nothing to do with ability to perform, isn’t important (until you have to start working with the individual).

    Firms, and people, with an understanding of bias create systems to help them balance their programming.  The ABCs that started this article are a good checklist.  You’ll probably still choose the best looking candidate but at least they are likely to have something to offer.

    Fortunately, the reasons that we stay with an adviser are significantly different:

    • Cares about me;
    • Is responsive to my needs;
    • I’m getting results; and
    • Brand image.

    If you consider why you stay in a relationship, at a firm, in a team… then you’ll likely find your reasons fall into those categories.  To those I’d add: fear of change; and switching costs.  

    Remember that we score everything in relative terms – if you want to score well then you need to be relatively better.  It’s also why you should think very careful about the choices you make in your relative environment.  If you have a desire to feel fast, rich, educated, well dressed or successful then your choice of relative environment will be an essential factor.

    Advisers can waste a huge amount of time on focusing on “being right”.  If you think through the dynamics of a successful relationship then only a small part of the life cycle will be due to specific knowledge.  Only a little hinges on being an expert (but, at the sharp end, a little means a lot).  The more mass-market your positioning, the less actual knowledge plays in success (it only takes a little knowledge to be an expert relative to the mean).  

    Choose wisely.

    g

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    NOTES

    A – Tim Ferriss is the best example I know on creating a perception of expert credentials.  He is a master of the mass market and worth studying.

    B – Read Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion to better understand how we make decisions

    C – The roadmap doesn’t matter until you’ve established an ability to control your direction.  Focus on creating habits of consistent self-direction and work – your coaches, parents, teachers, colleagues… they will serve you best when they help you learn to control the impulses that work against success.  

    D – I strongly believe in the value of world-class knowledge and will share ideas on it’s acquisition in a future piece.

     

    Structuring Your Business

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    I am going to use Triathlon Coaching for this case study but I could easily re-write with a focus on investment analysis.

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    How efficient are you?  I’ve worked with the best coaches in sport and they never brag about how busy they are.  If you’re constantly busy then you need to take an honest look at your efficiency.  Do you spend your time on what the team wants to achieve?  

    Strong relationships are built on being effective, not busy.

    Productivity happens when we are effective and efficient.  Here are quick hits to improve your productivity:

    1. Training Peaks – template creation for training plans, an pooled workout library, and auto notify for key workouts (via email into a separate mail folder).  If you don’t know what I’m talking about then you need to fix that, now.
    2. Season Planner – I’ve created this in google docs.  It has the year on a single page and I can create a new page for athlete specific information.  I have my team create a short URL (via bit.ly) and access via clickthrough which is embedded in each athlete’s signature file.  Again, if that doesn’t make sense to you then figure out what I’m talking about.  It will save you time.
    3. Team Forum – the big IT investment for 2010 was creation of a team forum.  We copied the market leader (Slowtwitch) so everyone was familiar with the look & feel.  This creates a network effect that is far superior to email tennis.  We help each other; access a greater knowledge base; and the coaches have a single place for integration/education.  [NOTE: One of the things that drives me nuts about email is the lack of scale (1:1).  I’m leveraged over 100:1 on our forum; over 1,000:1 on my blog and over 10,000:1 on my book.  Financial funnels aren’t the only ones that I think about.]
    4. Billing – we are integrated between our accounting, banking and email systems (Intuit/Quickbooks/Chase).  Even though I like receiving money in the mail – I’ve removed myself from most the admin.
    5. Social Networks & Blogs – I’m a read/write guy so I track my crew via twitter and blog RSS.  Athletes, in general, tend to be kinesthetic (Facebook).  Facebook is an effort for me but I’m getting better.

    What sort of people do you like working with?  Where are they?  Does your business model let you control growth or are you working as fast as you can to simply stay in the same place?  How do you establish, and retain, your expert credentials?  Better yet, what are your credentials?  How could I find out about them?  How often does your target market think about you?  What do they think?

    The public side of EnduranceCorner.Com is our answer to all the questions above.  What’s your answer?

    The most common mistake for head coaches/senior partners is to see the junior partners as profit, rather than knowledge, contributors.  Your best people (coaches, sponsors and athletes) will leave if you “feed off them”, rather than work for them.  At EC, I contribute to our overheads on the same basis as everyone else.  We have visibility on the overheads and a shared incentive to manage ourselves effectively.

    Who’s winning in your business?  Anyone losing? Lose any people that you would have liked to keep?  Why did they go?

    Your strategic position is strengthened when you are sold out. Get to that position and assess your business.  The Endurance Nation guys are sold out on their team and their waiting list is sold out.  You can’t even wait to wait.  Their playbook is effective for their goals.  What are your goals?

    Let’s consider two business structures: a team of six athletes paying $1,000 per month vs a team of 60 athletes paying $100 per month. A common mistake is to link value to the headline number.  $1,000 is bigger so that must be better, right?  That depends.  Sixty smart people create a powerful network – especially when they have the demographic profile of triathletes.  The discretionary spending power of sixty average triathletes is over $500,000 per annum.  Sixty highly educated triathletes?  Well over a million dollars per year.  

    Consider your contribution to the team’s life experience vs your cost within their overall budget.  Keep your share of fun WAY over your share of wallet.

    Remember my question about “who you like to work with”?  Say you’re charging “maximum rate” to coach; be careful of creating co-dependence to justify your fee.  Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to pricing and team size.

    Spend time considering the result you want to create.

    What incentives are you giving the team, the coaches and yourself with your business structure?  

    The incentives will drive the result – might as well point them at the desired result!