Leadership

Leadership Style

My leadership style is based on who I am as a person, my values, professional and educational experiences, and what inspires/motivates me to achieve personal goals. I feel my leadership style is mainly democratic with a splash of innovation incorporated. This leadership style can be seen in both professional (more so) and in educational forums where I have demonstrated such characteristics as encouraging team members to influence/participate in decisions, open communication and collaboration with peers, lead by example, and focus on the team and share accomplishments and achievements. From a innovative leadership style, I embrace change and understand it to be a key variable in the formula of being a successful leader and I am always thinking new ideas and approaches to create value and address critical issues. My personal values strongly align to such leadership styles as I do put a high emphasis in collaboration, team decision making, shared recognition, and innovation. My engineering and program management background has provided 1st hand insight in the importance in executing to personal/company goals. I feel it is key to include all team members in the decision making process as everyone will feel as they are part of overall program and will drive synergy and passion. If team members do not feel involved, it can pose great challenges as the passion or new ideas will not be visible or pursued which will have an overall negative impact to the efforts.

Great Leader

One person who I admire greatly and enjoy reading about his experiences is of the greatest business leaders, Jack Welch.  His leadership style catapulted General Electric to one of the greatest companies today. As a great communicator and ability to empower and motivate others, he was able to tap into the potential of is people to achieve great things. His focus on teamwork, mutual trust, and recognition, enabled him to inspire 300,000 employees to change behaviors and accelerate growth in many markets.  Another aspect of Jack’s vision was his focus on innovative thinking as he understood the importance of change and the competitive advantage which it can enable. His famous quotes of “Control your own destiny or someone else will” and “Change before you have to” highlight the importance and his relentless drive to stay ahead of the competition.

Interaction

I feel that I am an extroverted and a trustworthy person which allows me to interact  with people in a positive and beneficial way. Being extroverted allows me to communicate confidently (be opinionated), influence, and build high number of relationships to accomplish personal and professional goals. A good interaction tool which I learned in a previous course is the art of small talk as it provides a common topic which allows you to start a dialog with anyone.By using such topics as the weather, sports, or technology, it helps building a level of trust and confidence amongst people in a forum and persuade people to participate and get involved, which is always positive. With this, I feel it has a positive affect around the team I worked with.

Laundry INC Value Story

     Its a Sunday evening and Jeff, the tech savvy young professional working in the densely populated city of New York City, has the dreaded chore of laundry. He cannot postpone the chore any further as it needs to be done in order to have clothing for the week (he is down to his last pair of socks...). To avoid delays, he grabs his Smart Phone, kicks off the Laundry INC application and looks for a local self service laundry establishment that has open washers and dryers. He sees that Spin City Cleaners on 50th street has 6 washers and a bunch of dryers available. He likes Spin City Laundry due its location and different activities and shops that are in the area. Jeff, is concern about only seeing 6 washers available and knows they can be had by someone else. He decides to reserve 2 of these washer machines for use in an hour. He watches the rest of the football game and collects/bags his laundry and grabs his detergent a heads over to Spin City Laundry to tackled the task.

     Jeff heads into Spin City Laundry and sees his 2 washer machines reserved, numbers 34 and 40 which are locked. He pulls his Smart Phone out, kicks of the Laundry INC application and confirms his wash cycle purchases for each washer machine and the front door unlocks and ready to load. Jeff loads his laundry and detergent, hits start and the cycle starts. He takes a look at his Smart Phone Laundry INC application and sees the cycles will complete in 60 minutes. with the laundry in-process , Jeff decides to head a street down to the gym to get a work out in while his laundry is washing. He is working out and receives a text and alarm stating his laundry cycle will be done in 10 minutes. With this, he wraps up his work out, grabs a health shake and makes his way back to Spin City. On his way there, he receives another text and alarm stating his wash cycle is complete.

   A few minutes later, he arrives and heads over to his washers, pulls out his Smart Phone and unlocks the door's to remove his laundry. He has a piece of mind knowing his clothing cannot be tampered with, as he has control of a security mechanism to only allow him to remove his laundry. He walks over to 2 dryers, loads his laundry, and with the Laundry INC application pays for 75 minutes of drying time. With 75 minutes to burn and the Sunday night football game on, heads to one of his favorite pubs a few blocks down watch. He is able to grab a seat at the bar, order a beer, and starts watching the game. 30 minutes into the game, his phone is about to die. He does not worry as he see an additional 15 minutes to finishing his drying cycle for his laundry. In 10 minutes, he heads to Spin City, goes to a kiosk, highlights his dryers, and unlocks the machine through a security pin, and grabs his laundry, folds, and heads home.

Through the use of the Smart Phone Laundry INC application and Spin City laundry washer/dry communication and security system, Jeff is able to hit the gym and grab a beer while having the convenient and piece of mind of doing the chore of laundry.

Sizing up the Market for Laudry Inc Inc.

Below is my view of defining the market size for Laundry Inc Inc.  leveraging the four different cuts of market data:

The Demand

Understanding the market demand is defined by the overall laundry businesses which are operational currently in the US which also extends to the Laundromat consumer. The demand for our product is based on providing a competitive advantage to Laundromat's that look to provide a better experience and piece of mind through allowing the ability to pay for laundry service through a smart phone application, receive real time status on what stage of the cycle the laundry is at, provide a level of security which leverages a lock mechanism on the machine (people cannot remove laundry), and allow data analytic to understand utilization of its capital (washers and dryers) to understand trends and high/low usage times to possibly define change to reflect this information.


 The Addressable Market Size

When looking at the total addressable market for our product, a starting point is based on the current Laundromat market and where it stands today. The Laundromat market size is approximately $4b in annual revenue with flat growth due to home washers and dryers usage growth, the emergence of drop-off and pick-up laundry, and dry cleaning services. With this, the projected industry growth is predicted to be flat to a reduction of .5% annually. Current total laundromat businesses across the US tops over 22,000.

Realistic Opportunities versus Competition

When researching whether competing solutions were offered by any possible competitor, we could not find such a solution and approach to mimic Laundry Inc Inc.. There were aspects of our business idea that were offered by various companies which are considered possible competitors. 1st the payment option via a smart phone application could not be identified, but alternative payment solutions were via credit card swipe payment and blue tooth with Google Wallet. Another aspect to our business model is providing real time status of washing/drying cycle through a smart phone application which is a product offering for a washer machine and dryer for home use which allowed you to control the cycle via your phone. Lastly, the security feature is something which currently is not provided by any competitor. With this, our real opportunity is substantial as such a solution does not exist for Laundromat businesses and is dependant on industry acceptance.

 "Winnable" Market Opportunities

In terms of winning market opportunities, our product is targeted to a specific Laundromat market segment. This target market is focused on mid-to-higher end Laundromats which are located  in a specific location which are not as cost sensitive in providing the lowest laundry service cost possible. This mid-to-higher market segment can be viewed as people with discretionary income who are located in a metropolitan area where a high population of Laundromat users reside and willing to pay the incremental costs through higher customer service. Of the 22k laundromats across the US, we can assume 30% of the addressable market would identify the return on investment through the incremental costs associated with the product.

The Need for In and Out

This weeks Blog discussion is based on the recent board discussions on the marketing model called in-bound which is now a viable part of every company. The In-Bound Marketing strategy is based on the idea of leveraging specific tactics in order to be identified by potential customers. Such In-Bound Marking looks to attract it's leads by bringing awareness through content to become identified. Comparing it to the traditional outbound approach, the customer is looking for you versus you looking for the customer. The Inbound Marketing techniques are executed various tools such as blogging, interacting on social media, search engine optimization, webinars, and videos to promote awareness.

But the big question is, can a company survive on just In-Bound Marketing? My opinion on the matter is that a company can survive on just leveraging In-Bound market strategies, but will be unable to grow/mature and nurture into something larger through increased sales through Out-Bound Strategies. The signification advantage between In-Bound versus Out-Bound is based on the cost parity and waste. With little capital, a start-up company can identify marketing success leveraging an in-bound approach versus out-bound. Out bound has vast inefficiencies which poses cost impacts for strapped companies. Below are some statistics on some of the Out-Bound Marketing tools used:

• 44% of direct mail is never opened. That’s a waste of time, postage and paper.
• 86% of people skip through television commercials.
• 84% of 25 to 34 year olds have clicked out of a website because of an “irrelevant or intrusive ad.”
• The cost per lead in outbound marketing is more than for inbound marketing.

For this reason, In-Bound marketing can allow a company to survive during cash strapped time of a strat-up company.

In order to grow it's customer base, brand, and market share, I feel there is a need to balance the two marketing strategies in order to identify all possible opportunities the may exist. For companies to grow their customer base, a successful Out-Bound approach is leveraging inside existing customers to identify new leads. Trying to identify accounts which may have new selling opportunities can be executed efficiently through targeted out-bound marketing tools to open new sales opportunites with such potencial customers that have a relative to an existant client.

I feel a big advantage to Out-Bound marketing (though costly) is building brand awareness and creating a buzz. I feel this is more challenging to execute in a short amount of time leveraging in-bound techniques.I feel Out-bound marketing technique such as commercial ads can present immediate results to build brand awareness quickly. An example is the ever popular Super Bowl ads that run an average of 30 seconds and cost upwards of $3.5m. Though the cost is high, it brings immediate brand awareness to the necessary audience. A great example is the Apple commercial that aired during the Superbowl in 1984 for the Macintosh. It created such buzz and awareness that led a computer revolution. This commercial only aired just once, but left a buzz that captured consumers and made a connection to the Apple Macintosh. The video can be seen below:

Innovation Through Acquisition

Big Company Innovation Struggles


Large companies do tend to struggle with innovation and are at a disadvantage versus a start-up due to many challenges such large organizations face. Such large companies tend to be bureaucratic and are heavily influenced to meet financial targets and make decisions solely focused on this. Another aspect a large company faces, it must focus on protecting is market share dominance for a specific industry to allow for appropriate cash flow and profits to keep the company viable. It becomes challenging for management to allocate capital in supporting new ideas or possible entry into new market segments if have competitors continuously threatening you. To this end, a large company tends to be conservative to allow a market to mature (being risk adverse) in order to avoid bleeding capital on a quarterly bassis in supporting such innovative initiatives. Large companies do not like such risk without a good understanding of the return.

Innovation Through Acquisition

I feel the new approach for large companies is to acquire innovation and avoid the capital and uncertainty in supporting such projects to create or enter new industries. By letting start up companies or entrepreneurs dedicate their energy in developing a new technology and building a successful business model, it allows a large companies monitor such activities and look for the clear winner in a maturing market segment and acquire them. This avoids the uncertainty regarding innovation and sinking capital into such innovative ideas that you do not have the appropriate culture/people to be successful in.


We see this activity commonly used in the IT industry and continuous to gain more and more momentum. EMC Corporation (I am employed by) transformed the data storage industry with the introduction of visualization/cloud computing, data analytics, and data duplication. These innovative products were not developed within the engineering teams at EMC (we actually tried, but unable to gain considerable share) but were acquired through companies such as VMware, Isilon, and Data Domain. It has been a great success and has proved a model allow large companies to leverage their capital in such away to become risk adverse.

Persona Pain-Gain Map for the Laudry Cafe

Business Plan Overview
 
Our team business plan target focus group encompasses the ambitious young professional, to the over-scheduled university student or urban dwelling adult, The Laundry Cafe and Lounge offers an escape from the norm by providing a state-of the art laundry service with a twist. Have your laundry attended to by our experienced professional or access our self-service machines while enjoying our many amenities on any of the floors within our establishment; be it a hot coffee, latte and healthy snack while using our free wifi to complete some work in our comfortable cafe lounge on the first floor or relax and socialize with a beer or wine while listening to local musicians on our open mic in the lounge located on the second floor club level, all while the dreaded task of laundry is completed under the same roof. Beepers are provided so you don't miss "switching over" and can stay on schedule! Laundry is never-ending, so why not make the most of this dreaded but necessary chore and come hang out at The Laundry Cafe and Lounge.
 
What Does a Bad Day Look Like?
 
A bad day is someone who has had a hectic day or week which could include extended hours in the office, long study hours preparing for final exams (or in our case business plans), or having other commitments which have put the priority of the dreaded Laundry chore out. 
 
What is Their Fear?

Their fear of procrastinating the Laundry duty as far out as possible and await the very boring and tedious chore of laundry. Laundry chores are long and tend to present a void in being able to enjoy amenities and socializing with other young professionals and students.
 
What Keeps Her up at Night?
 
In the back of her mind is the need to do laundry as she has her favorite cloths, wok attire, and the need for clean towels. She continues to procrastinate the laundry chore unit she not longer can. The thought of sitting at a run down laundry mat doing laundry in boredom is something she does not look forward to.
 
What is He Responsible For?
 
He young professional or student is responsible for being presentable to a certain standard in order to achieve personal goals or holding on the values. Examples of such is a young professional who is career driven and needs to have an attire which provides a presentation and shows confidence in which to win the acceptance of peers/customers or senior management. It about dress for success. On the college student, being well dressed and having proper hygiene is a responsibility in order to hold up a social status value.

 

What Obstacles Stand in Her Way

 
Laundry is a chore of no enjoyment and she can find many other things to enjoy. Social activities such as cocktail hour, socializing with friends, watching the the big sports game with a crowd of people tend to take priorities over the mundane chore of laundry.
 
What Does This Person Want to Aspire to?
This person aspires to socialize and enjoy the younger years of a college student or young professional and not be held back or bothered with certain responsibilities or chores. This person enjoys the socializing with friends and being able to stay connected to the information superhighway.

How Does This Person Measure Success? 

For a college student or young professional, success can be viewed as enjoying life and seizing the day. This can be a social status, networking one-self, or taking in new experiences or scenes. Being able to enjoy these years and expand your social circle and experiences can be viewed as success.

What Can We Offer This Person?

A place which takes the chore out of laundry and provide the college student or young professional a place to relax and social with others. This accomplished by having a cafe and bar that has an atmosphere that promotes socializing with others. With a live music, it also allows entertainment and ability to listen to up and coming artists. 

The Value of A3 Reporting

Business ideas alike face many challenges in introdcuing a successful product, service, or process change to an organization, company, or even to the world. It focuses very aggressivly on solutions for these challenges as they appear and tend to ignore the business model and whether it contiunes to be viable. In order to fully understand a problem, The A3 reporting process developed within Toyota provides a problem solving tool which allows a scientific apporach to root cause analysis and debunk any assumptions that are made. A stronger aspect of the tool is it also provides a learning mechanism for personel throughout an organization, company, and start up to understand the value in executing such problem solving initiative in order to achieve higher successful rates. This learning experience promotes a culture of engaged thinkers throughout every level to identify opportunities for innovative ideas to become visable and supported.

The A3 tool encompasses 7 areas in order to implemetn such root cause analysis to a problem and encourage people to work together.

1. Problem or Issue – What is the problem that is causing problems.
2. Background – What is the current coniditions and business problem.
3. Goal – What is the desired outcome.
4. Root Cause Analysis – Analyze the current situation and what are the underlying causes.
5. Countermeasures – How will you reach goal state. What are the proposals.
6. Plan – Define an action plan with the counter measures to achieve the goal.
7. Followup – Execute follow up plan to verify results are inline and no negative reactions.

 The value of such a tool is evident in organizations, small and large. There is always room for improvement and great problems that require great solutions.

Quoting from Jeffrey Liker (The Toyota Way) “The right process will produce the right results.”

 I feel this is key in addressing problems. Without understanding the full scope of the problem (root cause), the effectiveness of the solution cannot be understood. This is no different to and engineering problem which RCA is the standard approach to problem solving to understand the exposure to a given problem and whether there is still risk with introducing a solution.


 Does the A3 reporting tool also provide significant value to Entrepreneurs and align to the Lean Startup? I believe it does with the focus of root cause analysis. The key to lean startup is based on the ability to "pivot" to such problem resolution and determine the appropriate decision (persevere or perish). There are many problem solving techniques, but the A3 reporting tool focuses on identifying the root cause of the problem. Without the root cause of the problem at hand, it is difficult to understand how effective the solution can become (if at all, perception versus reality). With the ability to drive down to the root cause of such problems, it will present the entrepreneur the unbiased data required to make educated decisions versus emotional.