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Chapter Nine
Chocolate Stories
and Connecting
Different Worlds
Jumping across worlds can be a marvelous creator of the energy of Glow; in Chapter Eight you heard my story of bringing together chocolates and writing. Here is another story, this one about how Harry and his colleagues learned to Glow and create a Hot Spot. As you read the story, think about how the networks in your working life have sometimes created wonderful moments of joy and excitement.
Harry’s Story
I am a manager at Unilever, and I work on the Lynx deodorant brand. Let’s face it, this is a tough market to work in. There are hundreds of brands of deodorant out there, all competing for a space on the supermarket shelves, and profits are razor-thin. Sometimes I feel pretty down about how I am ever going to be able to succeed as a manager and really bring energy and innovation to my work. But last year was one of those great times when I really felt as if I was making a difference—I really felt I was Glowing. Here is how it all started.
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It was indeed a breakthrough. Once we had the idea, of course, we had to work with each other to thrash out how we could create a high-quality chocolate scent delivered in an aerosol. But you can imagine how great I felt when a year later Lynx’s chocolate-scented deodorant, Dark Temptation, was launched and quickly became one of the fastest-selling products aimed at teens that year.
I love Harry’s story; he and Julie created a real Hot Spot of energy and innovation that had both of them Glowing. By the way, if you don’t get the point of a chocolate-smelling deodorant (and I certainly don’t!), just ask a teenager why he wants his body to smell like chocolate. I asked my own teenage sons (who were the ones who alerted me to the chocolate deodorant spray in the first place), and they looked at me in amazement: “Girls like chocolate, Mom.” Silly me!
Julie and Harry inhabit different worlds—Julie’s is the world of research, and Harry lives in the world of marketing. You can picture these worlds with boundaries around them that define who is an insider and who is an outsider. Knowing who’s in and who’s out brings order and predictability to Harry’s and Julie’s social relationships. However, if the boundaries become a Fortress and are too rigidly defined, it’s going to be much more difficult for them to reach out and jump out or for others to jump in.
Imagine how the story would unfold if people from the Walls business and the Lynx business never meet. Imagine that instead Harry and Julie both work in a big Fortress with insurmountable walls. It would be almost impossible for them to meet each other, and this wonderful Hot Spot would never have been created.
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How Jumping Across Worlds Evolves
into a Hot Spot
To really understand how Harry and Julie and their teams Glowed, let’s take another look at the story—but this time tell it as the development of a network of relationships.
We can begin with Harry and his immediate team, made up of John and Joan, both of whom work together on the development of Lynx deodorants for the teenage market. Harry, John, and Joan have worked with one another for years, and they trust each other and have a real sense of achievement about the group. As the network chart in Figure 9.1 shows, John has also built a strong working relationship with Ben, who is on another team that also works on the teenage deodorant market.
John, Harry, and Joan have known each other for years and are very similar, so you can expect their combined heuristic profile to be small—perhaps rather like mine and Rob’s in Chapter Eight, where together we managed to bring only eight heuristics. John, Harry, and Joan are about the same age, have roughly similar educational backgrounds, are all British, and all work in the same company. Remember, though, that these similarities have made it easier for them to trust and cooperate with each other.
Reflect for a moment on your own important and significant relationships. Some will have really helped you Glow, others will fade into heritage relationships, and still others may fade away completely. In Chapter Ten you will get an opportunity to take a really close look at the types of networks you’ve developed and to determine whether or not they are helping you Glow.
So this little network of Ben, Harry, Joan, and John is working together— everyone feeling good about one another—but not really being innovative. That changed when Harry met Julie at the executive program.
I have found that typically there are two events that can really energize a network and put it on the path to becoming a Hot Spot. One possibility is that as in this case, the variety within the network is expanded when someone with a different perspective joins. This variety increases the number of heuristics and begins the buzz. The other important event that will transform the warm and trusting relationship to something much more dynamic and exciting is that the latent energy between group members is ignited. In Chapter Thirteen you will see a lot more about how this can happen and learn about what you can do to help it along.
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FIGURE 9.1 Harry’s Initial Network
For now, let’s concentrate on what happens to this network of relationships as it evolves into a Hot Spot.
The Nascent Hot Spot
Harry’s world began to evolve into a Hot Spot when he met Julie at the management conference, and suddenly he began to Glow.
When Harry and Julie meet, they are simply acquaintances, so I’ve shown their relationship in Figure 9.2 as a dotted line. When Harry meets Julie, he is not just meeting her; he has the potential to meet a whole new network. Like Harry, Julie has her own network of close colleagues. Her teammates Robert and Angela are both experts in fragrances and flavors. Note that at this stage Julie and Harry are the only people spanning the boundaries between these two worlds—none of the members of their respective networks have yet met.
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FIGURE 9.2 The Nascent Hot Spot
Harry and Julie have begun the conversation about how they might combine their expertise in chocolate and deodorant. At the same time that Harry talks to Julie, the networks in his own team are also beginning to evolve to include other people like Jorge, who is a friend of Joan’s, and Sid, who is an associate of Ben’s. The network at this point is shown in Figure 9.2.
What’s brought Jorge and Sid into the network is that Harry has become really focused on doing something different. He has asked an igniting question: “What would it take to make a really big difference in the teenage deodorant market?” (You will get an opportunity to rehearse questions that would spark people in your network in Chapter Fourteen.)
Let’s trace the evolution of Harry’s network:
1. People jump across worlds. Harry and Julie meet and begin to talk about what excites and interests them.
2. The igniting question and task becomes a focus for energy. The network is transformed into a community of people who are excited about the task.
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How to Read a Network Chart
- The lines between people signify that there is a relationship between them.
- Solid arrows signify a strong, trusting relationship.
- Dashed arrows signify a less intense association.
- Some of the less intense associations will be “heritage relationships” that were strong in the past but have now withered. If these heritage relationships are founded on goodwill, they can easily be rekindled.
- The arrows signify the primary direction in which knowledge is shared. When the arrow goes both ways, it signifies that knowledge travels about equally between people. When it goes in one direction, it indicates that one person is the primary giver of knowledge.
- The network diagram shows who are the most prominently connected people within a group.
- The network diagram also reveals who is most adept at jumping across worlds. For example, in the expanded network diagram shown in Figure 9.2, Harry and Julie have reached out to each other and now are both jumping between two distinct groups, the Lynx team and the Walls team.
3. The initial network expands. Harry introduces Julie to other people in his network, and Julie introduces Harry and the others to her network. At this early stage, Harry and Julie will be subtly testing each other to see if they can trust each other and cooperate. If they decide to do so, their relationship could strengthen.
4. The network expands to include people from other countries. For example, Joan was at college with Jorge, who is now working in California. Jorge has some really good ideas and insights that he is sharing with Joan. Joan has also introduced Jorge to John, and they are also beginning to talk about areas of mutual interest.
5. The network now extends to people from other communities of practice. Ben is in another group, which is working on a marketing project for Generation Y. He brings in Sid who works in a consulting company and like Ben is passionate and really understands the dynamics of Gen Y—people under the age of 27—and has a real focus of attention in the male fragrance market.
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You can see this expansion in the network in Figure 9.2—and as the network expands, it builds greater energy and innovation, providing more and more opportunities for Harry and Julie to become innovative and to Glow.
In the case of Harry and Julie, this network went on to sparkle and be very creative. That doesn’t happen in every case, of course. Sometimes a nascent Hot Spot decays. The initial cooperation and trust between the founding members may come under pressure as more people with many different perspectives and heuristics become involved. Or the nascent Hot Spot may decay as the igniting question or vision loses its capacity to interest and excite people. When decay occurs, by the way, it does not mean that the team inevitably disintegrates and the task goes unfinished. Often the task is completed but becomes more like “business as usual” than a Hot Spot. People engage with it, but not in a high-energy, motivated way.
The Hot Spot
It is astonishing to watch as the Hot Spot gains velocity and energy and more people are interested in getting involved. Some of the people who become involved are already associated with those in the nascent Hot Spot. Others are acquaintances or even strangers, people who have been asked to join the job or the project or task force or have decided to do so of their own volition. It is this combination of founding members, heritage relationships, acquaintances, and relative strangers that bring this wonderful mix of insights, experience, and ideas that fuel the Hot Spot and create a great context for people to Glow.
Figure 9.3 shows Harry and Julie’s Hot Spot in its most energized form.
1. Relationships become stronger. Some initial acquaintances grow into stronger relationships as people share knowledge and develop deeper trust. This was the case with Harry and Julie when they proposed creating a project team that would explore the possible development of a chocolate-smelling spray deodorant. Joan and Ben also established a stronger working relationship as time went on.
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FIGURE 9.3 The Hot Spot
2. People introduce their acquaintances and contacts. For example, Sid is based in India, so much of his link with the other members of the Hot Spot is virtual. He has introduced Gita and Apurna to the work of the team, and they are also now involved with aspects of it.
3. People volunteer to join. This can be a particularly important part of the development of a Hot Spot. In this case, Jorge, who is based in a research center became so excited about the topic of the Hot Spot that he circulated a note among his graduate students. Two responded (Andreas and Nathaniel), and they are now participants in the Hot Spot—they will contribute what they can and may become more central over time.
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When you want to Glow, these networks and the ideas and goodwill they generate are going to be crucial to you. So you have to become adept at making them work for you. The actions you will examine in the next three chapters will help you make your networks work for you.
Key Points in Chapter Nine
Chocolate Stories and Connecting Different Worlds
You Glow when you have an opportunity to work on exciting projects with people who are very different from you. We began this chapter with a story about how Harry and his colleagues Glowed by being excited about a joint project they were engaged in. Harry and Julie came up with the idea of a chocolate-smelling deodorant spray that became a big hit among teenagers. As they worked with their colleagues, a network of relationships evolved into a Hot Spot of energy and innovation.
The initial network began with Harry and his immediate work colleagues, who over the years had learned to trust and cooperate with each other.
The nascent Hot Spot emerged when Harry met Julie, from a different part of the company. His networks began to change, and two very different groups began to get to know each other.
- People began to jump across worlds.
- The igniting question became a focus of energy.
- The initial network began to expand.
- The network began to draw people in from other countries.
- The network began to extend to people from other communities of practice.
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The Hot Spot came to fruition as the community gained velocity, and the energy it provided spurred people to start innovating and Glowing. At its most energized point, some of the initial relationships grew much stronger, and people increasingly introduced acquaintances to the network.