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Fast Company Editors to Help Booksellers Become Mavericks at Work
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 William C. Taylor  Polly LaBarre |
Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win, coming from William Morrow in September, challenges business as usual. "This is more than a how-to book," write its authors William C. Taylor and Polly LaBarre. "It is also a what-if book."
To gather their useful, and optimistic, findings, Taylor, who is founding editor of Fast Company magazine, and LaBarre, a former editor at the publication, traveled far and wide to discover how innovators and global giants are coming up with new ways to meet the challenges of competition and leadership. "We spend a lot of time in this book looking at mavericks of all sizes, whether it's Southwest Airlines or a tiny gaming company called Cranium," said LaBarre during an interview with BTW. "We find out how each has developed a distinctive sense of purpose and how that translates into a coherent design for its organization."
Taylor and LaBarre, who will present the session "Independent Booksellers as Mavericks" as part of ABA's Day of Education at BookExpo, recently discussed how the various maverick business strategies and philosophies can benefit booksellers.
How can Mavericks at Work help booksellers become more successful?
LaBarre: Let me first say that this book has a very clear definition of success, and I think this tracks back to Bill's and my experiences as magazine editors and having close [dialogue] with our readers for over a decade. And we just didn't talk to the IBMers of the world; we had theater owners, booksellers, people of all stripes.
In the book, we strive to engage the imagination and encourage the reader to think bigger and aim higher when it comes to their work... however big their businesses, however far they reach into the marketplace. That's the spirit of the book.
[As magazine editors] Bill and I really went on this journey of discovery -- two decades for him, a decade for me -- of traveling the world, unearthing the leaders, the wildcards, the mavericks. [For the book] we went very, very deep into a set of organizations, a group of leaders, who are reinventing what it means to be in business today, and inventing a more rewarding, more compelling, and more exciting future for business.... On one hand, it's a very down to earth, low to the ground, steal these ideas kind of book; on the other hand, we call it a how-to book; but it's also a what-if book. We really are intent on restoring the promise of business as a force for good in the world, and we believe that business is too exciting and too important to be left to the dead hand of business as usual.
What were some of the challenges you faced while researching and writing the book?
Taylor: The biggest challenge was figuring out how to overcome the hangover from the scandals, economic setbacks, and the endless supply of bad behavior in business over the last five years. We really believe in the power of business at its best -- the idea that executives and entrepreneurs can create tremendous economic value in the marketplace and build their organizations around values that make them proud. We also believe that there are millions of businesspeople who share that point of view.
But these last five years have been a trying and even depressing time, what with all of the CEO scandals and rampant misbehavior in the executive suite. So our challenge with Mavericks was to discover and learn from a set of characters and a cast of companies whose ideas and techniques could reshape the conversation about business, and get people fired up again about doing things in the right way. We think we've done that, that we've produced a book that is a breath of fresh air for people who love to compete, win, build companies that work, and do work that matters.
What can booksellers do to become or remain competitive in the current retail climate?
Taylor: Booksellers are confronting an extreme version of the overcapacity, oversupply, and sensory overload that afflicts just about every industry -- from automobiles to personal computers, and everything in between. Think of the core strategic challenge: There is an explosion of publishing-related products -- from more and more traditional books every year to the self-publishing boom to blogs, the Internet, and so on. People who love to read have more and more options about what and where to read, so how do booksellers stand out from the crowd, when the crowd gets bigger, better, and louder every year?
To thrive in this era of hyper-competition, booksellers need a distinctive point of view about where their industry can and should be going. Don't ask, "What kinds of books should I sell?" Ask, "What ideas do I stand for: Do I have a point of view about my marketplace that sets me apart from the crowd? I think the most challenging question for any executive or entrepreneur to answer is, "If I went out of business tomorrow, who would really miss me and why?"
If you have a great answer to that question, that means you probably won't go out of business tomorrow!
What sections of Mavericks can benefit booksellers the most?
LaBarre: I'd like to think that it's all relevant, because, if booksellers are individuals who have to get up every morning, get themselves into work, move themselves and their organizations forward in a really competitive marketplace, then I think a lot of it applies to them. But there are two pretty specific arenas that apply directly to booksellers. The first goes back to the basic core argument of the book: When it comes to thriving in a hyper-competitive climate defined by overcapacity, oversupply, and utter sensory overload -- which is certainly the marketplace of books -- the only way to stand out from the crowd is to stand for a truly distinctive set of ideas about where your company or business or industry can and should be going. Basically this is the "aim higher" message.
If you ask Herb Kelleher, founder of Southwest Airlines, what business he's in, he won't tell you he's in the transportation business. He'll tell you he's in the freedom business. Southwest explicitly exists to "democratize the sky." That's the kind of mission as a passenger and as a potential employee that kind of gives you shivers, right? It's compelling. It's bigger than serving peanuts and loading bags. Everything about that company had been built around that core disruptive sense of purpose. That means the lauded business model, the point-to-point no hub and spokes, no-frills service, their famous culture of being fun and having great customer service, stems from that idea of democratizing the skies. They keep things so streamlined because they want to keep their prices low enough so that average folks could afford the luxury to fly, which before was just for people who had a little bit more spare change. That's an example of a distinctive and disruptive sense of purpose.
Meanwhile, Cranium is a company started by two former Microsoft wiz kids who wanted to provide an alternative to an entertainment universe that was full of you're booted off the island, you're the weakest link, etc., and full of basically really unappetizing choices, especially for families. Instead of just having one good idea for a single board game, they [built] a company with a wide-ranging critique of what was wrong with family entertainment and also this unapologetic mission about providing a clear alternative through book publishing, TV shows, and other lines of business they've just entered, now that they've had success with their games. That sense of mission is expressed in beautiful vocabulary; they exist to "lighten and enlighten." They're saying: We want to provide entertainment that provides both a wonderful sense of fun and connection among players, and also which you can learn something from every time you play.
What are maverick entrepreneurs satisfied with? How does this apply to bookselling?
Taylor: Clare Booth Luce wrote, "No good deed goes unpunished." The business version of that aphorism is, "No good deal goes unchallenged."
All of the companies featured in Mavericks have devised intriguing and instructive strategies to overcome the age of overload. These companies operate in vastly different industries and project radically different personalities to the outside world. But one way or another, each of them has figured out how to stop interacting with customers purely (or even primarily) on the basis of dollars-and-cents economic value. Instead, they have encouraged customers to buy into their values, to forge bonds of loyalty and shared identity that help both sides cut through the clutter of the marketplace. To stand out from the crowd, these companies have come to stand for something special in the eyes of their customers.
What are your thoughts on "great deals"?
LaBarre: In this world of better deals, a better deal is just nothing special, let's just say.
We live in a really amazing time. On one hand, it's never been a better time to be a customer. There are literally the best bargains in history available now. Customers are pretty much unmoved by a good deal because everything's cheaper, everything's faster. I still say there's hope because there's always a demand for something distinctive, in this environment of oversupply.
This is where independent booksellers actually have a wonderful edge, because they, by definition, are unique, they can create a special bond with their particular set of customers, they stand for independence, the boutique experience, in a world of mass everything. In fact, they kind of have a leg up.
Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., can exist in a city of Barnes & Nobles. There is an advantage if you have a really clear sense of what you're trying to do and what you stand for. It's not just enough to be small and independent; that's not a virtue in and of itself, but it's certainly not a disadvantage in this world.... I live in Portland, Oregon, part of the year, so, of course, I'm exposed to Powell's, and what I like about Powell's is the sense of discovery and breadth -- that store is really smart about navigation, and I think that's their strength. They have all these windows of entry into the store. For instance, when you walk in and see all the new books, recommended books, magazines -- it's the kind of energy that says, "This is what you should read now." And whenever I'm in Three Lives in Manhattan, I always get recommendations for books to read from the staff, and they've been right 100 percent of the time.
What are key factors booksellers should consider when hiring people, and when training them?
Taylor: Booksellers need to be able to answer these questions:
1. Why should great people join your organization? The best leaders understand that the best rank-and-file performers aren't motivated primarily by money. Great people want to work on exciting projects. Great people want to feel like impact players inside their organizations. Great people want to be surrounded with and challenged by other great people. Put simply, great people want to feel like they're part of something greater than themselves.
2. Do you know a great person when you see one? In other words, at organizations that are serious about competing on talent, who you are as a person is as important as what you know at a moment in time. Character counts for as much as credentials.
3. Can you find great people who aren't looking for you? It's a common-sense insight that's commonly forgotten: The most talented performers tend to be in jobs they like, working with people they enjoy, on projects that keep them challenged. So leaders who are content to fill their organizations with people actively looking for new jobs risk attracting malcontents and mediocre performers. The trick (and the challenge) is to win over so-called "passive" jobseekers -- people who won't work for you unless you work hard to persuade them to join.
4. Does your organization work as distinctively as it competes? It's a simple question with huge implications for productivity and performance. Leaders who are determined to elevate the people factor in business understand that the real work begins once talented people walk through the door. HR maverick John Sullivan says it best: "Stars don't work for idiots." As you fill your organization with stars, it's up to you to keep them aligned -- to master the interaction between stars and systems that defines everyday life at the most effective organizations we've encountered.
What's the most important piece of advice you can offer independent booksellers?
Taylor: My most important piece of advice for independent booksellers is the same advice that Hall of Fame basketball coach Pete Carril used to give to his team.
I was a student at Princeton when Carril was at the top of his game. During his 29-year tenure, Carril's Princeton Tigers regularly squared off against (and often beat) teams whose players were bigger, faster, and more physically gifted than his team. "The strong take from the weak," his coaching mantra went, "but the smart take from the strong."
That slogan captures the competitive spirit at the heart of this book -- and the maverick mindset that guides the companies we visited. We really believe that in business, as in basketball, the smart can take from the strong -- that the best way to out-perform the competition is to out-think the competition.
The book stresses the importance of connecting with customers by offering them clarity.
LaBarre: We spent a lot of time inside organizations big and small who developed not necessarily innovative practices but eye-opening philosophies around how you create that emotional connection with customers. Especially critical is what we call "Strategic Clarity."
There's no better example of a business that has thrived on the basis of simplicity and clarity than craigslist.com. The website, some writer has said, has the visual appeal of a pipe wrench. And that is on purpose. It's on purpose that they are simple, that they're design is simple, that they have thrived by saying, We're not going to compete, we're not going to try to make money off of our customers; we exist to create a place where people can get some value to do some good in the world. They've been very, very clear and simple about this no-frills public service that they provide on the net -- which is filled with overblown claims and intrusive marketing.
Their success, I think, is a lesson for any business that bells and whistles are not what customers want. They want clarity, and that clarity leads to connection. But Craigslist isn't the only model.... The point isn't that one is right and one is wrong. It's that they're distinctive and know whom they're trying to target in terms of customers. They create a strong, meaningful bond with their customers.
It seems booksellers can learn a great deal from other types of businesses and industries.
I'm a huge fan, and always have been, of lateral learning. The value of learning from other industries and other arenas, it's the same in every part of life, is that innovation comes from putting different things together in new combinations, seeing old things in new light. The best way to get fresh eyes as an individual leader or owner of a business is to discover best practices [all over]. Because if you just sit inside your competitive set, and look around the people doing what you're doing, you end up with what we've seen in many industries decades after decades -- the strategy is mimicry, and nobody moves the dime. That's not the maverick idea.
The maverick leaders we talked to say: We don't think about our competitors, we don't spend a lot of time talking about our competitors. We think about our customers. About our mission. About what we're trying to do. We spend a lot of time learning and discovering and going out in the world and traveling. But you know what? We do not sit around having meetings about how we're going to kill the competitor. We have meetings about how we're going to serve the customer.
"Independent Booksellers as Mavericks" will be held on Thursday, May 18, in Room 150B of the Washington Convention Center. --Interviewed by Jeff Perlah