Ask Questions – You May Uncover More Than the Answers

 

 

I have a new employee who is doing a wonderful job picking up all the nuances of advancing music talent for a cruise ship, which if you don’t know, can be quite intimidating. This is because, in addition to the regular parts of advancing a band for the stage, we also have to deal with the complex intricacies of moving talent around the planet. We constantly navigate the challenges of passports, visas, and the border agents of multiple sovereign nations. If that isn’t enough, we have to follow the rules and document policies set forth by the vessel to make sure our talent can board without issue. In short, it is a lot to learn… especially for someone brand new so it is no surprise that my new employee has a LOT of questions.

 

About a week into our time together, she began apologizing for all her inquiries. She was relieved that I didn’t consider her questions an imposition and quite surprised that I saw them as a blessing in disguise. You see, I (and most of my team) have been on auto-pilot for the past year or so. We have fallen into a nice groove and business has been operating rather smoothly. It wasn’t until our newbie started asking questions that I realized things weren’t operating as smoothly as we thought. Her questions poked holes in our processes. They revealed areas of opportunity to tighten up our operations, streamline our workflow, and make our lives easier in the long run. I went on to explain that with her being new to the game. It gave us an “in” to ask questions across the various departments with which we collaborate. If I, someone with four years in the company, ask a question. I would likely get a less in-depth answer from the recipient. Similarly, if I, a leader in the company, asked a coordinator a question. That person may be hesitant to give me the real story of how things go down “in the trenches.”  Now, if a new person reaches out to those same individuals. They will likely get much more elaborate answers because people love to help. They may also get more truthful answers about how the process is “actually” being done. Both of these responses help us find gaps in our process and are perhaps more valuable than the question itself.

 

One of the greatest minds to ever walk the planet – Marcus Aurelius explained in Meditations. There is nothing so bad that we can’t make some good out of it. We can treat every problem as an opportunity to practice virtue.  While he was focused more on doing the right thing when faced with challenges, the lesson can also be applied to many of life’s everyday moments including one where a new employee is trying to learn their job. Sure, they are facing the “problem” of learning how business is handled but they also hold the “opportunity” to turn that same problem into a grand benefit for the collective whole of the company.

 

So, “YES!”  Ask questions. Not only do you learn by getting your questions answered. The educator is forced to explain the process and in doing so. They will likely learn something as well.

 

 

Micromanagers Kill the Future of a Company

 

Micromanaging is one of those business buzzwords. I would say we collectively agree it is a bad thing. Ask anyone if they are a micromanager and they will likely say “Not me.” Yet, the internet is loaded with article after article on the subject mostly focused on how it impacts the employee… but what about the leader?  Is micromanaging bad for the ones engaging in micromanagement?

 

The short answer is “yes.”

 

I have worked under my fair share of micromanagers and non-microleaders alike. Theoretically, I researched a pile of case studies in Grad school on companies that failed due to the phenomenon. So, today. I want to explain why this practice is also terrible for the leader. To help illustrate this point, I would like to share the infamous four quadrants from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – an awesome read any business-minded person should digest.

 

Stephen Covey Quadrants from his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

 

If you are a leader, you want to live in Quadrant Two (or as I tell my team “I live in the future.”) This isn’t an excuse to get out of the daily grind of work so you can daydream about where the company will go and how rich it will make you. No… no… this is the key to long-term success. To illustrate, let’s say it is only me (the awesome leader) and my employees.  We both know we do not want to exist in Q4. We also know that Q3 is a cost of doing business in any work environment where there are distractions galore (have you used Slack?) so we accept it but try to mitigate living there as much as we can. My goal as the leader is to exist in Q4 and I want my employee to exist, as much as possible, in Q3. With that, we create a nice Venn Diagram.

 

Leadership Venn Diagram Using The Four Quadrants.

 

 

With this, we see that the employee is living in the “present” and I am living in the “future.” The overlap represents how we combine to propel the organization forward. I lean into the present to support my employee, learn from their pain points, and capture what they do well. My employee leans into the future to help me establish long-term solutions to our collective challenges. If we maintain this relationship, we will ultimately chip away at many of the issues that create crises and pressing problems in the short term and as such we will see fewer and fewer daily fires over time. This will free up the employee to take on more beneficial work for the company while also allowing the leader more time to focus on big-picture items like capital acquisition, strategy, and partnership building. All items that grow businesses exponentially.

 

Here’s the kicker. This rarely can be done if the leader is a micromanager because when you micromanage. You choose to live in Q3 with your employee. You have abandoned the long view of the business and this creates a snowball problem. Those daily fires continue to burn because nobody is focusing on how to extinguish them at the source. The leader now has less time to focus on the future and finds themself setting up camp in Q3 to solve these daily problems. Likely asking themselves why their employee can’t get it right. The immediate problems persist, but now, with the leader evicted from Q4, the macro-strategy of the business begins to suffer and before too long it is left with both long-term and short-term problems and a future in jeopardy.

 

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Numbers: The Arch-Enemy of Feelings

 

 

I currently manage the entire music program for a global brand. As part of my duties, I am responsible for the direction of background music creation for over 30,000 tracks that are cycled monthly across our properties. These tracks are organized in playlists that fire throughout the day to support the experience of each venue. On occasion, we have customers complain that the music is wrong, they would rather hear “their” favorite tunes, etc.

 

… and this is where the fun starts.

 

In an experience-based business, employees can become overzealous in meeting the needs of each and every customer, and with that, they occasionally make a decision to impact one customer without thinking about the others in the group. This is where math helps us find an answer.

 

I was recently in a packed venue of 300 plus. I watched as one customer approached the host demanding they turn the music down “now.” I chose this time to sit back and watch what would unfold. The host turned down the music for this one customer and almost immediately the vibe died. Butts stopped moving in seats and people (including staff) who were dancing around stopped. I decided to step in and offered my take. I started by asking the host how many people were in the room, which was 300. I then explained that we just adjusted the music for less than 1% of the population. You could see the lightbulb go off in their head.

 

Unfortunately, this happens far too often. Especially in service-based businesses where we are bombarded with the famous “the customer is always right” mantra. In all honesty, that phrase should be “the customer(s) are always right.” Very few of us work in a 1-1 business. More often we work in a 1-many business. Adjusting your business or experience because one person screams the loudest is not a good course of action. Sure, you should weigh their opinion. Even share it with the team afterward for review. However, for every one person complaining. There is likely one who is happy, which was the case in my example where shortly afterward another customer walked up and asked us to turn the music up.

 

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The Concert Ticketing Theta Paradox

 

When you break them down to their basic economic form, concert tickets are just like stocks – a limited commodity that can be traded based on the perceived worth of the market. This phenomenon has become much more apparent after the industry was shuttered for two years thanks to COVID.  Some fans who had purchased seats for a reasonable price (when the market was flooded with options) and sat on those tickets have watched their values go through the roof.  For example, my mom had purchased three seats in the nosebleeds (200 section) to see Elton John at the Amway Center in Orlando over two years ago for just under $400.  She decided to sit on those tickets and when I wanted to join my family for the show a few months prior to curtains, a single ticket cost more than what she paid for three.  I guess you would say the price – tripled.

 

We all know that because there are only “X” amount of seats for a show demand easily takes over price. Scalpers certainly get it and have made a fortune off that supply/demand misbalance for years. This practice has received a steroid shot thanks to technology.  Today’s scalpers use everything from technology-backed brute force to gobble up blocks of tickets to machine learning algorithms that automatically price, buy, hold, and sell tickets. This has increased the speed at which tickets can be turned over and with that, the price usually goes up.

 

Interestingly, similar technology is used in the stock market. Bots and electronic funds transfers allow companies to price, hold, and sell ownership of publically traded companies at blazing speed. Research into stock pricing will reveal that much of this action is the result of consumer behavior. Digital tools such as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) is used to gauge the momentum of a stock while the MACD tells us in which direction the price is likely to go.  Oscillators, moving averages, and overall technical analysis are all used to tell Skynet when to buy or sell stocks. The one thing nearly all of these equations and the technology that fuels them share is they are built on how consumers collectively behave as the availability (or perceived availability) of a commodity changes. The same thing happens with concerts. Ultimately, the price of an event is dictated by how much a cluster of consumers is willing to pay to get in a show.

 

Unlike traditional stocks which can last into infinity if the company stays afloat. Concerts and events have a limited shelf life and as that performance gets closer time becomes a problem.  Once again, we find a similarity between the stock market and the ticket market. This time it comes in the form of options trading.

 

In its simplest form, options trading gives the buyer the “option” to purchase “X” amount of shares of a company before a pre-determined date. The buyer pays a premium for this benefit. For instance, if John thinks Widget Inc’s stocks, currently trading at $50 per share, will trade at $100 per share in two months. He gives his broker a fee (let’s say $200 in this case) for the “option” to buy those stocks anytime between today and a pre-set day two months from now for $50 per share. If the stocks jump to $100 a share, John can execute his option and double his money. However, if that date arrives and John does not execute his option. He will lose the $200 he paid. The impact of that elapsed time is measured by Theta in options trading and it plays a very important role in how premiums are priced.

 

Theta also exists in the ticketing world but it is widely dependent on consumer demand on a show-by-show basis.  If that demand is huge (say a superstar’s farewell performance), Theta can mean more profit for the re-seller. In some instances, it can even push the demand curve straight up as the strike (event) date approaches. Consequently, if that demand is weak, it can reduce the profit for the re-seller, sometimes to the point of a loss if they are afraid the tickets won’t sell before the date and become worthless. After all, it is best to make some money than no money… right?

 

This can be beneficial for fans who live near a venue. For instance, I live just fifteen minutes from where Elton played here in Orlando and I watched ticket prices daily. Roughly two days before the show, I was able to secure amazing floor seats for the single price of one of my mom’s nosebleed seats when she bought them pre-pandemic.

 

The thing to keep in mind is that just like stocks/ options the concept of time until the show represents an inherent risk to your ticket price. If you want to attend that special event, it is typically best to buy tickets as close to their initial sale date as possible (being a member of a fan club can be worth its weight in gold for times like these). Otherwise, you will likely enter the ticketing options game where Theta could become your best friend or worse enemy.

 

Raise The Roof And Get It Down

 

While launching our first ship, I was tasked with leading the build of a concert stage and roof for our fly-on act – 80’s New Wave icons ABC Band with Martin Fry.

 

Orchestrating the build of a stage and roof on land is a challenge in and of itself. Many elements come into play. You have to consider space and show needs, budget, safely rigging the structure, and the logistics of moving people and equipment to meet those demands in a typically very tight timeline. Now, imagine trying to accomplish all of those things on a brand new cruise ship launched by a brand new company in a foreign port during the tail-end of a pandemic.

 

I started by investigating the location of the concert and met with our local riggers as well as rigging consultants to see if we could raise a structure ourselves using points on the pool deck.  Unfortunately, the tie-offs couldn’t bear the weight leaving us with the only option of erecting a conventional truss structure and flying a roof with ballast support. This led to new challenges.  We couldn’t float safely with a temporary stage on deck 15 and we had no place to stow it at sea, so the roof needed to be loaded, built, derigged, and offloaded before we set sail. Getting the stage components to deck 15 posed its own challenge. Tight corridors and elevators that are just shy of 1M x 2M left us to cap components sizes, find an alternative to heavy stone ballasts and required a whole lot of travel through the vessel. This concerned our deck department who insisted that all parts be craned on and off to prevent damage to the interior of the ship.

 

Craning a stage onto a cruise ship.

Building a stage on a cruise ship.

Building a stage on a cruise ship.

Cruise ship concert with stage.

Craning a stage off a cruise ship

 

This raised new logistical challenges.  First, we had to investigate pushing the ship’s departure back with the captain, company, and port by at least four hours to meet our project timeline. For those that don’t know. This is not a rubber-stamp request as tides, weather, and port traffic all impact when ships can come and go from the dock. Second, we had to meet with the port agents and a local craning company to discuss crane positioning, the load, lift, and do a risk assessment. All of these items required a sign-off by the captain, company, port, stage, and crane companies before we could move forward.

 

As these clarences moved through their proper channels, other show logistical pieces needed to be handled. The transportation of backline gear to the port, to the ship at dock, through the provision door, and up to deck 15 before the show had unique challenges. We needed to create a timeline to connect those outside the ship (stevedores, port security, etc.) with those inside the vessel (clearance officer, hotel department, technicians, etc.) to move the items from land to the vessel. We then needed to get clearance for backline vehicles and drivers to enter the port and approach Scarlet Lady at the dock.

 

Further security clearance and COVID testing needed to be orchestrated for all individuals boarding the vessel including stage riggers, crane spotters, the band, and their entourage. Inside Scarlet, multiple departments were brought into the project. The deck department to assist with clearing the stage area, helping us protect the deck, filling and draining water ballasts, and roping off safe zones for craning. Security, the clearance officer, hotel department, and ship doctor were prepped for the arrival of local labor, and screening equipment being craned and forklifted onto the vessel. Catering and rider requirements were organized with food and beverage. Sailor Services and crew engagement were briefed on the project to make customers and crew aware of the day’s activities, itinerary changes, and safe areas during crane movement. Accounting was informed of cost centers for each piece of the build. Finally, the technical team briefed on the backline gear, stage set-up, and how to integrate their technical needs with onboard equipment.

 

Due to weather patterns, we didn’t receive the official “green light” to proceed until 24-hours before the concert date, but our teams were ready thanks to over-preparedness.  The crane was in place as the ship docked that morning. However, a miscommunication led to a two-hour delay in getting items lifted onto the ship. Despite this challenge, the build continued moving forward safely and on-the-fly schedule changes led to us falling only twenty minutes behind for our backline load goal and eventually one hour ahead for a completed soundcheck.

 

The show was great. The artists were happy, the organizers thrilled, and excited fans were jumping in the pool during the encore. However, with nowhere to go after the show cruise ship guests remained near the stage as the house lights came on. With time working against us, we went into crowd control mode. I asked FOH to turn off all music and to bring on the brightest white lights we had to demonstrate the show as over to lingering fans. I then used polite, yet assertive, communication to push patrons close to the stage back as technicians roped off the area to create a safe workspace for teardown.  The roofing company began embarking the vessel as local labor pushed road cases back down to the provisioning door. Within minutes, they began tearing down the stage as myself and the deck team roped off safe areas on Decks 16, 15, and 7 for crane operations. The entire derig operation was so efficient that we had craned off the last pieces of stage safely nearly two hours ahead of our load-out end time.

 

This 22 hour marathon day was nearly two months in the making and a huge team effort thanks to our Virgin Voyages team, our friends at the Portsmouth Port, CPS Staging, Imagine Cruising, the band, and their management teams. It was a remarkable undertaking for a new ship under a new brand operating in a foreign market and everyone should be proud of their contributions.  ?