A Look Inside the Mind of a Lego Genius

Last week, I pointed out a video of Nathan Sawaya, a former lawyer in New York who quit his job (and six-figure salary) to become a Lego artist. In 2004, he won Lego's nationwide search for a Master Model Builder, and he now builds commissioned pieces for celebrities like Conan O'Brien and entities such as the New York Public Library.

We recently took the family to see an exhibit of Sawaya's work. It is amazing what you can do with 1.5 million Legos and enough creativity. One thing that I liked about his approach ... he carries a sketch pad with him everywhere so he can jot down ideas whenever they strike! It is a simple and solid idea that we should all employ.

Sawaya has several recurring themes, including the notion of people breaking through the mundane to discover their full potential. Creativity and the power of the human mind also play major roles in his work.

The Lego artist's story, along with his work, brings to mind  the mantra of Wake Forest University's Schools of Business under the leadership of Dean Steve Reinemund: People need to discover their passion and "find their fire" when it comes to pursuing their life's work.

Sawaya has two studios: one in New York and the other in Los Angeles. Each studio houses millions of Lego blocks in assorted colors. Sawaya builds 2D pieces that double as wall art and 3D pieces that look like they could have been created by a three-dimensional printer.

During our tour, we were told that Sawaya does not get any discounts from Lego for his block purchases.

I found that surprising. Lego should find a way to collaborate with Sawaya. Can you imagine the money to be made if they could agree on a licensing deal where Lego gave Sawaya free or discounted blocks in exchange for the rights to market miniature versions of his pieces?

They could either be kits, with smaller Legos to accommodate scale, or molded sculptures to resemble his work.

The photos were taken at the Graham Public Library and Children's Museum in Graham, N.C.

Think Twice Before Reneging on Your Internship

BusinessWeek recently put out an article looking at how business schools are cracking down on students

By Paul Davis

who accept, then back out of, internships. These relationships are critical to MBA programs and administrators are mindful of how reneging on internships can impact a school's reputation.

The publication highlighted an case at Georgia Tech, where two students reneged on their initial internships when better opportunities surfaced. BusinessWeek notes that the students were barred from career services and can no longer meet with career advisers or on-campus recruiters.

Georgia Tech isn't the only business school program that has taken a hard-line stance on internship defectors.

• At Harvard, students who back out of an internship run the risk of losing access to career services and permanent loss of alumni privileges, including reunions.
• MIT's Sloan School of Management also has a policy that can strip a student of recruiting privileges if he or she welshes after accepting a job.
• Wharton has a tough policy that requires you to meet with a member of the school's career management advisory staff even if you are simply thinking about reneging on an accepted offer. "Our goal is not to prevent students from making optimal career choices," the school's policy states. "But rather to counsel students on the handling of this difficult situation to help them minimize the negative impact of their decision."
• Finally, Columbia makes it clear that students who renege must undergo the Dean's Disciplinary Process, where consequences range from receiving a warning to dismissal from the school.

Lessons From a Lego Guru

The other day, I received an email with a video of Nathan Sawaya, a former corporate lawyer who quit his job to focus exclusively on playing with Legos. Playing is quite an exaggeration ... Sawaya has his own website and creates amazing brick sculptures from a variety of businesses, nonprofits and celebrities. His work is on display at museums.

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In the following video, he discusses his transition, sharing some sound advice for people who want to abandon their routine and alter the trajectory of their careers. His talk ties in nicely with a blog from a couple of years ago that covered a talk from a high-ranking Lego executive at Wake Forest University.

Sawaya's talk is part of an 11-minute video that is well worth watching:

How Jim Early Realized His Passion for Barbecue

I love to hear stories about people who, over time, discover a way to devote the time and effort necessary to fully realize the potential behind their passions. I recently posted a couple of blogs about Nathan Sawata, a former corporate attorney who abandoned his profession to pursue a career (and lifestyle) as a Lego sculptor. You can revisit my posts on Sawata, and watch a speech he gave, here ... and here.

Earlier today, I had the pleasure of listening to another former lawyer, Jim Early, discuss how he eventually left his law practice after 40+ years to devote his life to cooking. More specifically, he commits his time to promoting barbecue (or barbeque or BBQ, depending on where you're from).

Photo: www.jimearly.com

In a nutshell, Early decided around 2000 to research the art of barbecue in North Carolina. He would work 16-hour days Monday through Thursday as a trial attorney, then ride off in his Blazer in search of BBQ joints across the state. Over seven months in 2001, he drove 22,000 miles, ate at nearly 230 barbecue restaurants (both East and West styles) and invested more than 4,000 hours writing a book on the business.

Early had a great observation from his travels, which included every county in the state. He would start every Friday morning finding people and asking them where they went to go eat barbecue. What did he find? That most of the spots had horrible food. Early, an experienced attorney, realized that he was asked people the wrong question.

As it turned out, many people sent him to the closest restaurant ... or the cheapest because that was what they had the time or money to invest in dining. So he quickly changed his question, asking people where they would go to eat BBQ if they were celebrating a special occasion, such as a birthday. The results were much more reliable after that.

Amazing how your results can vary, and your projects can falter or fail, if you are asking people the wrong questions. This is applicable in so many areas: marketing, sales, R&D.

I am also quick to seize on stories that help me better understand various business, so I paid extra attention when Early discussed what it takes for a barbecue shack to produce authentic pit-cooked BBQ. Of the 228 places he ate, only 30 actually used a fire pit to prepare their barbecue (though many tried to give the appearance that they did).

Why did only 13% of the barbecue shacks in the sample use pits to cook? Look no further than costs and liability. According to Early, it can take up to four years to train a pitmaster (the person who oversees the cooking) and then you have to pay them. Restaurateurs also have to buy costly chimney filtration systems, clean up ash regularly and carry extra insurance for pit-cooked BBQ.

So Early found that a number of places would advertise pit-cooked but would actually just toss a little pork fat on an otherwise dormant pit to throw off an "authentic" smell. "Things aren't always what they seem," he said.

Let's go back to the topic of passion. About five years after researching and writing his book, Early took the initiative to form the North Carolina Barbecue Society. Less than a year later, seeing a need for the fledgling group, he quit his law practice after 43 years to devote full-time attention to the society.

These types of stories are encouraging for me as I look to pursue other passions, whether it is blogging and social media or my fledgling interest in beer brewing (which I hope to write more about as I learn more and make my first batch). It is certainly worth everyone's time to regularly evaluate their careers and assess whether their current trajectory is in line with their passions!

Marketing College to Millennials: Our Poll Results

Paul Davis

We conducted a short survey a few weeks ago designed to determine who has the greatest influence over a prospective student's choice of college or university. Many participants asked us to share our findings.

We have developed a marketing product for colleges and universities, designed to provide an edge when recruiting the best and the brightest prospects. We began with an understanding that students, particularly Millennials, want sincerity and credibility from those who promote academic institutions. These prospects are, by nature, skeptical of a traditional "pitch" by admissions staff and internal marketing teams.

We needed to conduct research to support those views. The data we have collected support that premise.

Our first chart shows preferences for obtaining scholastic information. Nearly 45% of respondents said they wanted to receive information from current students and/or alumni. Other traditional sources of information, such as admissions departments (23%) and marketing teams (3%) proved to be less relevant to the decision making process.

To obtain greater insight, we also asked respondents to tell us which group would have the most credibility. The results were more pronounced; more than half of the participants endorsed the credibility of current/past students. Staff in admissions (15%) and marketing (2%) trailed significantly.

So what's next? We have developed a process that leverages a university's most underutilized marketing asset: students. We recruit, train and oversee an autonomous team of student bloggers who, in turn, chronicle their educational experiences. Our independence from the university allows us to provide an unfiltered look at college life in a way that develops bonds with prospects and establishes credibility with recruits.

We can work with your university or college admissions staff to develop goals and objectives, along with metrics and targets to gauge our progress.

Our system has a proven track record. We have written a number of blogs highlighting how we developed a student-run social media platform at the Wake Forest University Schools of Business. Another related blog can be found here.

In 2009, we built a series of social media communities for Wake Forest. Within three years, the student-run blog had generated more than 40,000 page views, while the Twitter feed amassed 2,000 followers. TopMBA.com recognized our Twitter account as "a highly entertaining feed that gives great info about the [Wake Forest] MBA program and latest alumni news."

Our Facebook group collected more than 1,000 members - in the first six weeks. We also handled social media for two annual events that generated more than 100,000 page views.

We are excited to discuss ways that we can provide similar exposure for your university. We also offer similar programs for businesses and nonprofits, with services ranging from consultation to day-to-day oversight of a social media strategy. We can also research and develop a social media platform tailored to your needs.

For more information, contact us at (336) 852-9496 or email at pdavis0001@hotmail.com.

A Study in Unintended Consequences

Photo: www.news-record.com

When considering change, it is always a good idea to think ahead and properly game plan for any unintended consequences.

I noticed an interesting article in the local newspaper this morning. The Greensboro City Council is considering a plan to rename a long section of highway, changing what is now High Point Road and Lee Street to the more uniform Gate City Boulevard. Council voted 5-3 for the change, though another vote is scheduled for next week.

At first look, it seems to make sense because the corridor unexpectedly changes names near the Greensboro Coliseum. One minute you are driving on High Point Road and then, boom, you suddenly find yourself on Lee Street. The corridor also has a long history of impoverishment and crime. For instance, the city worked hard for years to remove the less than reputable 'saunas and spas' that were dotted along Lee Street just outside of downtown.

But the proposed named change will reportedly cost taxpayers $130,000, which is basically the expected cost that the city and state would incur to change street signs in the area. That issue alone is sure to rankle folks who advocate fiscal responsibility from government officials.

The unintended consequence involves business owners with stores and shops along the corridor. According to the article, more than 2,000 people signed a petition fighting the proposed name change. Their argument: it could cost individual business owners thousands of dollars to change their own signs, business cards and other location markers. Good point.

City council, I believe, failed to appropriately anticipate this backlash. But what they have done differently?

A decision tree would have been a good place to start. The city manager should have sat down with city council and mapped out the groups that would have been impacted by the proposal, branch out various reactions, and developed a proactive strategy for addressing each outcome. Perhaps city officials could have met with those 2,000 petitioners, or set up a meeting with the man behind the petition, to discuss risks and returns.

Maybe this actually took place ... the article makes no mention of outreach. But it is an excellent cautionary tale for people who are running businesses, planning new ventures or just want to relate better to others. Game plan. Look at possible outcomes. Prepare accordingly.

Hiring Outsiders to Run Family Owned Businesses

www.gmb.com.ph

I just read a nice column by Henry Hutcheson that ran in the Charlotte Observer, looking at when it is appropriate to hire an outsider to run a family owned business.

Hutcheson knows his stuff; he runs his own website that provides advice to family owned companies and his a member of the family that owns the Olan Mills photography business.

The column shares a number of useful tips that family members should consider before bringing on an outside executive:

• Hold a family meeting to discuss the potential hiring
• Reach an understanding on the type of individual who would best fit with the business ... and the family
• Accept that it will cost more to hire an outsider
• The goal for hiring an outsider: boost business in the near term and buy time to weigh options (including a sale) in the long term

Again, you can read the entire column here.