Concrete Covina

Ken Gilman is not a shill

Last week Fin O'Neil - 8 months old as CEO of Reynolds & Reynolds - rolled out his newly chisled growth strategy to an audience of wall street analysts at the Reynolds Analyst day. Go here to listen - and if you care about technology in Automotive retail you should.

In what I think was a rare move - with some risk - Fin invited Ken Gilman, CEO of Asbury Automotive Group to present his/Asbury's view of the marketplace as part two of the presentations offered up in in their analyst day event.  After listening to both presentations - I can say with certainty that Ken Gilman is not a shill.

Why?  Well - first, Asbury is public and so Ken Gilman was hobbled by the fact he was speaking publicly and had to be "straight" with his view of the marketplace from his perspective (for all the reasons in today's market - a CEO of a public company must be).  Second - although I suspect that Ken and Fin are good friends (how else does this sort of thing happen?) and this was somehow favor-based in orchestration - Ken didn't sing just a Reynolds song during his presentation or during his Q&A. 

In fact - I think Ken was fair and balanced and objective despite the "pro-Reynolds" nature of his involvement.  And in doing and being so - I think he helped Reynolds and Fin's cause more than he could have hurt it if he had shown up and talked up Reynolds as thought it were the end all be all...

I'm a fan of unfiltered information.  And Fin inviting Ken to present - I imagine unfilted and uncoached - created a scenario that had some associated risk.  In fact - if you listen to Ken present - especially the Q&A session, you'll hear many pro-Reynolds comments but you will also hear some  commentary that is not only negative regarding Reynolds and how it operates in the marketplace today but commentary that is negative to the very reason for the gathering itself - negative to the strategy that Fin rolled out not a couple hours earlier.

So - my hat's off to Fin and to Ken for doing something rare and risky ...

Mistaken Attribution and the self correcting process

Are you guilty of mistaken attribution? 

I’m not sure why but I see mistaken attribution a lot more lately.  

“Mistaken Attribution” is my term for a behavior seen in some folks where they “mistakenly attribute” someone else’s' hard work and success and claim it for their own.  It's more than plagiarism (worse) because it isn’t an action or condition the afflicted typically try to hide.  Somehow stealing and showing it - is worse then just stealing.

Come to think of it, to suggest it is hidden is wrong.  Mistaken Attribution is usually in your face and it's almost always rude.  Mistaken Attribution is always obnoxious and it is always short-sighted.  It is - most certainly - a behavior based on weakness and ignorance.

I see it around.  More lately.

In an operating business, you see it in people that work for a company that once was great. 

The once great company got there because others worked really hard and worked very smart to get it there. 

But often the once great company is no longer great.  Sometimes it is struggling or worse, failing.  In these company's I'd guess that new folks have joined the business and they somehow have mistakenly attributed the number one position their company enjoys (or used to enjoy) to their own mediocre efforts.  And so the demise begins.

To say nothing of not working hard, these folks often drop humility and general polite behavior and before you can say “Wal-Mart” – poison their once-great company by treating everyone with an imperialistic air that would make the Queen of England flinch.

Short Google when you call them and the new guy acts like his BS from State is the same as Sergey's PhD.

If you’re an entrepreneur and your company has enjoyed some success - look for and root out mistaken attribution.  It will kill your good thing.

In the venture capital profession you see it displayed by some associates or junior partners or non-founding partners.

They are usually the ones who have yet to materially achieve or materially return anything but somehow, someway it has seeped into their grey-matter brain-bucket that the great things, great accomplishments, impact returns their partners achieved - have somehow, someway become a part of their own accomplishments, and their own success. 

They act without humility, grace or the minimum politeness.  They mistakenly attribute to themselves others real world experience, real world return and in the process fail before they have  begun.

Brad Feld called out once his appreciation for "the law of self-correcting process".  Does it apply here?