Robert Marcovitch, President K2 Skis

by Ryan Hart on November 4, 2009

RobertRobert Marcovitch, President of K2 Skis, spoke at the PLU-State Farm Executive Leadership Series this past week. The 45 minute talk was filled with advice and wisdom for the students professional and personal life.

Here are a few excerpts;

Business is transactional, by people, and based on relationships.

Retail is a problem solving environment, great place to learn, but awful to work in.

An important factor is communication, language is key regardless of how intuitive you are, it is absolutely necessary.

Knowing another language is a huge asset. Learn a language and master commutation, be able to describe something in 5 different ways.

Be smart and use your words intelligently. One of the best weapons we have is spell check, but it can also be your worst enemy.

Even the brightest people have trouble, you have to be able to communicate with anyone and everybody.

It can be frustrating to be at odds and stuck in place. The world is a much easier place to live in if you are in a conversation rather than a pitch.

Communication is a key success factor, tell who you are, what your do and what your after.

Business cards should be your business expense.

Dont get ahead of yourself, don’t read your own press release and believe it.

You must have experience and enthusiasm with a yes attitude. Want to hear “Yes”, second word can be “,but”. A “yes, but” attitude is better than a “no” attitude. Surround yourself with “yes, but” people. Attitude to it is key to everything. Not diminishing busines skills, but go and lead with your face.

It is OK to be aloof, but you better be right 100% of the time, but be wrong and I won’t tolerate it. It is OK to make a fresh pot of coffee and be nice to your coworkers. Just don’t get carried away and be an ass.

Be teachers pet, coworkers will mock you, but let them mock you all the way to the top. Be vertically mobile. Be on the radar, talk to the uppers. The harder you work the luckier you get, is probably the reality to it.

I probably know all the staff around the world, and 70% of their significant others and kids names. Know enough to not dismiss them but don’t get into their lives.

Some people are in a position for a reason. Don’t dismiss them even if they don’t like them. Idiots will be your bosses. Never walk into a meeting without a pad and paper. You would be shocked how good some peoples memories aren’t.

Life is emotional, work is emotional, but the reality of it is it is a working environment. It is not designed as an excel spreadsheet, sometimes you cannot just merge the cells. Compartmentalize your business life. Keep your emotions in balance. Be shallow, buy a BMW to remind you why you choose to slave away at what you do.

I’m certain… there is not greater joy than when challenged with your ethics to be able to push them back in their seats.

Don’t misrepresent yourself, people are comfortable with questions, no share in asking once or twice, go back and get it. Surround yourself with really smart people who you can learn from.

Job interviews are a terrible process, you don’t know if you had been lied to or if the company has been lied to…. be willing to take a pay cut, don’t expect to get rich in the first hour and a half, separate price from pride.

Don’t start hating something until you have put an honest effort into it. Don’t commit (mental hospital) until you commit (put the work in).

If you are going to get into something stick with it for at least 3 years; one year to learn it, one year to practice it, and one year to hit a home run.

Don’t mix passion for a product or activity with the job at hand. Have the clarity of mind and a clear head to separate “church” from “state”. Drink the cool-aid but don’t get drunk on it.

When I think of an MBA I think of accuracy and timeliness, there is plenty of sloppiness out there, I figure if you made it this far it is because you have those traits. Exceed expectations 110% of the time. An MBA does not always help you because the expectations can be greater.

To the financial people in the room, don’t just know the #’s, understand the. In addition to quantitative, also, understand the qualitative side of things. Don’t rely on data, 1+1 might be 2 today, but not always tomorrow.

You have time, late blooming flowers are just as pretty as the ones in the spring. Make yourself valuable to yourself, continue your education, broaden your horizons; learn, admit you don’t know it all, there are so many people you can learn form all the time.

Get it right fast 80% of the time and you’ll be 150% ahead of the people who wait for it to be 100% right to act. Wait and someone else will beat you to and idea or market. Time is not on your side.

Know who you are, what you want, and what your limitations are, otherwise you will drive your self crazy. But most of important you have to know who you are. Be straight with people, don’t be in denial or evasive.

A consultant means you are unemployed and looking for a job. I am afraid of them, because if I have to call in a consultant means there is a problem on the inside of my company I am out of control to fix.

People ask me how many days I ski a year. I used to be ashamed of how few, but I have come to grips with the reality. I am like a doctor who doesn’t like to operate on holiday. I ski about 10 times a year. I constantly am calling the office… why do we do this… or why don’t we do that?

Sports is a business first and a passion second. Run a business like it is your own. Take your responsibilities seriously to the company seriously. Don’t think the world owes you a living, don’t think the corporation owes you a living, run the business like it is yours. You control your own destiny, I love when people tell me something is impossible.

In todays day and age be efficient, it is easy to waste money, everything is money. I am debt and inventory adverse, but I have to be willing to take chances. Focus on your needs not your wants. “When the Queen of England is on your money… it is hard to make a buck.”

My role in a company is like a middle reliever in baseball, right between a starting pitcher and a closer. I am not an entrepreneur or a closer, I specializing in turning around a business that is down a few runs and is losing money. I love to facilitate people who love what they do. My role in a company is like a windshield on a car, I lead the way but am not a moving part.

We have 15 brands, commodities, 30 companies in 65 countries.
I prefer premium brands in niche markets. I set the brand and the company to be autonomous, I consider myself to be a brand portfolio manager. When I buy a company and the two companies merge, bring things together intelligently, and be careful of synergies. Don’t merge the two companies and sell 1 of the 2 copy machines. The line will be twice as long and if it goes down it compromises both companies.

Remember, there are no short cuts. [click to continue…]

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The Starbuck Experience

The Starbuck Experience

Starbucks does not sell coffee. Starbucks sells the experience. They carefully craft an atmosphere engineered by their corporate brand guru’s. Notice how there are always two employees focused on your order. The first barista yells the order to the second who makes as much noice as possible steaming and preparing the coffee. It doesn’t matter how bad the coffee is because Starbucks actually has very little to do with coffee.

Starbucks sells their coffee for $4.00, but they also provide their patrons with a warm atmosphere, hip music, and the luxury of wireless Internet access and in doing so, they create a meeting place. People will pay for the atmosphere—the experience—the opportunity to belong to a cool culture.

-kellyg

Key Takeaway: Worry less about your product/service and more about the experience.

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