Coloring Outside the Lines

Speaking at the recent Mortgage Bankers Association of America annual conference in San Diego, Jeff Tobe gave his presentation, Coloring Outside the Lines: Business Thoughts on Creativity, Marketing and Sales.

“The changes you’re going through in the industry do not feel comfortable,” he said. “That’s my job — get you outside your comfort zone — looking at things differently.”

The colorful speaker cited a Southern Methodist University study in 1988 which he said concluded the mortgage business went through a major change every three years. He said that an updated study in 2002 found major changes were occurring in the industry every eleven months.

He noted that one of his goals for the session was to send audience members back to weed out activities at their respective organizations that are performed for no other reason than habit.

As an exercise in changing habit, Tobe asked the afternoon audience members to move their time pieces from one wrist to the other, and leave it there for the day. He pointed out that while the change may not have felt comfortable, the exercise got the participants outside their comfort zones. Tobe noted that it takes 21 days to change a habit, and if audience members left their watch on the other wrist for this period — “it would start to feel comfortable.”

Tobe, who reportedly garners $5,000 to $10,000 per speaking engagement, emphasized the need to use natural creativity as a competitive advantage. “The need to shatter old models of doing business is crucial.”

While Tobe said many people think creativity is only associated with the fine arts, “creativity in a business sense is simply a questioning process. It’s looking at something differently than anybody else.”

And it’s fun — leading to more job enjoyment and success — according to Tobe, who described numerous real-life family situations in his presentation.

It’s “a different perspective of the exact same situation; that’s what creativity is all about in business,” the Pennsylvania-based author said. “If you see the world through your customer’s eyes, you’ll see the way your customer buys.”

Tobe described his Alternative Solution Kit, also known as ASK. “When you know you’ve got the right answer, are you willing to step back and say ‘there’s got to be a second right answer?'”

The Harvey Principal, which Tobe said he based on a movie where a character played by Jimmy Stewart is committed to a mental institution because he claims he can see a 6-foot white rabbit, says that “we have to learn to see the invisible; to see the invisible opportunities where other people see only physical limitations.”

Tobe said “you’re well on your way to being far more creative” if a number of symptoms are arrested as soon as encountered in the organization or the persons themselves.

He listed the first symptom as not being willing to step back and see the big picture because of too much focus internally. It may be necessary to look to other companies — and even other industries for solutions.

Ostrich Syndrome was the next symptom he described. “In this business they bury their heads in the sand and pretend that change is not happening all around them.”

The following symptom covered was Hardening of The Attitudes. “We’ve never done that before. You can’t do that here.”

The final symptom was what he called Expertitis; when one knows “so much about something nobody can tell you anything new.” Tobe said he learned two things about being creative from baseball. Number one, “it takes a lot of misses before you get the hit you’re looking for. And number two, you have to be willing to get up to bat every single time.” Near the end of the session, To be asked, “are you where the lending profession is, or are you where it is going to be?”

Jeff Tobe