“Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too.”
— Blaise Pascal
A Clear Eye.
Unlocking hearts and minds in the idea economy
“Clarity of mind means clarity of passion, too.”
— Blaise Pascal
Think about it. Isn't a straw a luxury item? You don't need it to drink a milkshake, but it does improve the experience.
Once you finally realize that what you market and sell is a luxury item, you'll start focusing on what matters most to purchasers of luxury items; namely identity and pleasurable experiences.
Otherwise, like it or not, you sell a necessity. And what matters most to purchasers of necessities are saving them time and saving them money. The choice is yours, but you do have to choose. You can't be both.
When great companies like P&G, UPS, Time Warner, Meredith, and others need an entertaining and inspiring speaker to shake up their people, fill them with ideas and charge them with inspiration, who do they call? See for yourself
"All men are mortal, and therefore all men are losers; our profoundest loyalty goes out to the fallible." - John Updike
Updike wrote that in a 1986 Boston Globe article about the Sox, and it remains an important insight today. What makes heroes interesting is not simply their great strengths, but also their weaknesses. People don't expect you or your business to be perfect. They simply want you to be genuine and vulnerable . . . human . . . like them. Right Papelbon?
I leave you, and the Sox 2009 season, with this classic video.
I was perusing the Wall Street Journal at the gym this morning, when I caught myself smirking, shaking my head from side-to-side, and thinking out loud (a few bystanders caught me as well). Maybe it's just me, but have you ever tried to make sense of what's being reported in most business journals?
Demand, Cost Cuts Put Alcoa In Black
According to the WSJ, this provides "a surprisingly upbeat start to the quarterly earnings season," as well as "hinted that the worst of the recession may have passed."
Really? Even though Alcoa revenues are down 33% from the same period a year earlier, and profits down 71%? I don't know, maybe we're all simply using a lot more aluminum foil to wrap leftovers and sandwiches that we now have to bag for work.
Vercase to Shutter Its Japan Stores
"The fashion house said it shuttered its last three stores in Japan because they 'no longer represented the brand image.'"
Huh? What does that even mean? Who creates the brand image? Did the neighborhood go to the dogs? Tell the truth: The people have stopped buying your overpriced, status handbags.
Ford Steps Up Ad Campaign
Starting Monday, Ford is launching a new chapter in its "Drive one" campaign, featuring 15-second spots using real customers talking about the "cool" features of their new Fords. "It's all about what 'real' customers are saying," said Matt VanDyke, Ford's director of marketing communications.
Riiight! Real customers. The ads will even have a "grainy, home-video feel" in order to showcase the testimonials as "believable, honest and authentic." Showcase (def: to show to best advantage)? Why showcase? If you believe in your product, grab a Flip camcorder, randomly stop people who are getting out of a Ford (maybe at a gas station), and ask them what they think. Then post every single one of their video answers online (sortable by vehicle year and type, location, age and gender of driver, etc.).
After 5 Short-Lived Campaigns, Wendy's Will Focus on Freshness
Wendy's, part of Wendy's/Arby's Group, says it plans to spend $75 million in the fourth quarter of 2009 on advertising to "tout the freshness of its food and poke fun at competitors." "One TV ad shows vignettes of fakes, including a man in a bad toupee and a woman dressed as the Statue of Liberty, nestled between images of Wendy's food. A jingle asserts, 'We never freeze 'em like a hockey puck, or keep 'em stuck in a warming tray, like some others may.'"
A jingle asserting freshness. Wow! I'm sold (not). How 'bout telling us that your beef is sourced and inspected, prior to processing, to guarantee that the cows are treated humanely and that the meat is salmonella and E. Coli free? Oh yeah, I get it. It's much cheaper to waste the resources on blah-blah, meaningless jingles.
Qualcomm Unveils Pocket Mobile TV Player
"FLO TV Personal Television, as the product is called, is expected to be offered by retailers this holiday season at a suggested price of $249.99. Qualcomm also will offer its own programming service, with packages expected to cost $5 to $15 a month."
So let's see, I can spend $250 plus a monthly fee to receive who knows what content on another freakin' gadget, or I can buy a Slingbox and download the SlingPlayer Mobile software to my iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm OS, or Symbian smartphone for about the same price and watch the content (which I already pay for) that's available on my home TV? Duh?
Amazon Cuts Price of Kindle E-Reader
Okay, some of the news makes sense. :)
I absolutely love this, because it's so . . . true. I know from experience (some good, some not so good).
Read the rest of the transparent story at this link."What's the difference between strategy and tactics? Age-old question. Usually, strategy is what you said was your plan after you blundered and lucked your way to a win."
During one of yesterday's televised games, the color commentator was asked about a particular NFL team's problem finding its "identity." Here's how he sagaciously replied:
"You find out what works after the first few games, and that's your identity."
To wit, your identity isn't something that you dig up from your past. It's something that you create in the here and now!
According to the most recent American Express Open Small Business Monitor survey (that was a mouthful), 17 percent of small-business owners believe they are at risk of going out of business in the next six months (and that from patently optimistic people). They cite the economy as the reason (no surprise). In addition, close to one third said the recession "has caused them to question their decision to become an entrepreneur."
"The economy." "The recession." "Obama." Whatever? Here's what should have business owners and leaders questioning their business decisions: their intentions and their execution. The days of going into business to making a killing (or simply to make a living) are long, long gone. Today, you do it because you love what you do. And you do it because helping people, making them happy and improving their lives turns you on.
Here's a story that someone recently shared with me. It's long, but an ethnographer's dream (and a cautionary tale for many):
"My day started like any other; I went to the gym and then headed off to the dreaded grocery store to spend yet another few hundred dollars. I approached the pre-made cookie dough aisle and was faced with a dilemma: Do I purchase the Toll House cookie dough, or do I purchase a cookie dough from a virtually unknown company called Immaculate Baking? Sure, the Toll House cookie dough contained preservatives and ingredients I had never heard of before, but the dough was almost $2 less expensive than the dough offered by this strange sounding company called Immaculate Baking.
I was intrigued by the Immaculate Baking packaging because I saw a tag line which read, 'Cookies with a Cause.' I proceeded to read the packaging and discovered that Immaculate makes its cookie dough without using any artificial ingredients, preservatives or trans fats. Also, the company supports the arts, a passion of mine. Sounded good to me, especially given the fact that I'm a Mom and I like to make sure that my three children eat things that are free from most of the junk that is found in many foods products.
I purchased the Immaculate dough, brought it home and baked up some yummy cookies for dessert that evening. Well, the cookies were a hit and I felt good about the fact that I had given my family a dessert which was not loaded with preservatives and artificial colors and flavors!
I decided that I would send a quick email to the Immaculate Baking Company as a means of letting them know just how much I enjoyed their cookies. I sent the email to the company on a Thursday and I received a personalized response the very next day! The woman who responded mentioned how pleased she was that I had enjoyed the cookies and offered to send me a coupon in the mail if I would be kind enough to provide my address.
Long story short, I received a stack of coupons for FREE cookie dough in the mail in a matter of days. And not only did the coupons arrive quickly, but they were sent in a lovely card which was hand-written and addressed to me. Rather impressive service for a small cookie company!
Needless to say, I am a big fan of the Immaculate Baking Company. Not necessarily because their cookies were so tasty, and not necessarily due to the fact that the cookies are free from preservatives. Rather, I am a fan because the company validated me as a person. More importantly, the company treated me as an individual and acknowledged that I have feelings (i.e. the company wished me 'Happy baking with your children' in the card; they acknowledged that I dislike preservatives; etc.).
Now, on the other hand, I purchased some cereal from a company called Me & Goji a couple of months ago, and I was very pleased with the product, the online experience and the shipping time. And I didn't mind paying a ridiculous amount for the cereal (I paid about $25). The Me & Goji company allows customers to make their own cereal online and then the custom made cereal is shipped to the customer.
Being a cereal lover, I was pleased enough with my experience and the product to drop an email to Me & Goji. To this day, I have not heard a word back from Me & Goji. I understand that people are busy and not every company has the luxury of responding specifically to every email that comes their way. However, look at the real difference it can make when a company does take the time to make a customer feel important.
I have no interest in purchasing cereal from Me & Goji again, mostly due to the fact that they ignored me! 'Hey, wait a minute Me & Goji. I spent over $25 on some lousy cereal and you can't even take the time to quickly respond to an email?' Yet, I spend $4 on cookie dough and that company made me feel like a million bucks! It makes me wonder whether Me & Goji really cares about their customers, or whether they have another set of priorities."
This is not a story about customer service, although it could be a story about the perils of technology. Rather, it's a story about intent, strategy, execution, and value. It's a story about expectations and feelings. It's a story about branding.
Yesterday's Money section of USA TODAY featured an interview with Boston Market CEO Lane Cardwell. What I found interesting was that his first response to USA TODAY's marketing reporter Bruce Horovitz's questions could have been ANY CEOs answer today:
Q: Boston Market sounds about as contemporary as Bob's Big Boy. Can you fix that?
A: You're probably right about our image. We have to fix the way people view us.
Q: How?
A: We can carry forward the vision that founder Scott Beck had when he changed the name from Boston Chicken to Boston Market
Q: What's Boston Market's biggest problem?
A: People forget about us.
Q: What's the best way to get people to think of Boston Market?
A: You have to come up with big ideas to let people know you're out there.
Q: Any signs of the recession easing?
A: No. Following the Fourth of July, the whole industry reset downward. … It's not going to get better until people quit reading about people losing jobs.
Q: Any supersecret new products on tap?
A: We need to make sure that we do a better job on the products that we already have.
"The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia." - Elbert Hubbard
I've been doing a lot of traveling of late (probably too much), presenting to some very large and diverse groups. Sometimes I'll begin my talks by displaying an image of footprints in the snow, while recounting a powerful, metaphorical story that goes something like this:
Do you remember when, as a child, you'd wake up to a pristine, snow covered landscape? You'd rush out the door on your way to school, zigging and zagging, pushing and dragging your feet to create a one-of-a-kind path? And invariably, the next kid in the neighborhood would leave his home and follow your crooked path, kicking away more snow on his way. And then the next kid, and the next, until eventually there was a well-worn, precisely defined route all the way to school.
Well, that's what happens with your mind as well. If you think the same thoughts, or preformed the same task over and over again, you will develop a neural pathway in your brain. Like a dry path in wet snow, it becomes a comfortable route; a path of least resistance. To remove this habit or old way of thinking takes a focused effort. It requires that you step out of your rut and get your brain wet, cold and uncomfortable.
The audience members typically nod, signaling their understanding. And then they go right back into their subconscious ruts, rejecting new concepts and rationalizing familiar ones. Men, and women, love inertia. And to my way of thinking, inertia is the silent killer of most businesses and, in some cases, entire industries.
Inertia in business, both up and down the chain of decision-making, is no different than inertia in other aspects of one's life; it has to do with protecting one's identity, immediate self-interest, and interpersonal relationships.
Here are just a few thoughts that form when someone is exposed to a new business concept or idea; albeit most are below people's level of conscious awareness:
I'm sure there are many more (If you have a favorite, post it in the comments). My point is simply this: the main enemy of ideas is not fear of change, but love of the way things are right now. The love of inertia.
Newton's First Law of Motion states that objects in motion tend to remain in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an outside force; objects at rest tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. So if you're stuck, and you know it, your best bet may be to introduce an outside force.
My recent interview with Trey Pennington at BlogTalkRadio:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/connecting/2009/09/22/Social-Media-Professor
"To know and not to do is not to know." - Ancient Chinese saying
How do you know when you're in the presence of genius? You witness a passionate, wide-eyed maniac doing or saying something that looks or sounds a little strange. I've been in the presence of genius. It's impossible to miss. Dictionary.com describes genius this way (note: I've selected the one definition, out of nine, that best suits my rant):
gen·ius [jeen-yuhs] : a person who strongly influences for good or ill the character, conduct, or destiny of a person, place, or thing.
In my mind a genius is someone who "does," not someone who simply thinks. He or she is someone who risks, and not someone who critiques.
A genius is a grade school teacher who stretches the sensibilities and patience of the "system" and inspires her children to greatness.
She's a middle manager who visualizes a radically new process and makes it come to life for the benefit of her customers and her risk averse organization.
A genius is a marketer who says, "Screw the Superbowl ad! Let's take that $2 million and hire one hundered passionate brand advocates to try some new, cool stuff." Do the math.
He's a leader who says, "What corporate doesn't know won't hurt them," and moves forward with a skunk works project that ends up changing the direction, and future, of the company.
Geniuses are misfits. Like a pair of tight fitting pants, they make people uncomfortable. Embrace them. Cherish them. For it is discomfort that inspires change and insight. Insight seldom leads to change. Just ask the overweight, middle aged person who has just experienced a heart attack.
As Oscar Wilde has pointed out, "An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all." And a genius who does not take action in the face of said danger, despite his or her I.Q., is really not worthy of being called a genius.
Stay passionate geniuses! Don't let the masses pull you down. They need you now more than ever, and more than you'll ever know.
Brand is Not a Four-Letter Word
"Tom is timely, thought provoking and all about the new brand vision packaged as a Seinfeld stand up. I went to school on his ideas."
- Jeff Taylor, Founder, Monster.com and CEO, Eons.
(Rest assured, we will never provide your email address to anyone. Period.)
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