This Is How The Future of Retail Looks

February 15, 2012 Leave a Comment

 

Totally inspired by 718 Cyclery.  This is what the future of the retail business looks like. A rock solid understanding of their purpose: “we build bikes with people.” Total collaboration on the end product that takes place both within the shop and then via online file sharing. An environment that allows consumers to completely connect with the product they are purchasing, in this case by actually playing a role in its assembly.

People want to be involved in the process of understanding and making the things they purchase. Bruce Nussbaum has recently begun calling this movement “indie capitalism” and 718C fits beautifully within his description of being a locally-minded social businesses that builds community and places a heightened focus on materials, value creation and the sharing of information.  But, it’s really just the result of the very reason owner, Joe, began the business in the first place: to reconnect with humanity.

The key fundamental truth about human behavior here is that we need to be able to exercise our ability to shape and change our world, in tangible ways, especially as more of us transition into the knowledge economy, where our contributions to the world cannot be easily touched or felt.  In this case, people are playing a role in the design and fabrication of a mode of transportation.  It’s fulfilling something very real by giving them ownership over the product their purchasing while forming connections through the process.

Filed under Brands, Business, Culture

Expanding Our Definition of the Artist

February 14, 2012 Leave a Comment

[Full disclaimer: I wrote this post over a year ago on another blog, and just had to re-post.  It's still fresh, timely, and of the utmost importance for individuals and brands to fully realize.  Enjoy and comment if you feel so inclined.]

I recently had the pleasure of reading Seth Godin’s newest book, Linchpin and I must say, it was a worthwhile read.  The premise of the book is that our economy is changing to reflect a marketplace in which goods can no longer be made smaller, cheaper and more efficiently (we’ve maxed this out).  Rather, what today’s consumer is more interested in is products, services and brands that are extraordinarily unique, and help them to portray the complex story of their lives as they ideally see it playing out.  As a result, Seth argues that those workers (in any industry) who are capable of producing new ideas and ways of doing things are the individuals who are most likely to become ‘linchpins’ or indispensable employees in their own company.

The book then goes on to explain how a linchpin must think and act in her given field, as well as the obstacles that she can expect to encounter.  Overall, Godin’s Linchpin can best be described as motivating, remind us all that we have a responsibility to go into our jobs ready to produce new ideas, services and ways of getting things done, all things that Seth describes as ‘art’.

This brings me to the topic of this post.  The most inspiring and beneficial chapter of the book is rather inaptly called, “Is it Possible to do Hard Work in a Cubicle?”.  The chapter successfully urges us to consider that, as Roy Simmons put it, “most artists can’t draw”.  More specifically creating great art isn’t really about drawing, painting or sculpting.  It’s about paving new ground, by doing, thinking or producing something “that resonates with the viewer, not just the creator”.  Being an artist is about developing insight and being brave enough to communicate it to the world, without concern over how it will be received.

When we start to open up these terms, we naturally begin to feel a sense of responsibility to produce art, regardless of our specialty.  However, doing so requires us to overcome what Seth and others before him deem to be ‘the resistance’, otherwise known as fear – fear of being rejected, fired, laughed at or otherwise failing at life.

If fear can be overcome then we become free to produce beautiful art, that extends beyond the visual, taking on the power to change it’s recipient for the better.  Many of you may be thinking that there isn’t room for this in your job, and I would argue against that.  Being an artist can be as simple as being the catalyst in a successful brainstorm session or finding a more efficient system for completing expense reports on time or mentoring a new employee as they learn the ropes at a new company – all actions that have the capacity to change an individual or organization for the better (the true essence of artwork).

Seth carefully goes on to point out that there is no map or set of directions for becoming an artist.  Some are born with the creative fire inside themselves, others must learn to cultivate it.  But, as our increasingly divergent culture continues to infiltrate every aspect of commerce, those individuals who produce art in their own right, will be the most highly valued, the most likely to succeed and (in my opinion) the most fulfilled.

[Photo by: Christophe Kiciak]

Filed under Art, Business, Culture, Ideas

Your Healthy Diet of Content

January 16, 2012 Leave a Comment

I talked about Todd Henry’s, Accidental Creative in a post about defining your work style not that long ago.  Having completed the book, I am now going back to indentify the areas in my own creative, strategic and on-going learning process that need the most work.

A section that I found to be particularly useful was Henry’s chapter on “Stimuli”. It goes about the way you’d expect. You are what you consume.  If you read and watch garbage, your mind will be filled with the same.

So, given the overwhelming flow of fantastic books, articles, blog posts and research studies baiting the curious mind, how do we sift through it all to ensure optimal inspiration and benefit across a variety of disciplines, relevant both to our professional and personal interests? Furthermore, how do knowledge workers consume the material that will benefit them the most at solving the critical problems they’re faced with everyday?

Ultimately we’re looking to expand the mental framework with which we use to understand and interpret the world. So, as Henry points out, make the box bigger, and you’ll be more likely to synthesize information from disparate reaches of our world in your own problem solving.

Henry offers some helpful recommendations which I’ll supplement with some of what I’ve come across during my own research and personal experience.

First, what’s the basic blocking and tackling you need to do to stay up to date in your field?  Henry refers to this as the mental vegetables in your content diet. These are the websites, magazines and writers that you need to be following weekly or even daily to ensure you’ve got all the information you need. For me, being a strategist in marketing, these are sites like PSFK, Harvard Business Review, Ad Age, Mashable, etc.  This should account for around 25% of your reading.

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Filed under Behavior, Business, Ideas

Key Tech Trends for 2012

January 12, 2012 Leave a Comment

frog design published a nice piece two days ago on their blog, compiling the thoughts of many of their top creatives, strategists and executives regarding key technology trends for the coming year.  Few firms have the credibility right now of frog, so I encourage you to head on over and read the post in it’s entirety.  A few of the trends they identified stand out as being particularly salient for businesses and agencies, across a variety of specialties, so I’ll summarize and build-on a few here.

Many theorists speculated that our sense of “Place” would diminish in significance with the rise of digital technologies, however, as many of the trends tip toe around, “Place” has never been more important. Cities are obviously in vogue (perhaps permanently) and our digital devices make unlocking their ultimate potential more accessible than ever. Innovations that expand the connection between our digital device and the physical space will continue to grow faster than we can imagine.

As Ficklin, Tuttle and Richardson attest, the computing experience will continue to become more personal or “human” as it were.  The obvious developments from 2011, as they identify were Apple’s Siri and Ford’s Microsoft Sync, both imperfect in many ways but no less, important steps in the development of a more sensitive interaction between human and computer.

One trend of particular interest, is Thomas Sutton’s identification of the Quantified Self.  Made possible by data aggregation platforms that will couple information from technologies like Nike+ and Jawbone’s Up band, providing users with a more integrated understanding of things like their overall health, in this case, further enabling insights and suggestions that are more and more specific, nuanced and in turn useful.

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Filed under Business, Design, Marketing, Strategy

A Word On Presenting Your Ideas

November 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

During a pitch yesterday to a prospective client, it dawned on me how crucial it is to present ideas or opinions in a) compelling, b) organized and c) digestible ways.  All too often we come up with great solutions, that fall flat when our enthusiasm prevents us from sharing them in a logical and emotionally-compelling fashion.

While, an entire book could be written on this topic (and many have, including the hugely popular Made To Stick, by the Heath Brothers, which I haven’t read) this is a blog and so I’ll share a quick series of questions that will help to organize how you present ideas in the future.  But, in reality, it’s not any more complicated than this.

  1. What’s the insight, reality, or problem that your solution or idea is addressing? This will prepare the listener for what they’re about to hear, while providing the reasoning and background behind your thinking.
  2. What’s the idea? This should be a short, emotionally-charged summary that takes no more than a few sentences.  People’s attention spans are short, so this explanation should follow suit.
  3. How will it work? This is where you can dive a little deeper into not just the ‘how’ behind implementing or bringing the idea to life, but also expand on some of the details regarding what the idea or solution actually is.  It’s never a good idea to go into too much depth during your initial explanation, where the purpose is to generate excitement and create a sense of possibility.  Instead, if possible, address the nuances and finer details here.
  4. What will the result be? After expounding on the details, it’s always a good idea to bring your listener back to the end result or that sense of possibility.  In my case, at a marketing agency, it’s often about the potential that an idea holds for the brand on a larger scale.

The best pitches, regardless of how planned or even informal they may be, will simultaneously strive to appeal to the listener’s emotional and rational minds.  And, don’t be mistaken, this format doesn’t just apply to presenting ideas in the traditional corporate sense.  They can be used when asking for a raise at work, making a statement at a PTA meeting, or just trying to convince someone of your point of view.

Filed under Business, Ideas, Marketing, Strategy

LivePhish.com: A Case Study in Building Community

November 6, 2011 Leave a Comment

Most don’t know this, but Phish has one of the most active and passionate communities of fans, not just among bands, but also brands in the world.  How did it all begin? Jam bands, dating back to the Grateful Dead have always been defined by the constantly changing and unpredictable nature of their live performances.  Simply put, it wasn’t the records they periodically produced, it was going to see them live that made these bands and the genre what it is today.  A mainstay of this culture involved fans recording live shows and sharing them with friends, a practice that has been going on for decades.

In the 80s, these individuals became known as “Tapers.”  An entire subculture emerged of people who traveled to concerts to record them, share them and trade them with friends.  Naturally, this made a deeper analysis of each performance possible, while generating social groups that revolved around this discovery and learning process.  Eventually, this ability to more attentively listen to and discuss the music of these bands coupled with the always evolving nature of their performances, grew into a more rabid and loyal fan base.

So, after looking at this history, one that many brands would salivate at the prospect of having as their roots, musicians and bands in more mainstream genres still don’t seem to understand the power that experience holds in developing active online communities of fans. So, I chose the band Phish to show how these powerful sub-cultures harnessed by a sound digital strategy has been turned into not just a revenue source, but a means of constantly fueling support and loyalty for the music itself.

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Filed under Brands, Business, Marketing, Media, Strategy, Uncategorized

Occupationalist.org

October 30, 2011 Leave a Comment

With well over a month of protesting under it’s belt, the Occupy Movement doesn’t seem to be losing steam.  Protestors, originally labeled by the media as disorganized, extremists without a clear objective are starting to show some wherewithal.  Make no mistake, the Occupy Movement is far from making any tangible strides towards narrowing the growing inequality gap between citizens and the omnipotent banks that control our country.  The U.S. now ranks 4th in the world in income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient.

The movement’s objective?

#OWS is fighting back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process, and the role of Wall Street in creating an economic collapse that has caused the greatest recession in generations. The movement is inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Spain, Greece, Italy and the UK, and aims to expose how the richest 1% of people who are writing the rules of the global economy are imposing an agenda of neoliberalism and economic inequality that is foreclosing our future. (via OccupyWallStreet.org)

As great as this sounds, if the Occupy Movement is going to create any tangible benefits for America’s working class, it has to start getting clear on it’s list of demands.  Mike Taibbi, contributing editor for Rolling Stone, has been doing a tremendous job of covering the events and takes a solid crack at a top 5 list of demands.

Anyway, there’s a lot happening out there everyday and even more misinformation making it’s way through both traditional and nontraditional news sources.  However, this week a collaboration between The FearLess Revolution and Boulder Digital Works resulted in the creation of Occupationalist.org, an impartial, real-time view of the Occupy Wall Street movement as told through a multitude of sources.  The site features tons of constantly updating content including posts from the deeply moving Tumblr, “We Are The 99%” as well as Twitter conversations broken down by city, news, photo and video feeds, enough information to ensure that any reader is able to form an independent and unbiased opinion about the events as they unfold.

Filed under Business, Culture, Ideas, Media

What Steve Jobs Knew About Philosophy, Business and Life

October 10, 2011 Leave a Comment

I wasn’t going to write a Steve Jobs post, but here we are.

Between Friday and today, adWeek has published two really insightful posts about Apple’s philosophy, approach to business and the marketing of that business. I’d just like to pull a key pieces for all the agency folks and entrepreneurs out there to keep in mind.

First, Jobs knew that the best way to move culture forward was to create superior products. Not just products that seemed superior, or undercut the competitor on price, but products that allowed (and continue to allow) us to be the people we aspire to be.  That was the truth that Apple sold and it’s the reason you continue to purchase from them.

In short, their unmatched beauty and performance gives you the freedom to become that next greatest version of yourself.  Make no mistake, you aren’t really buying a tablet, you’re buying an unwavering philosophy built on the premise that you have the ability to forge your own path, creating new wonders for the world at large.  You aren’t buying technology, you’re buying a way of living.  Few publicly traded companies could say this about their products.

So, that’s today’s post in a nutshell, with a bit of my personal take, but what about the agency relationship between Jobs and Lee Clow (Creative Director of TBWA)?

The post on Friday, which maybe should have come second, includes a paraphrase from Jobs about Lee Clow’s strength as a Creative Driector:

Clow’s fundamental strength was that he “looks at Apple from his heart,” Jobs said, “and this gives him the ability to see us as we should be, to see us as we have trouble seeing ourselves sometimes. And to remind us who we are when we are tempted by compromise or shortcuts.

I love this as I think it encapsulates the best of what our industry can deliver it’s clients. In this rapidly evolving world, rife with more technology and communication points than we can possibly ever use, it’s never been more important to serve clients as a guiding light that keeps them laser focused on who they are and what they stand for.  Designing campaigns around the best of what our clients can be (or have been) will yield far greater results than planting ourselves firmly in reality.

Here’s to you, Steve (cheesy, dated photo omitted)!

 

Filed under Business, Culture, Marketing, Strategy

Drifters, Drivers and Developers: What Kind Of Worker Are You?

September 22, 2011 1 Comment

So, I’m reading Todd Henry’s, The Accidental Creative, which is a book for anyone who must come up with creative and novel solutions to problems in their field on a never-ending basis.  The challenge we face in this position is the need to constantly be inventive and brilliant, amidst an increasingly distracting and chaotic world.  Henry, in his book identifies many of the problems holding us back from reaching our maximum potential and then proposes a series of principles to live by that will allow us to create effectively amidst the turmoil.

The piece I stumbled upon yesterday, pertains to identifying how you tend to operate or work at you job.  Henry breaks these tendencies into 3 main types, which I’ll describe:

Drifter: this individual goes with the wind, working on whatever they feel like in a given moment.  Easily distracted and operating often in very shallow levels of thought, due to their distraction.  Finishing projects is challenging and are often put off until the last possible moment.  The scattered nature of this type’s work can lack purpose because they are missing a systematic and organized approach.  This isn’t to say these people aren’t productive, it just means there missing some critical components to be maximally effective.

Driver: this person is almost the opposite of the Drifter, as they are overly focused on outcomes.  They naturally break projects down into their smallest component parts, in order to complete the work as effectively as possible.  These individuals are propelled by checking off their to-do lists.  While they are incredibly skilled at reaching their objectives efficiently, their rigid systems for accomplishing work, narrow their focus to a point that causes them to miss key opportunities.  Henry says it best that Drivers “are too microscopically focused on the objective and are often reluctant to redirect their energy when new opportunities emerge in the course of their work.”

Developer: this type contains the best of both the driver and the drifter and represents what we strive for in our creative processes.  The developer is extremely clear on the objectives before undertaking a project, but is capable of pulling back and refining their course as new information and insights become available.  They are able to become hyper-focused at the ground level when it’s time to complete the real ‘work’, but periodically zoom out to higher altitudes to look for new opportunities, insights and areas of synthesis.  Because of their flexibility, Developers, are most likely to experience moments of creative insight.

I found this to be extremely helpful as I often find myself bordering on the Drifter type, checking my Twitter feed, reading blogs, jumping back into actual work, checking my phone.  I very frequently move from one task to the next without any rhyme or reason to the progression.  That being said, it would be reductionistic to say that we are only one type.  Obviously different tasks, challenges and environments will elicit different behaviors, but being aware of these types can help you to become more aware of how your behaviors may be helping or hurting you.

Image via Simple Square blog

Filed under Behavior, Business, Ideas, Strategy

Designing a Better Business with Cooperative Systems

September 12, 2011 Leave a Comment

The case for creating more cooperative and altruistic business environments is an easy one to make.  In the modern organization where projects are constantly beginning and ending, and individuals’ workloads are difficult to define and constantly fluctuating, being able to develop an environment that promotes cooperative behavior can quickly return on the investment.

Until recently, we, with the help of evolutionary biologists have been under the impression that humans are inherently selfish.  Flashback to Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan or Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and even though they differ slightly, they reach the same conclusion, that humans are inherently selfish. Certainly in 2008 with the collapse of the financial markets, prompted by the behavior of investment bankers, continuing today with the American political system led by politicians who leave no question that re-election is the only real concern, it’s a tough pill to swallow that humans could possibly contain even an iota of altriusm or conscientiousness for their common man.

However, if we step back we realize that corporate and political systems are based on the assumption that human beings are selfish and need to be controlled with punishments or similarly motivated with promise of financial gain. When we being to see this, it becomes easier to see that these systems create conditions that force or provoke humans to act in selfish ways. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?

In the last decade, however, multi-discplinary studies spanning, evolutionary biology, genetics, psychology, economics and political science are beginning to prove, through an enormous body of evidence that the issue is obviously not black or white. Humans are not either altruistic or selfish, they are both, depending on a wide variety of conditions. And, furthermore, if systems are put in place that presume or promote unselfish behavior and create conditions that allow it to flourish, there’s no guessing what our societies could be capable of.

So, cutting to the chase, how do we design coorporative systems (in this case within businesses) that are easy to maintain but that create conditions that will allow businesses to increase profits and employee satisfaction (a logical byproduct or altruism) to soar?  Good question. Here’s an initial framework, borrowed from the work of Yochai Benkler, a Harvard Law Professor and author of The Unselfish Gene, a post which inspired this piece:

Communication: a cooperative environment hinges on open communication, as it predicates trust and empathy. Businesses should strive to develop as much transparency within their organization as possible. The days of closed door meetings and murky corporate strategies are over. As millennials take their places in the work force transparency will be a requirement.

Morality: Clearly defined corporate values set a precedence amongst employees for what constitutes acceptable behavior. Cooperative systems are based on the notion that people would rather follow social norms than obey rules. Simply put, people want to do what’s normal.  So, set the “norm” on an aspirational, but attainable plane.

Rewards: Material payoffs are the gold-standard for incentivizing higher performance, however research is beginning to show that this can significantly hinder altruistic or pro-social behavior. Focusing on appealing to people’s intrinsic motivations, by making the business social, autonomous, rewarding and fun will yield far greater results. Think about it: hand someone a gift card for a job well-done or present them with the opportunity to lead a team that investigates and evolves your process.

Reputation / Reciprocity: constructing systems that have participants dependent on one-another for success will have a much greater likelihood of yielding better results, as shown by project-to-project team-based models.

Research by Peter Senge on Learning Organizations has much to lend this as well, but that’s another post.  In summary, industrial area organizational models are ineffectual at fostering environments capable of competing with today’s challenges and needs for innovation. People who are focused on individual payouts aren’t intrinsically motivated to create, learn, experiment and cooperate with their peers in pursuit of a clearly defined goal for which they feel an emotional connection.

 

Filed under Business, Culture, Strategy

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