I've been "The Idea Guy" for quite a long time. It's been my official (and unofficial) title at any number of jobs I've had through the years. The cool thing about the designation was that it was created and bestowed upon me by my clients. If the Queen of England knighted me tomorrow, I don't think I'd feel quite as honored as the first time a customer of mine called me The Idea Guy (though it would be waaay cool to be "SIR Idea Guy!")
Recently I have embraced a new title that I will wear just as proudly:
Director of Results
This new title (while not replacing my beloved DTIG mantle) certainly sums up my focus over the past four years working in Radio -- to use Radio (traditional media) with the Internet (new media) in order to create integrated marketing campaigns that create (you guessed it!) RESULTS.
With shrinking marketing budgets and emerging technologies that seem to change the game every other day of the week (and twice on Sundays) advertisers are finally focusing on the results they receive from the money they formerly shoveled into advertising that provided promises (if very little proof) of building their business. The cliche says "Half of my advertising works -- the problem is, I don't know which half" is no longer acceptable. Campaigns blithely labeled as "branding" or "awareness" are being abandoned in exchange for campaigns that can show measured increases in consumer action.
Thus, I launch a new DTIG brand -- Don Snyder, Director of Results.
Before the marketers among you scream "brand extension" or proclaim the weakening of The Idea Guy brand with this new upstart name, consider that "ideas" are simply that -- raw concepts that people and companies can either choose to enact or ignore. It's pure creativity without a plan of action. "Results" are what happen on the other side of the equation. Once you begin to evaluate which ideas to activate, you start to understand that different ideas will take you to different destinations. Knowing where you want to end-up (the results you want to achieve) will help you decide which ideas to act upon and which ideas to ignore.
As Stephen Covey wrote in his 7-Habits "Begin with the end in mind." As Lewis Carroll wrote in Alice in Wonderland "If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." The Director of Results assists clients in defining a reasonable outcome (desired destination) from their marketing efforts, and plotting a course on how to reach their goal as efficiently (and with as much measured success) as possible.
One of the ways I'll be providing assistance as the DoR is through a new blog at www.DirectorOfResults.com and a companion Twitter account (@resultsdirector.) We've already had our first DoR seminar for Radio station clients on the topic of social media, and we'll be planning more events and the release of additional ideas and information as time goes on. You can check out the slide deck from the social media seminar at the new website.
I am really excited about this new project and I invite you along for the ride!
I mean, don't get me wrong... I read a lot of books (a LOT of books!) but I know I've sort of slacked off in the last year or two and should have polished off twice as many as I actually managed to complete. I developed a bad habit of buying every book that seemed like it might be good, added it to a stack, started reading 2 or 3 of them at a time and then I'd abandon them for the next set of cool books I bought and didn't end up going back to finish most of them.
To better help me keep track of my progress, I created a new Shelfari account (see the bookshelf style widget that appears below each post in the blog) and I will only add books to the shelf if I've read them or am in the process of reading them. As of today's 2010 relaunch of the shelf, I have several books on the list. Lest you think it's impossible that I polished off six books on the very day I started, I wanted to provide an explanation.
1. 100-Whats of Creativity Hey, it's MY book. I could hardly leave it off the list, right? Plus, it's one of the books intended to be referred to as-needed. It's a constant resource for my own brainstorming and idea generation efforts. I heartily recommend (even if I do say so myself!)
2. Napoleon Hill's Positive Action Plan This is a book with 365 daily doses of positive attitude and ideas for self-improvement. I've been reading one entry per day and repeating the process for the last four years. It's my positive attitude ritual. I read an entry every morning while brushing my teeth. Refreshing my mind and I freshen my breath.
3. Warrior of the Light This is another one of those "daily dose" books I've found. While not exactly broken down into 365 entries, I read a random page every evening before going to sleep. It's by Paulo Coelho and reminds me of bit of Sun Tzu's Art of War. Very instrospective passages that make me think strategically about my actions and attitude. This will be the second or third year I've spread out it's reading over 12 months.
4. Think and Grow Rich I actually started listening to the unabridged audio version during my daily commute at the end of last year. The final CD wasn't completed until January, and I thought it an appropriate bridge into 2010, so I'm counting it as a book read for this year (yes, audio books will qualify as books I've "read" in 2010 -- why wouldn't they?)
5. What Would Google Do No explanation really required on this one -- it's the first official book to be read in the new year.
6. You, Inc. Ditto... except it will be the first full audio book in the new year.
When all is said and done, I hope to average about two or three books per month in 2010. If you're intrigued by any of the books I recommend, I hope you'll purchase it through one the blog links or embedded widgets. I'm a member of Amazon and other affiliate programs and they'll toss me a few cents if you buy a copy -- hey, somebody has to help pay for all these damn books!!! ;)
Obviously I'm kidding, but I poke fun because this is THE most common question I get. I figure this must be what it's like for magicians who get asked how they perform a trick. It's been a challenge to try and define just how I do seem to be able to "out ideate" most other folks. Here are a few of the truths I managed to arrive at on this topic.
1. I come up with more good ideas because I come up with more bad ideas I ran across this quote by Linus Pauling early on in my life and fully believed it: "The best way to come up with a good idea is to come up with a lot of ideas." It's purely a numbers game. If I come up with more ideas (bad ideas, crazy ideas, old ideas, new ideas, outrageous ideas, safe ideas, dangerous ideas, half-baked ideas, out of this world ideas, scary ideas, unreasonable ideas, any and all kinds of ideas) than other people, I will also come up with more good ideas than other people.
2. I make room for more ideas Most people can come up with one or two ideas that they think are really, really good. I mean, they absolutely feel this is a "gonna make me rich, rich, rich" idea. Or, they have the opposite problem -- they get these ideas that they feel are below average, they don't really stand out, probably already been thought-up by someone else, etc. The problem is, that in both cases the individual expends incredible amounts of mental energy either trying to retain their brilliant idea, or the less-than-brilliant idea swims around in their head as they try and come up with something more clever. The solution to either of these situations is the same -- record the idea on paper (in some sort of permanent idea journal) so the brain knows the idea has been safely tucked away for future reference, and free up your mental matter so it can expend energy on coming up with the NEXT idea.
3. I constantly fuel my brain If you're going to treat your brain as an engine, you have to make sure it has premium fuel to burn when you step on the gas pedal. I read books, magazines, blogs, comic books, etc. constantly on the widest variety of subjects. I watch tv, movies -- all genres. I listen to music (again all genres), visit art museums, the ballet, stare at stars, do crossword puzzles, play video games, write business articles, write fictional short stories, keep a journal, sketch and doodle, go to comedy clubs, attend seminars, speak at seminars, drive the long way to work, find short cuts home from work, go to the zoo, visit coffee shops, try new restaurants, ride a motorcycle, play golf, darts, billiards, and passionate conversations (and sometimes arguments!) with friends, and probably fifty other things that I can't even recall right this second.
The really important thing is that while I am feeding my brain all of these experiences, my radar is always "up" to draw a parallel or find a metaphor that matches whatever projects or problems I may be working at the time. The rest of the information simply gets stored into my mental database, so that it can be called upon whenever I have need new ideas.
One example is mindmapping. This creative technique especially helps me when preparing for public presentations. It allows me to find the most important points to hit within my topic and creates natural segues between important points.
The scan of the mindmap in this post is the original brainstorm for a presentation to The Ohio State University's American Marketing Association. I decided to speak on the current general status of traditional marketing and then delve into some tips for creating and promoting a personal brand.
I've been reading Jeffrey Gitomer's articles and books for close to 20 years. He was the first guy I ever saw who put together lists of advice and tips that ended in "point-five" -- 9.5 Ways To Do This, 3.5 Reasons For That, etc.
I met Scott "That Name Tag Guy" Ginsberg just a couple years ago. Scott ends his articles and online videos with "Let Me Ask Ya This..."
Although I count myself as a fan of these two writers, I never stopped to really delve into the reasons their writing just seemed to hit home with me. It wasn't until re-reading Gitomer's "Little Green Book of Getting Your Way" for the 3th time (actually I was listening to the audio version for the 5th time -- nothing like having Gitomer with you on your daily commute giving you valuable advice on your way to work) when I realized there was a real strategy behind his "point-five" lists (actually, I didn't realize all by myself, he pretty much spells it out -- I just happened to really "hear" it fr the frst time. See why you're supposed to read/listen to these sorts of books more than once??)
Gitomer creates useful numbered lists of tips and advice, but then adds his unique "point-five" as a way to -- well, let me just use Jeffrey's own words. From page 170 in his The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way...
I end my lists with .5 rather than a whole number, for 2.5 reasons: 1. The .5 statement at the end of each list I make is the glue that binds the rest of the list.
2. Ending this way makes me think deeper about the subjetc. Think of a higher level. Here's where I can add philosophy, humor, challenge, and a final call to action.
2.5 It makes my lists different from all other lists. It brands me and sets me apart from all other list makers (except for the few that copy me).
Pretty good idea, eh? Although I didn't ask for personal confirmation, my guess is that Scott Ginsberg ends with his "Let Me Ask Ya This..." for similar reasons. His final question is always a call back to the information he's shared in the article and a chance for the reader to think a little more deeply about how the information might apply to them personally. More recently Scott has begun adding a second line: "Let Me Suggest This..." This new line is always accompanied by a simple call to action -- usually an invitation to request a free list from Scott via email that builds on the topic addressed in the article.
It finally "clicks" for me. If it's good enough for Aesop (that guy who wrote all those ancient parables that our parents used to read to us as kids) to add a moral at the ends of all his stories, why shouldn't I?
From now on, I will endeavor to add my own bit of parting wisdom (such as it is) to the end of my blog posts and articles. Since I am such a big fan of questions that lead to increasing the elevel of creative thought, it seemed only natural that my end-cap should be a question, and my all-time favorite question has always been "What-if?" (you really should have seen this coming, after all -- I did write the book.) So here we go... the legendary moment...!
What If...? What if you found a better way to do things? Would you do have the guts to admit you may have been doing it wrong all these years and make the change to improve?
What if you came up with your own unique signature way to end your messages? Your letters? Your emails? Your Facebook posts?
You've heard the theory of The Long Tail, here's my twist -- The STRONG Tail.
The Long Tail explained, per Wikipedia:
The Long Tail is a retailing concept describing the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities -- usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities. The concept was popularised by Chris Anderson in an October 2004 Wired magazine article, in which he mentioned Amazon.com and Netflix as examples of businesses applying this strategy. Anderson elaborated the Long Tail concept in his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More.
The Long Tail is thusly named because when charted, these smaller sales of a large number of items trails off into the distance like the long sloping tail of some prehistoric beast.
Keep this concept in the back of your mind as I tell you about another Wired writer's thought provoking concept of "1,000 True Fans." Kevin Kelly is the co-founder of Wired, and posits this theory:
A creator, such as an artist, musician, photographer, craftsperson, performer, animator, designer, videomaker, or author -- in other words, anyone producing works of art -- needs to acquire only 1,000 True Fans to make a living.
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.
A solid concept. I loved this idea as soon as I heard it. The theory rings true, because I know that I AM one of those 1,000 fans for a number of performers and writers (Hi Gitomer!) The 1,000 True Fans theory also fits nicely into the Long Tail continuum.
Which brings us my theory of The Strong Tail The Strong Tail begins to form at the very end of The Long Tail. It's made up of the amazing small quantity of super-fans who are willing to pay a premium for access to your product/service/presence. There are only a few of them, but they are willing to open their wallets wide for access to exclusive items.
If The Long Tail was represented by the tail of a Brontosaurus/Apatosaurus, The Strong Tail is represented by the tail of a Stegosaurus. It has the long sloping tail of the former thunder lizard, but the latter's tail culminates in a set of spikes that reach upwards to match most of the overall tail height.
These 'spikes' are investments in rare one-of-a-kind signed editions, original art, limited edition prints, private performances, one-on-one consulting and conversations. These items come at the end of The Long Tail because there are very few of the items available, but the price to own these items (and the passionate people who must possess them) drives the profit on these rare items higher up the chart.
Instead of 1,000 True Fans -- you may only need three of them to pay you for individual consulting advice. You may only need two of these people willing to pay you $50,000 each for a private corporate seminar. Or you may only need a single individual to shell out $100,000 for an original painting.
That's The Strong Tail What do you think of this newest adaptation? Please leave a comment below!
Author's note regarding the prior inclusion (now removed) of Seth Godin's First Ten concept... Good feedback from my friend @morningtoast convinced me that including First Ten in the Long Tail chart was a bit confusing and didn't really conform to the core concept because Seth was talking about winning your first 10 fans and riding their positive word of mouth to higher popularity and sales -- make it run a reverse course on the Tail. I see what he means, and although I feel Godin's First Ten is a cousin to the Long Tail, it made the chart a bit confusing to navigate and may have served to obfuscate the explanation of my Strong Tail concept -- which was the whole point of this post in the first place.
Ideas that don't make the people sitting around the presentation table shift in their seats and give each other furtive sideways glances are a complete waste of time.
The best ideas are a little frightening. The big ideas make people nervous. The nice, safe, user-friendly ideas have already been thought of and put into action by your competition. If it were easy, everyone else would already be doing it.
The concepts that make you work a little harder, learn a little more, and force you outside your comfort zone are the ones that deliver the best results and reach new heights (and new customers) that you never knew existed.
It's good to feel a little fear. It's exciting... Heart racing, blood pumping, and those hairs at the base of your neck standing on-end.
Goosebumps let you know you're on to a great idea.
Creative commands for your mental keyboard, programmed to increase your effectiveness at innovation.
1. HOME Do not underestimate the importance of a home base from which to create ideas. A favorite space that fosters your creative spirit and surrounds you with resources to feed your innovative energy. Windows, posters, books on creativity, fun games and toys, etc. can all serve to spark your creativity and give you 'permission' to free your spirit of innovation.
2. ESC The Escape Key helps you think outside the box. Get out of your cube, office, or boardroom. Escape to a park or coffeeshop or amusement park. Have your brainstorm session at the zoo or a pub or putt-putt course. Your ideas will be bigger, better, and a helluva lot more fun.
3. INSERT What outside ideas, influences, and opinions can you introduce into your brainstorm session? What does skateboarding have in common with your situation? What similarities can you find between the ballet and opening your new bakery? Can you come up with a metaphor that connects owning a pet with building your sales of propane and propane accessories?
4. SHIFT Shift gears, change focus, and reframe your problem. Rephrasing your challenge using different words will also change the kinds of ideas you're generating. Shifting your perception of the problem -- coming up with ideas on 'how to earn more money' versus 'how do we spend less money' allows new ideas to emerge.
5. BACKSPACE Take a step back and review the ideas you've already generated. Perhaps you'll have to hit the Backspace key several times. If you find that you're creating ideas to solve the wrong problem, you may need to go back and start your list of ideas from the very beginning.
6. CAPS LOCK Get excited... ALL CAPS CAN INDICATE SHOUTING! Amp-up your energy level. Make sure you've got a positive attitude before starting a brainstorm session. If you're mood is positive, anything is possible. If you're feeling down and depressed, you're not going to come up with any ideas that you believe will offer an effective solution. Read some positive affirmations from Paulo Coelho's "Warrior of the Light" or "Napoleon Hill's Positive Action Plan" or Jeffrey Gitomer's "Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude" before you schedule a brainstorming session. If those messages don't press your internal Caps-Lock, it's better to postpone until you're in a better mood.
7. PAUSE Take time-out during your idea generation session to reflect upon the ideas you've collected. Review your list and find concepts that can be explored further. Build upon one of the ideas and create a new branch on your mindmap, fully exploring every path down which you travel will generate many more ideas from which you can choose your solution.
8. ALT What can you alter about a few of your ideas in order to multiply that single idea into a dozen? If 'offer free delivery' is one of your ideas, alter and expand upon that single concept to generate a variety of related ideas: free next-day delivery, delivered within 30-minutes or it's free, deliver each order with a special gift, deliver the order within non-traditional packaging, orders are delivered by singing telegram, orders are delivered by a guy in a gorilla costume, orders are delivered by celebrity lookalikes...
9. END Know when to stop. The purpose of a brainstorm session isn't to suck your brain dry of every possible idea -- it's simply to get a group of stimulated minds together in order to generate as many ideas as possible. Extending a session until you feel like you're literally wringing your brain to squeeze out some last nugget of information isn't very pleasant, and certainly won't make you want to participate in future brainstorm exercises! In order to avoid writer's block, authors have been told to stop a writing session while they still feel like they have something to say. I think it's so they know where to pick-up the next time they pick up a pen. The same principle applies to brainstorming. It's okay to end a session while there are still some ideas flying, just ask the participants to scribble down any new ideas they have after the session and send them to you. It's a sure way to virtually guarantee they come up with another 3 or 4 ideas after the meeting has adjourned, rather than beating every last idea out of them while they're in the room and only releasing them after they feel exhausted and happy to have escaped!
Though there are many reasons why people fear the adoption of new ideas, here are a few of the common ones I've run across...
1. Failure What we're doing might not be perfect, but it's working. Why risk changing it for something better on the chance the idea fails?
2. Blame If this new idea doesn't perform as hoped, they'll hold me personally accountable.
3. Status Quo Whoa, buddy... No rocking the boat!
4. Work Putting a new idea into effect sounds like it's going to require a lot of extra effort, and my to-do list is already full.
5. Judgment Some people might not like this idea, and perhaps they won't like me for being associated with it.
6. Change Sure, change is inevitable -- but you go first. I might not like the way things are, but it's a lot easier to complain about it than to make any improvements.
7. Pessimism That idea will never get approved. We tried something like that before and it didn't work in the past, and it's not going to work now.
8. Risk Seems a little 'iffy' to me. It's much safer if we keep doing what we've always done.
9. Alone I'm not willing to go out on a limb and show support for that idea. Who else is backing your concept?
10. Doubt If this was truly a good idea, wouldn't someone have thought of it before? Maybe we should wait...
My friend Phil Rist from BigResearch shared this quote with me yesterday and it's right on target. It seemingly merges all of the fears above into this single statement:
"And let it be noted that there is no more delicate matter to take in hand, nor more dangerous to conduct, nor more doubtful in its success, than to set up as the leader in the introduction of changes. For he who innovates will have for his enemies all those who are well off under the existing order of things, and only lukewarm supporters in those who might be better off under the new." ~ Niccolo Machiavelli from The Prince
I've really been enjoying the new show on the Discovery channel, "Pitchmen" in which each episode follows the successful (and sometimes not-so successful) course of one or two "as seen on tv" products. Legendary hucksters Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan guide the inventors through the surprisingly interestingly (but sometimes murky) waters of direct response advertising. Think of them as part PT Barnum and part Sacajawea (good article from CNN Money on these guys.)
In the latest episode, the Pitchmen take a potential next-gen "Billy Mays 2.0" under their wing and show him some of the basics in the art of pitching products to the public. A technique the guys referred to as "ballying" latched on to my brain, and I thought I share a few thoughts on the concept here.
I found a really good explanation of the word and the entire Bally process by searching for "carny terms" and discovering this site: http://www.goodmagic.com/carny/index.htm. A quick search through the listings for "B" and I had more Bally info than I could have imagined.
The "Bally" is the spiel designed to draw a crowd (called a "tip") to see a sideshow. The bally is essentially a commercial which typically features quick appearances by the performers in the show. It is a shortened version of the word "Ballyhoo" which came to mean "to attract the attention of customers by raising a clamor." The word originated at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
This old/new word seems to embody the principles needed to attract clients into our dot-com tents from the new media carnival midway.
There is a lot of information on the GoodMagic.com website, and even though this post is pretty long, this is an edited version of what you can find on their site.
Here are the steps to a successful bally:
MAKING THE OPENING/BUILDING THE TIP "Making the opening" is attracting the attention of everyone within earshot. The object is to assemble a crowd. They don't have to be eager attendees, they just have to be willing to pause for a moment to find out what you are yelling about.
The word "free" is particularly attractive. The crowd is being separated from their money at every point along the way from the gate to the "back end" where the biggest sideshows are usually placed. Anything they can get free is a real relief (they don't quite catch on that the whole idea is to take even more of their cash).
To keep the crowd once you have their attention, build anticipation -- something very interesting is going to happen and it's just about to be revealed!
The bally should only last five or six minutes, with six to ten repetitions per hour. The goal is to project intense energy and to sense and respond to the crowd's mood.
FREEZING THE TIP You've assembled a gaggle of freeloaders, but they're not a "tip" until they're paying close and continued attention. "Freezing the tip" is getting them almost immobilized. Get them to move closer to see better, making it difficult for anyone to leave because of the tightly-packed crowd. A few successfully mesmerized people will attract a larger crowd ("What are all those people looking at? Let's go check it out!") You must keep them amused so they don't drift away.
You might also use a "stick" (a shill) to subtly herd the tip people into a tightly-packed bunch so that it becomes difficult for anyone to fight their way out of the tip (much easier to stay and see the interesting stuff.) Add a "draw" -- a little business, a gag, some bull -- designed to draw the tip inexorably close to the bally platform.
To entertain is not the purpose of the bally. It is to stop people so you can sell the contents of the show. The entertainment is on the inside.
THE PITCH Now you have a "tip," and it's time to give them "the pitch," the part where you describe in glowing hyperbole the glories to be seen inside. You might want to introduce a "hook", a promise of something that is just about to happen or a feature you must not miss. Refresh the hook from time to time by referring to it or elaborating on it.
Use your authority (people are used to following the instructions of someone louder and higher than they are.) Then pitch what you've got inside, describe the excitement they'll experience, the rare opportunity to see something thrilling. Talkers became experts at painting word pictures.A good talker could at implant the idea that this experience would be "interactive" and personally involving. Use superlatives and florid language, but use it in a calculated way and refine it with practice or it will sound foolish. The bally is both practiced and improvisational. Reading the crowd and reacting to them is an art.
TURNING THE TIP and THE JAM The turn is the point at which the sales pitch becomes a call to action. The term probably comes from turning a herd of cattle, and what human cow could resist a bargain? For that matter, who could get out of the assembled, tightly-packed tip once the crowd started moving to the ticket booth and the entrance?
This begins the 'jam' and the momentum is kept up by a 'grind.' The jam is the ratcheting up of the call to action by introducing a sense of urgency. ("Just three minutes left to buy admission at the sale price? Gosh, I hope I can get up there in time!") Of course, no one is ever too late, but they think they might be. Think of a modern-day television commercial: "Call in the next 10 minutes and we'll also include a second bottle free!"
THE BLOWOFF After you have them inside, fairly captive, and have shown them the best you have, you have a chance to make your real money. Throughout the show, the giant has been selling huge rings, the Mule-Faced Girl and the Lizard-Skinned Man have been selling cards with their photo and bio, etc. Now it's time for a final "surprise" sales pitch. After you've delivered all you promised, the star attraction or the inside talker would always give the people a chance to see something really special -- for an extra charge.
Perhaps the additional attraction would be the chance to come up on stage and look down into the Blade Box, perhaps it would be the chance to see a part of the tattooed lady's anatomy that might not be appropriate for the whole family. Or the talker could suddenly slow the rapid-fire parade of claims to draw attention by contrast of pace tell a story, and aim the appeal seemingly straight at the emotions.
...which is usually the best connection to the wallet.
Here's some advice from bnet.com on how you can get The Boss to get behind your ideas.
Summary of their three-pronged plan for success...
1. Present multiple concepts in a fashion that makes the person in charge feel that the ideas originated (or were at least inspired) by them.
2. Allow The Boss time to peruse the options and choose the variation that most appeals to them.
3. Make them feel the selected option was sparked by their brilliance in some past (and perhaps mythical) conversation.
Let me add my own final point to bnet's plan... 4. Update your resume and find a job where The Boss isn't an ego maniac who makes decisions based on puffing themselves up instead of on the merit of the idea and what it will mean to the success of the company.
Why not try my 5-part approach instead? 1. Meet with The Boss to discuss the project for which you'd like to contribute an idea.
2. Come to a mutual agreement on the challenge itself (a problem well-stated is half-solved.) There's no use spending time creating a proposal to increase the spending of existing clients if The Boss believes the problem is failure to convert prospects into new business. You need to both agree that the real solution is to increase sales.
3. Ask questions of The Boss so that you can incorporate the answers into your solution. If you ask "what's the one thing that can't be missing from a proposed solution?" and The Boss answers "it's got to show weekly measurements to gauge success" -- you darn well better incorporate those sorts of analytics into your concept.
4. Now go away for at least 24-48 hours before presenting your solution to The Boss. It doesn't matter if you didn't learn anything new in your conversation and your proposal is dead-on point right out of the box. You want The Boss to feel you've considered their feedback and included their perspective into your concept. Plus, I can just about guarantee that as your brain processes the conversation you're going to come up with some improvements to your idea no matter how much you love it in its current form.
5. Present the idea to The Boss by reviewing your original conversation in order to bring them right back to the same page you were both on at the conclusion of your original meeting. Remind The Boss of both your original perceptions of the problem and the resulting agreed-upon problem statement. Be sure to hit each bullet-point of the 3 or 4 things you both agreed had to be in a proposed solution. Why? Two reasons -- one, The Boss is working on a dozen other projects right now and probably hasn't been dedicating the time you have to this single problem. And two, The Boss has had time to process your original conversation as well. It's quite possible that between your first meeting and this one, that The Boss has changed the scope of the challenge on which you're working. You may have come into this meeting with a brilliant plan to get current clients to spend more or to increase the closing ration of new business, but now The Boss might feel the problem revolves around the pricing of the product or service. You need to make sure you're both on the same page and that the specs of the problem have not changed since you last spoke. If you're both still on the same page, present your idea and seek approval to put it into action.
Now, here's the REAL secret behind my process: It works for selling ideas to ANY person -- not just The Boss.
Did you know the first patent for glue was issued in England for an adhesive made from fish, or that the first television remote was patented by Zenith in 1950 and was called the "Lazy Bones?"
My book "100-WHATS of CREATIVITY: One Hundred What-If Questions to Spark Your Creativity, Unmuck Your Mind, and Break Through Your Mental Blocks" is now available through Amazon.com!
For a limited time, you can buy it through my on-demand storefront and save 30% off the cover price of $12.95. Just visit the link below and use the discount code: 7CTTGLG8 --
I'm finally ready to launch a newly revised and updated paperback edition of '100-Whats of Creativity' and would appreciate your feedback on the concept, content, and cost.
I've recently discovered the on-demand publishing site CreateSpace.com and plan to use it as the publishing vehicle, which will make the book available for the first time ever on Amazon.com!
CreateSpace also has a pretty cool preview tool, which makes contributing your feedback a snap using their online form. You get to download the table of contents and a few free pages, and then I hope you'll take a couple seconds to provide a some quick answers to five short questions.
I just purchased Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten's "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time" over the weekend. I was suprised by how many of the books I'd read, by how many I hadn't read, and by how many I'd bought and then put on a shelf without reading.
I also noticed some books that I felt were missing from this august list, and few that seemed out of place for being included.
If YOU were going to edit the list, which books would you add -- and which books would you remove in order to make room for your choices?
How could Don THE Idea Guy not agree with the latest post from Seth Godin (Godin The Guru)?
"When your middle name is 'The', it means you're it. The only one. The one that defines the category. I think that focus is a choice, and that the result of appropriate focus is you earn the middle name."
I just installed the del.icio.us playtagger on this blog and it's pretty cool. It's a single line of code that turns any link to an mp3 file on the page into streaming audio. You simply click the tiny blue "play" button next to the file link and (after a brief buffer period) will begin to play. If you click the file link itself, you can still grab the actual file for download.
Here are a couple audio files to test the feature (...and they have some valuable content to boot!)
Turning Business Ideas into Realities - BusinessWeek Smart Answers Turn your innovative ideas into practiceInnovation (and the ability to act quickly on new ideas) is a big edge small companies have over larger competitors. Serial entrepreneur Nancy Jarecki talks about how to nurture creativity and make practical decisions about innovative business concepts.
You Can Have Too Many Great Ideas - BusinessWeek Smart Answers Focus on what your company is best at. Entrepreneurs are great idea people, but some small companies pursue so many trends, products, and strategies that they lose focus on their core competency, says Andrew Graham, head of Kepner-Tregoe, a consulting and training services firm in Princeton, NJ.
Interview with Dave Balter - Personal Brilliance Podcasts Dave Balter is the CEO of BzzAgent, a community of over 400,000 bringing consumers and markets together to organize and track honest word of mouth. BzzAgent has worked on almost 450 word of mouth campaigns in the past five years. Dave is also co-founder of WOMMA, the Word-of Mouth Marketing Association.
Interview with Chris Brogan - Personal Brilliance Podcasts Chris Brogan tops of the list of advisors on Social Media best practices. It's all about authentic conversations between co-workers, customers, and even competitors. Brogan is cofounder of the PodCamp UnConference series exploring the use of new media community tools to extend relationships and build value. Find Chris' blog, articles, and more at http://www.chrisbrogan.com/.
My friends at MorningToast.com are relaunching their CAVEradio program "TED and The Other Guy." The webcast begins tonight (12/4) at 10pm ET and someone is walking away with a free brainstorm from DTIG!
There is no reason in this day and age to be doing stuff you hate (...you can lose just as much money doing something you love.)
Don't just "listen" to your users -- you gotta CARE about them
Do what you LOVE every single day or your life and monetize it
Hustle is the most important word EVER
KILL IT!
There's some language that might be considered "strong." Deal with it. Strong ideas need to be delivered in a strong manner. Don't be shocked -- be in awe. And then use the information to get awesome.
That's right -- the official DTIG brainstorms for a sawbuck have returned! Rejoice all ye who suffer from a lack of lightbulbs of inspiration. The regular readers of MyBrainBlog are probably familiar with my Five Buck Brainstorms (formerly known as "EconoStorms") -- but for the rest of you, here's a brief introduction.
As Don The Idea Guy, I offer brainstorming services to individuals and groups in order to generate ideas that help solve business and marketing challenges. These services range from formal consulting contracts, project-based ideation, and group facilitation of the brainstorm process. As a way to introduce people to 'my way of thinking' I started selling ridiculously low priced micro-brainstorms to people online. The intent was to provide a low-risk demonstration of my idea creation capabilities, fund my movies/music/books budget, and have a bit of fun in the process. What I didn't count on was it working so well that I'd only be able to do it for limited periods of time -- well, it's that time again. ;)
There's now a fresh new page to promote the service, and I'll keep it active for as long as I am able to complete these Five Buck Brainstorms in a timely fashion. Give it whirl and see what you think -- it'll be the best $5 you've ever invested in one of your projects.
I like Larry's take on this. "Discover your uniqueness and learn to exploit it in the service of others." Listen to the audio linked above for the rest of Larry's insight into this topic.
Visit LarryWinget.com for additional content from the "Pit Bull of Personal Development." I can't wait to read his new book, "People Are Idiots, And I Can Prove It!" Larry's books are always filled with useful in-your-face realities that will push you forward by the simple fact that "someone called you on your bullshit."
Are you as creative as a crow? One wouldn't normally think to look to our fine feathered friends for advice on innovation, but watch the video below of Joshua Klein speaking at TED on the intelligence of crows and you may just end up singing a different tune.
I especially like how he says the idea for this experiment got started because he found it annoying that someone told him something was "impossible" to accomplish. More than a few of my projects have been instigated by the exact same kind of comment!
The most approachable guy in the world -- Scott Ginsberg (That Nametag Guy) has launched his latest and greatest project NametagTV.com! I know he's been working hard on this project over the last year, and Scott has truly hit a homerun.
NametagTV.com has four specific content channels: Sales, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, and Frontline. Each channel already has a wealth of content to view, and I know Scott is determined to keep this site fresh and filled with valuable information and advice on becoming a more successful human being.
The design is simple and friendly (you might say it's a very 'approachable') and includes an RSS feed for his videos (Yay! More food to feed my iPod!) Scott has included direct links to each of his episodes, as well as embeddable code to make it easy for others to feature his content on their website (as I have done below.) If I had to take one poke at the site, it would be that the videos won't function unless you have the latest version of Flash. Since it's so reliant upon using that version, I think I would have added a bit more emphasis on that fact -- though Scott DOES include a small line of type beneath the player stating as much, along with a link to the required download.
A couple more quick ideas I'd like to see on the site... 1. Include a bit more text info in the episode descriptions. 2. Within those episode descriptions, include an email link to get the free article featured in that episode, or to actually download the file itself. 3. I know he's using DIGG and Del.icio.us links, but why not use sharethis.com to include all those and more -- plus the built-in send-to-a-friend feature.
...But it's easy to look at it now that it exists and think about things to change and improve. The important thing is that he created it to share with all of us! Do yourself a favor and stop wasting time in front crap on your "normal" television set, and make an appointment to tune into valuable programming content that will make you more successful in business and in LIFE. Tune into NametagTV!
Great film from Nic Askew at Monday9am.tv (soon to be soulbiographies.com) that profiles marketing guru Seth Godin's insights on "Curiosity." While I am certain Seth has much more to say on the subject, and there is probably a lot of content that ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor, it's a gorgeous little film with a wealth of impact.
While this slideshow was originally created as a way to spot trends, I think the content shares insight on how to inspire infectious innovation in any industry. These are ideas that will help prevent you from becoming "the best typewriter company in the world." Watch the slideshow for the explanation...
While ebook readers are nothing new, Amazon is trying to iPod-ize the process with their new wireless reading device, Kindle. While there does seem to be some updating to the old idea of an electronic reader, there also seem to be some missed opportunities.
The device could be so much more if only the Amazon Kindle would...
1. Lower the price point Four hundred bucks? Really? An incredibly high price for a technology that nobody wanted in the past and flopped in the market, with more limitations than benefits in this new incarnation. (Really? $400??)
2. Fill the bucket Why doesn't it come packed with content? Ideally, Amazon could include a gift card to be spent as the user sees fit -- but why not include a free magazine subscription or two? How about a hot best seller? Hell, I'd even settle for a few not-so best sellers.
3. Add Movies & Music With Amazon hawking it's new Unbox movies and tv shows, along with their new MP3 downloads -- why isn't the Amazon-branded Kindle compatible with these other Amazon offerings? I see from the Kindle videos and photos that it has a headphone jack, am I to assume that's only for audio books?
4. Realize that blogs are free A quick visit to the Kindle "blogs" sub-page and you'll see that Amazon intends to charge for access to blogs! This has GOT to be the dumbest offering I've seen yet. Amazon wants to charge between $.99 and $1.99 per month (PER BLOG!) for access to something you can already get for free via a half-dozen other devices.
And why can't I read blogs other than those on which you've put a virtual coin-slot? It's a wi-fi device with access to the internet -- provide some real value and allow it to act as my RSS aggregator of choice. Allow it to connect with blogs and podcasts (remember that audio jack?) of MY choosing and don't charge for access you greedy bastards.
When I buy a tv or computer it doesn't charge me for access to EVERYTHING (I can surf plenty of sites for free and watch DVDs I already own without picking my pocket.) Which brings me to...
5. Allow me to read books I already own Hey, I get that you can't throw the doors wide and let me download every physical book I already own -- but how about letting me just download the ones I already bought from Amazon? I'd even understand if you put a cap on how far back I can go -- maybe purchases made in the last year? Six months? Okay... how about the last THREE months?
6. Stop pushing newspapers back to a subscription-based model Just as daily newspapers are starting to finally realize they are better off with offering their content online at no cost and using an advertising-based model to generate revenue, Kindle brings back the bad-old days and wants to charge between $14.99 and $5.99 for monthly access to that which is (mostly) free online through every almost every other web-connected device.
7. Arrive at reasonable price points Like it or not, iTunes is the defacto standard for digital content price points. If Amazon didn't agree, do you think they'd offer their music downloads for $.89 in an attempt to compete? Then why the heck are Kindle books $9.99 when I can buy an iTunes movie for the same price, and a tv show for only $1.99? Wouldn't this price structure dictate a retail price of $3.99 (or at most a $5.99) price point? Even the virtual titles available in paperback are priced higher than their real-world counterparts.
8. Let me loan books to a friend My friends and I trade books all the time. Why not allow us to transfer books wirelessly between our readers? I'm not suggesting you allow duplication or copying -- let a utility "Move" the file from one reader to the other (let that DRM software work FOR you instead of against you) -- and Back-again (if desired) once the friend has finished reading it.
This was one thing the Microsoft Zune got sort-of right (maybe the ONLY thing), it allowed wi-fi sharing of songs for up to three days. Why not take the best ideas from other devices and incorporate them into your own?
9. Be a more compatible Let me get this straight -- I can email my Kindle a document I already own/created, but Amazon is going to charge me a "toll" to process it into Kindle format so I can read it on the device for which I just paid $400 (really? $400??)
How about if you just make the damn thing compatible with Word docs and PDF files? I don't think that's asking for much -- I can already read those kinds of files on my PHONE. It should be a given that you can read digital files on something called a "DIGITAL READING DEVICE."
10. Add a touch-screen and stylus The bookmarking feature of the Kindle is unremarkable. It allows you to dog-ear the corner of a virtual page -- but that's it. Why not allow the flagging of a specific paragraph?
Further, why not utilize a touch-screen interface (like 92% of other digital devices) and let me highlight text I deem important? Let the device collect all the underlined/highlighted passages into a summary list that can be accessed on-demand. No more searching for a Post-it note or faded yellow highliter in a physical book -- let my notes and notations become digital as well. (This would basically be a digital version of my Novel Ideas Bookmark.)
Why is Amazon making it so difficult to justify the purchase of one of these devices? It's like they've gone out of their way to recreate the idiocy of another single-purpose device -- the dreaded and debated HD Radio(don't even get me started...)
Here's the sad part-- I actually like the concept of the Kindle reader! A book store that travels with me is almost too cool for words. I'm more than willing to pay a small premium (a large premium even!) for instant access to any title I desire, but there are too many other weaknesses in the overall vision of the product, and I find the execution lacking. I really want one of these things -- but I have to believe there will be corrections to these obviously flaws in a future version.
C'mon guys -- the last single-purpose device I ever purchased was a toaster. My video game plays DVDs and connects to the internet, my fridge makes ice and dispenses purified water, my mobile phone surfs the net, plays videos, and downloads music. And come to think of it -- even the lowly toaster has realized it better do more than burn bread to make it onto my crowded countertop. Have you seen the model that cooks an egg while it makes your toast?? (I think there's even one that fries bacon, but I couldn't find a link fast enough.)
Kindle is going to have to do the same if it's going to get added to my collection of gadgets and gizmos.
--- EDIT: In case you needed another reason to choose an iPhone over Kindle, someone just sent me a link regarding the fact you can read magazines for FREE on the iPhone. And not just crappy pubs. They got mags like Car & Driver, Men's Health, MacWorld (natch!), Kiplingers, Women's Day, Popular Mechanics, and Playboy.
Here's a neat gizmo I found on Boing Boing Gadgets, it's a ceramic food and beverage warmer that sits atop a steam radiator.
Before you get too excited -- it's simply a prototype and not currently for sale, but the comments on the Boing Boing page are encouraging. Even the negative feedback can be used to increase the effectiveness and functionality of the design.
Keep this in mind when working on your own projects.
Why not release an early prototype to a trusted group of product users?
Their feedback (both positive and negative) will tell you what improvements can be made to make your product more popular in the marketplace, and their suggestions will allow you to skip over the need to "fix" things after releasing version 1.0 to the public -- you'll get to jump right to version 2.0 (which is frequently where your competitors enter the market -- releasing their version of YOUR product with all the obvious improvements.)
Says Jaffe: "I'm sick and tired of this notion that there is a singular BIG IDEA out there. Marketers demand it from their agencies and agencies in turn expect it from media sellers and technology vendors. And they all want it yesterday PLUS no one wants to pay for it. Big ideas take too much time to find and we don't have the time to find 'em. Big ideas are equated to expensive ideas...hence the word BIG. They're meant to create a splash; secure buzz; enrapture the masses with pomp, grandeur and ceremony."
He's right. One of the most common client claims that I receive when working to develop new marketing or promotional ideas is that they want something big, something revolutionary, something no one else can compete with -- but that's not REALLY want they want. Because they don't want anything that takes time to ramp-up or needs explaining to their target demo. New stuff always needs explaining. That's why the Forefathers wrote down their big idea back in 1776 -- someone needed to explain their big idea to King George (talk about 'revolutionary'.)
The big new ideas are almost always more expensive to execute. I just had a meeting the other day with a client to whom I'd just explained a recommended marketing campaign. He said it was too much and I needed to "sharpen my pencil." I said that if you need to reduce the price, I'd cut this component (indicating one of the elements of the plan.) He responded by saying "But, that the most innovative part of the project!" I could respond "Funny how that works, isn't it?" and try not to smirk as I said it.
Jaffe continues... "Ideas are about potential. As Victor Hugo once said, there is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come... but the idea is a catalyst; a conduit; a means to an end... and NOT an end unto itself.
Today, the only time BIG IDEAS are means to an end is when that end is winning a new business pitch or a Grand Prix at Cannes. Most new business pitch BIG IDEAS are unimplementable and how many Grand Prix winners at Cannes have gone on to change the world or transform businesses, business models and/or lives? You won't hear me talking about THE BIG IDEA anymore, but rather MANY SMALL IDEAS... It's time to get out of the business of desperately seeking the HAIL MARY or GRAND SLAM and focus on SMALL BALL or winning through a series of calculated gains of inch increments. It's time to truly recognize the power of SMALL (being the NEW BIG as Seth Godin might say), which more often than not begins with one human; one individual; one life; one smile; one spark; one seed and grows and takes off from there..."
I've long believed that big success could be more easily attained in small business. Tom and John would seem to agree, as they posted this 16-point manifesto for microcorps to beat the bejeezus out of the big guys way back in 2005.
My favorites from the list are: #1: Niche Aimed Never try to be all things to all people. You can ask my friend Susan Friedmann for some great ideas on niche-focusing.
#3: Dramatically Different Being significantly different within your community, your industry, etc. should be obvious, but this is where most companies (big and small) fall short.
#5: Emotionally Bond with Clients/Vendors Treat your customers and suppliers like family -- maybe even better than family. Connect with their passions and find an alignment within your company's services and products that appeal and feed that passion.
John Moore created a great video primer on these techniques and called it "Jumbo Shrimp Marketing" -- I've embedded the video below.
Too many businesses fall prey to attempting to be all things to all people. Find the one thing and become the company (become the person) known for that one thing.
I am in the midst of reading "Group Genius, The Creative Power of Collaboration" by Keith Sawyer and came upon what might very well be one of my favorite chapters of the book, Chapter Five: Small Sparks.
One of the quick stories of creative collaboration contained within has to do with the fact C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein met while they were in the English department at Oxford University. Both harbored a secret hobby of writing short stories of fantasy fiction, and ended up creating a small group of like-minded writers called "The Inklings" who met frequently to read their works and critique one anothers efforts.
Who knows what might have (or might NOT have happened) should the two of them not collaborated?
A few more pages into the chapter, the author shares a list of five basic stages that (according to psycholigists) are always embedded in creative sparks generated by the collaborative process... --- 1. Preparation This involves a period of hard work, studying the problem, and speaking about the topic with everyone else working on it.
2. Time Off The team member changes context and engages in other activities -- often in conversation with others.
3. The Spark During time off, a solution appears. That solution is deeply embedded in the knowledge and social interactions generated during the Preparation and Time Off stages -- and it builds on sparks generated by others in the group.
4. Selection The "Aha!" feeling doesn't always mean the idea is good. Creative people are very good at selecting the best ideas for follow-up, or they collaborate with others in the selection process.
5. Elaboration Working out the details of an idea typically requires generating a lot of additional ideas. Bring all the disparate ideas together in a cohesive form always requires social interaction and group collaboration. ---
It's a great read with a lot of little revelations that add up to proving a big idea -- none of us is as smart as all of us.
My buddy (and fellow Marketing Geek) Jim Kukral wrote an excellent add-on piece to Steve Rubel's insight into the newly realized position of "Geek Marketer" in a recent AdAge column. Geek Marketer is as good a title as any (although I tend to prefer my long-running "Idea Guy" moniker.)
Jim makes a great point about most traditional businesses, agencies, marketing firms, etc. expecting to pay an 'average salary' for this above-average (and extremely valuable) new role. In some cases, this single individual can make a significant difference in the success or failure (distinction or extinction) of a company stuck in the rut of old-advertising mentality. BUT, it is my view that the true Geek Marketer isn't actually looking for a salary (average or otherwise) but is in constant search of the opportunity to work with cool people on cool projects. Never before has the cliche of "do what you love and the money will follow" been more true.
By combining the artist's innate love of "The Cool Project" with the savvy of a marketing guru, you end up with a Marketing Geek who understands the value of the expertise they bring to the table. They don't necessarily need to be paid a salary so much as rewarded in accordance to the value of the ideas and concepts they bring to the table -- as well as their ability to execute and implement those concepts in a successful (and profitable) manner.
The Marketing Geek isn't going to look upon a 'salary' as the thing that binds them to a company. It's more like the minimum retainer required for first access to their ideas. The real reward needs to be connected to the profit and challenge in making those ideas a reality. By all means, provide a salary (average or otherwise) when attempting to entice a Marketing Geek to work within the walls of your company (we've all got rent and car payments to make in between those world-changing ideas), but keep in mind money is not the true motivator that will ultimately keep them working for you (with you.) There needs to be a connection to the profit in the end value of their concepts, and the freedom to explore undefined and dark alleyways to find the light (and the profit) on the other side.
I accepted an invite to a new social networking site because it came from Hugh MacLeod -- turns out it was all a scam (to which he fell victim himself) and now I've helped perpetrate the problem.
If you just received an invite from me to join Quechup -- delete it. It wasn't from me. They sent email to everyone in my address book completely and totally without permission.
John Jantsch (of Duct Tape Marketing fame) recently posted a blog entry about how it's sometimes necessary to "burn your boats" in order to force yourself into forward motion.
The concept is borrowed from a legend about a great military leader who landed his ships on an enemy shore and demonstrated to his troops that retreat was not an option by destroying their only avenue of escape. The actual attribution varies -- some say it was Alexander the Great, some say Cortez, some say Napolean, and some insist all ancient Greek generals used this technique -- but who may (or may not) have practiced this technique is unimportant in applying it to your own situation. John suggests using this method in order to spur yourself forward in creating products, writing books, developing business seminars, etc.
I was recently on the other end of this equation while trying to complete a recent project with co-author Jon Petz on Boring Meetings Suck. We'd progressed to a certain point in completing the book and simply seemed to stall. To stay with the boats analogy, we'd run ashore and couldn't get unstuck and wouldn't get off the ship.
A friend finally saw a way to help us get re-motivated by setting the S.S. BMS ship afire. He found a opportunity for Jon to present at a seminar and distribute copies of our book to the audience. With the seminar only a month or two away, we needed to move forward at a rapid pace in order to complete the project and still be able to have the books printed in time for the presentation date.
Burning your boats is a great technique to use on yourself, but sometimes the biggest favor you can do for a colleague is to lend them a match.
I'm sure you've heard the phrase "Curiosity killed the cat" it's probably one of the more morbid cliches out there. Imagine, curiosity actually proving fatal to felines.
Meee-OW!
The phrase doesn't actually spell out the fact that it was the cat's own curiosity that did him in. Perhaps it is a human's curiosity that puts the furball six-feet under. Kind of like every time you hear a bell ring, an angel gets its wings every time a person asks "why?" a kitty keels-over.
The problem is, the world doesn't ask enough questions. To my way of thinking, perhaps we ought to be killing a few more of these scared-of-questions-scaredy-cats.
Albert Einstein said "It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." I'm not so sure it does. Too many raw theories are put forth (and accepted) as fact. General observations are accepted at face value, and instead of discovering our own individual and unique truths, we accept those that are handed to us without question (without question-ing.)
Maybe curiosity kills cats because our questioning skills aren't well enough developed. Perhaps if we practiced more, and started 'doing it right', the poor little purring machines wouldn't have to perish.
"Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers." ~ Tony Robbins
Here are nine (one for each of the kitty's curiosity-doomed lives) techniques for getting better at being curious: 1. Ask Why? Why are things done (around the office, around the home, around the town) in the current manner?
2. What Happened?
Ask what happened to cause this process to be put into practice? (This is a natural follow-up to question #1) You'd be surprised at how many things that are part of the "company policy" simply because some guy back in 1883 tied up his horse outside the wrong saloon.
For instance, do you know the reason keyboards aren't in alphabetical order? The QWERTY-style typewriter keys were put in this order because the early typewriters (with individual letter-arms that struck images on the sheet of paper) kept jamming when people typed too fast. The problem wasn't solved by creating a way for the machines to react faster -- it was solved by causing people to type sloooower.
3. Why Not? Why not change the system/process/policy/etc.?
What problems could a sweeping change to the procedure cause?
What improvements would be made by the same sweeping change?
Who would be made happier (employees? managers? customers?)
Who would it piss off? (employees? managers? customers?)
4. Why-Why-Why?
The multiple-why technique comes from 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques. In its simplst form it makes you look beyond the first answer to your question:
WHY are product sales poor? Because the price is too high.
WHY is the price too high? manufacturing is too expensive.
WHY? Because multiple quality assurance steps.
This example path leads us to an answer that can then become a new marketing strategy (yes the product costs more, but only because the company takes extra steps to ensure a no-fail policy, etc.)
5. And Then What?
Too many people stop questioning after they have what appears to be the "right" answer -- but what's the NEXT right answer? The have no idea just how close they've come to having an epiphany. It's like they've brushed against a revolutionary ...evolutionary... creative opportunity and passed it by. Don't forget to uncover what comes AFTER the answer.
6. What's It Mean?
When you get an answer to a question, ask what it means. And I mean that in the broadest sense. What does the answer mean to the company, its employees, its customers? What does it mean by way of definition? Do we all think this answer means the same thing, or are we defining its meaning differently? What does it mean to the way things are currently done? What does it mean to the future of the product? The future of the industry? What does it mean to YOU?
7. How Can We Improve?
How can we improve our process, our company, our product, ourselves? It doesn't matter how good we are now, we need to get better. I know we're talking 'cats' here, but did you know Sharks will die if they don't continue to move? They will essentially suffocate if they don't keep swimming. Did you know lightning bugs can only shine when they are moving forward? It's the same with all our personal and professional efforts; if we're not moving forward, we're not going to appear very bright -- and we might just die from boredom.
8. What Have We Learned?
If you're not making mistakes, you're not making much of anything. There's no possible way you can get through life without making a mistake or two (hundred). The successful folks are those that ask themselves what they've learned, and then apply that knowledge to future efforts. And it's not as if you need to fail in order to learn something -- ask the same question after a rousing success. What did you learn from a winning conclusion? What can you repeat for a successful sequel? What can you change in order to increase your level of success? What do you know now, that you didn't know an hour ago. And if you said "nothing" you're not even trying.
9. What's Next?
When you've asked all the questions, it's time to take action. Ask yourself this final question in order to begin the implmentation process. To plan strategy. To assign tasks. To schedule follow-up. You also ask this question upon completion of the project. When the project is done, the folders filed, and the trophy is on your wall -- ask what's next?
Ben Yoskovitz has created a worthwhile group writing meme to inspire the collection of personal productivity secrets. Since I was 'tagged' by my friend Jason Kotecki (he's the guy with the cure for Adultitis), here are three of my personal productivity secrets...
#1.) The Most Productive Thing Possible This is one of my oldest techniques, adopted from an audio seminar series recorded by sales legend Tom Hopkins. I borrowed the tapes from the local library when I first started in sales, and it's stuck with me ever since. The technique itself is even older, because I recall Hopkins citing it as a productivity secret handed down to him from one of his own mentors.
When Hopkins asked his mentor for advice on improving his own productivity, his mentor told him -- "I'll tell you, but you'll never look at what you're doing in the same way ever again. You might even get angry at me for telling you about this technique, because you'll never get it out of your head. Are you sure you really want to know?" With a setup like that, how could you say no? Here's what Tom was told -- hang a sign in your work space with one simple question written on it, and ask it of every project on which you're working:
"Are you doing the most productive thing possible right now?"
A simple question, but oh so powerful. I have to admit that now that I've used the technique for so many years that I don't even need the sign to provide the productivity reality check, and I frequently put aside, or completely stop work, on a project right in the middle of executing a task if it can't measure up to the standard of "The Most Productive Thing Possible."
#2.) Audio Blinders In order to keep horses from be startled or distracted by its surroundings, some owners will but "blinders" on the side of it's head to block out theire peripheral vision and keep it focused only on what is directly in front of its field of vision. While I don't have a problem with being distracted by incidental visuals (barring a parade of Victoria Secret supermodels walking past my desk -- which doesn't happen as often as I'd like) I can be taken out of my mental "productivity zone" by sounds.
This past year I've been working in a large team environment (a bunch of desks in the middle of a large room) without even the buffer of cubical walls. It's the sales department of a broadcasting company, and not only can you hear every individual phone call or personal conversation -- the company pipes it's broadcast programming through overhead speakers (you think YOU hear the same song a lot when you're listening to the radio? Try not being able to change the station after you've heard Justin Timberlake "Bring Sexy Back" for the 15th time that day. Yeesh!)
I've begun the practice of wearing headphones or earbuds while I am working at my desk. Not only does it block out some of the environmental noise, but it cuts down on the number of personal interruptions (most people who really don't need anything important will see you with a headset and come back later) -- Sometimes I'm not even listening to anything through the headphones!
#2-1/2.) It's Got a Good Beat and You can Work to it The other advantage of the headphons is that you CAN listen to music through them. I learned long ago that I could control the types of ideas I generate by controlling the music I listened to while brainstorming. I've now proven the same technique can be applied to "normal" work. Classical or Smooth Jazz is great for working on reports or creating budgets. The mostly instrumental playlist allows me to concentrate and think more logically. Rock, punk, and 80s music is phenomenal when I'm working on sales pitches and marketing ideas -- projects where I need to have high energy and enthusiasm in order to make an emotional connection for building rapport.
#3.) Master-Lists, Mini-Lists, and Non-Lists I always keep a large master list of ALL my projects. It could be several pages long, and captures every project I would like the eventually get around to working on. It's not so much a to-do list as record of an annual goals list (I tend to overhaul it once per year), but I use it to build my daily mini-lists. I should probably clarify "list" because it's probably not what you think. Most folks take a sheet of paper, a dayplanner, an index card, etc. and make a numeric or A-B-C-ranked priority list. I use individual Post-It notes.
I write a single task on each 3x3 note using a black Sharpie and then stick them on the first page of my hinge-cover legal pad. As project priorities change throughout the day (or new tasks are added) I can rearrange all the individual tasks with ease. Once a task is accomplished, I can remove the Post-It, give it a satisfying crumple, and take a free-throw toss at the closest trash can (waaay cooler than checking off a box or crossing a line through something!)
Those are my top-3 personal productivity secrets, I hope you find them helpful. Now it falls to me to "tag" the next three people to participate what I believe is a worthwhile project. Here are my three...
You may be familiar with the Threadless.com website, but do you know anything in regard to the guiding principles that drive its leaders?
Here's what I knew about the website: Threadless.com is a t-shirt website that accepts designs from the public, and then takes votes on each accepted submission, allowing their community to decide which designs actually get printed and which artists are awarded cash prizes for their efforts. Each winning design is printed in a limited run and then added to the website for purchase.
Here's what I knew about Threadless.com's philosophy: Nothing. My mind was as blank as a plain white 100% cotton t-shirt.
Through random linkage I stumbled across a site (www.apieceofshirt.com) that featured a 45-minute video of Threadless.com honchos Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff speaking to the Community Next Conference at Stanford University. The title of their presentation was "The Patent-Pending skinnyCorp Method for Creating Online Awesomeness and Other Stuff."
I was most impressed by what appears to be their company mantra:
"Your Project Is Not Good Enough."
It's not meant as a demeaning or critical statement -- it's simply the guiding idea that no project should be considered 100% complete. Concepts can (and should!) always be improved upon.
The garment gurus also provided Four Commandments to make money the "awesome way" on the internet. Although they only had four, they assured the audience that in order to compete with Moses' original ten-count, that theirs were 2.5 times more important.
Commandment #1 Allow your content to be created by the community. .
Commandment #2 Put your project in the hands of the community. .
Commandment #3 Let your community grow itself. .
Commandment #4 Reward the community that makes your project possible.
I also spotted the video below of an appearance by the guys on WTTW in Chicago. Although tv host is a little annoying (it seems like he could have done at least a "little" more research on his guests before they showed up in his studio -- and could have pointed out 3 or 4 more times that they dropped out of college. Geez.) the guys do manage to provide some additional insights within the short bit of coverage, as well as share an interesting comment that came from one of the Stanford grads in the presentation mentioned above.
I always thought Threadless.com was a cool and creative t-shirt company -- but now I know it's simply a cool and creative company (whether they sell t-shirts or not.)
At first glance the relationship seems to make sense, but then you notice the slimy trail of introducing the concept of using credit to a younger audience and it makes you throw-up a little in your mouth.
The deal struck between Visa and Hasbro to introduce their credit cards into the worlds of 'Monopoly' and 'The Game of Life' smacks of the tobacco industry using candy cigarettes as a way to familiarize brand colors and box designs with the activity of smoking to the youth of an earlier generation. The free use of credit cards in board games could certainly influence younger players to think that using credit indiscriminately is 'fun' and holds little consequence.
Until using the credit card in the Life game loses you 'life points' for breaking up a marriage or not being able to retire -- or unless getting a bad credit score from over-using the Monopoly card prevents you from buying new property and allows the banker to repossess the little silver car gamepiece you're moving around the board -- I'll stick with thinking this is a bad idea.
AT&T sued NASCAR Friday after the motor sports monster would not let it replace the Cingular logo on Jeff Burton's race car with new AT&T artwork. Burton's #31 car is sponsored by Cingular, but AT&T took full ownership of Cingular as part of its recent BellSouth merger and has made no secret of its plans to eliminate the Cingular brand name.
I gotta say that I agree with NASCAR's decision (but probably not for the same reasons.) Cingular was well on its way to building a strong and recognizable brand before AT&T swallowed them whole. A dinosaur company like AT&T is sure to be a drag on the potential speed of a race car.
Far too many people (with myself occasionally included) put forth an article or white paper touting the "rules of creativity" -- as if there were some secret "Robert's Rules of Order for the Right-Brained" to which only the experts have access, and mere mortals rejoice at the tiny morsels that are thrown to them like table scraps.
Not-so. The only rule of creativity ought to be the single rule that there are no rules. Ever try to prepare a meal from a recipe card? There are lists of ingredients, advice on how much to add, when to add them, how long to cook, and suggestions on how to serve. Sometimes you'll even see a line that says "season to taste."
My grandmother used to make the best meatloaf in the world, but she couldn't really tell you what the recipe was. Not because she was a contrarian troublemaker who liked to tease people (although she was indeed all those things) it was because there wasn't a written version of the recipe recorded for sharing. Even when she did try to write the recipe down for my mother, it was always a "pinch of this, a little of that, and add some more of the other thing." After years of my mother trying to duplicate Gram's recipe, she comes "close" -- but it's not Gram's meatloaf anymore. It's Mom's Her own execution of the recipe's ingredients, but with its own distinct end-result.
There were no rules to making meatloaf -- just guiding advice. That's what creativity should be. Recipes. Not Rules.
We all take the same sort of ingredients: challenges, questions, co-workers, personal experience, risk, change, advice, ideas, time, energy, assumptions, opinions, roadblocks, hurdles, nay-sayers, positives, negatives, market research, gut-instincts, bravery, self-doubt, and others -- and combine in different amounts, simmer or bake for different amounts of time and different temperatures, and we "season to taste."
Life would be pretty boring if everyone's ideas all tasted the same.
When do you have the right to brag a bit about yourself? Peggy Klaus is the author of "Brag! The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn Without Blowing It" and according to her it might be more often than you think. The real question becomes can you brag about yourself in a graceful manner that puts your best foot forward, or are you more likely to do it in a grating way that ends up putting that foot in your mouth?
Peggy's newly defined manner of bragging can be an effective way to showcase your skills and accomplishments in order to win business and positively influence people. A good place to begin is the Brag! Take-12 Questionnaire. It will help you to focus on personal elements needed in the creation of "brag bites" that will be crystal clear and interesting to those who don't already know you.
Brag! Take-12 Questionnaire Click the link above to review the Take-12 questions, or click the Amazon showcase box below to buy a copy of the book.
Additional info... I guess great minds think alike... only a few hours after I posted this blog entry I received an email from my friend Robert Middleton (InfoGuru of Action Plan Marketing) telling me about a new episode in his TeleClass Expert Series. The $29 audio program just became available and it features Peggy Klaus! Click here for details.
