A Wake-Up Call for Business and Politics

Recently, Bond Brand Loyalty, an agency that focuses on loyalty marketing specifically, released a report that found 29 per cent of consumers said they would not be loyal to a brand without its loyalty program.

This is no small thing, though guaranteed no small number of successful people will be deluding themselves that it is.

People are increasingly disengaged and disenfranchised, but that doesn't mean they're sheep.  On the whole, quite frankly, we're all getting a little tired of the pseudo-Machiavellian manipulations of media, politics and most other people who rely on us to pay their bills - especially as they are doing an increasingly poor job of it.

We have always been able to smell a fake a mile off - the problem is, there's not been much authenticity to choose from.  In fact, salesfolk have been attempting to fake authenticity or attack opponents instead of actually doing the harder work of design thinking their products, service and presentation.

That's all changing.

Don't tell me how good you are, or how bad your opponents are - show me.  Better yet, engage with us, make us agents of our own experience.  Create a Community of Engagement where we all have a bit of ownership, a chance at legacy.

But don't tell us that you are the only vehicle for our success or our salvation, especially if you're a Political Party.  We know you're all human and are seeing, in 48FPS, you're flaws up close and personal.  Try to hide, try do deflect, but we've seen that movie before, too.

Fake doesn't work and, as we become increasingly connected in social murmuration, we are rejecting it collectively.  Be real, add value, be committed and have a purpose larger than your own gain.  That's the future of success.

The truth will set you free.

Loving Value Add: Geek is Chique

Frozen was a great movie - amazing visuals, catchy songs and the warm humour we expect from Disney movies.  It also had great characters, a touching story and a theme of female empowerment that was both poignant and timely.

We know that Frozen was well-received; box-office numbers and glowing reviews tell us that.  How we know this snowflake of a movie had actual impact, though, was the amount of spin-off activity it generated.

My favourite is this How It Should Have Ended video that parodies, with love, some of the plots holes in the narrative.  It's cute, cheeky fun, touches on what's become a cultural touchstone, but more than that - How Frozen Should Have Ended brings a whole different franchise into the equation, making us look at the characters and their potential solutions in a completely different way.

What if Elsa's parents had a setting like Xavier School For Gifted Youngsters where she could have gotten proper mentoring?  What is Elsa had a community beyond her family she could relate to?  It makes you think, what any good mash-up does.

Beyond that though, the X-Men side of the video is brilliant, full of pop-culture geek fandom.  

Wolverine is a no-nonsense kind of guy, so of course he'd be all gruff at the pop band stuff.  But in the film franchise, he's played by musical wonderkind Hugh Jackman, so that got played in nicely.  The little gesture he does when he pops his claws out?  Same one Elsa does in Frozen while singing the same line.

Shakespeare has endured the test of time because his material is so jam-packed; there's story, character, rhyming couplets, word plays, cultural references, historical references.  

The Bard was doing Easter Eggs before it became a thing.

This How Frozen Could Have Ended video is a different take on the same theme - it's all about adding value, bringing things together, loving and trusting the audience enough to geek out as a creator.

Why is this all in my head right now?

Last night during the Twitter #RBChat hosted by the lovely @cpantazis and @cammipham, a recurring theme was "how to empower your employees to engage customers in your brand story."

By and large, this isn't what sales does.  The focus tends to be on one-way messaging, transaction and an overwhelming sense of confidence and pressure almost intimidating a client into making a buy.  You don't need to think, the message goes - just do what I tell you.

Nowhere is this more the case than in politics.  Partisans of all stripes are bullying their opponents and aggressively marketing their audiences.  You have to back me, or the barbarians will break down the gate.  Do you have our leader's back?  You should feel excluded if you don't, 'cause all your friends are doing it!

Despite their commitment to building community, these Political Parties are actually attempting to build cults - sycophantic crowds who will do as told, support without question and never doubt the infallibility of the person in charge (in theory - in practice, the mandarins behind the throne). 

When only you have the plan, they must be stopped and every-day folk are caught in the middle, you're not fostering engagement.  Your audience won't love what they do, won't feel inspired by you to do something themselves - they will follow, drift away, or actively turn against.  

You're not loving what you do and you're not encouraging them to love what you do - what more can you possibly expect?

Contrast this with the Open Data movement.  The people leading the charge aren't great salespeople, aren't competitive in a partisan sense, really believe in the concept they support and totally love what they do.  Honestly, they geek out about it.

At OpenDataDayToronto, the day's lead organizer - a non-bureaucrat, non-political guy, non-business sector leader - was able to bring individuals from all those sectors together in a government building.  

The topics were pure geek - coding stuff, programming stuff, etc - but also with themes of leadership and community engagement.  A group of Grade 10s got massive applause for owning the power brokers on the stage.  Someone wrote and sang a song that included the phrase "it must be machine-readable." 

Oh, and Rage Against the Machine got played - in the heart of a government building.

Any political expert would have walked into the room and tsked - the message was all over the place, the branding was inconsistent, the speakers didn't build to a crescendo.  No villains were identified, and we all know people don't act unless there's a threat.  No deal-closer was issued; "I hope yous" clearly aren't enough to push a sale.

But the people in that room got excited, they threw down their ideas, they tweeted their thoughts for the sheer pleasure of it.  More than that, they keep coming back.  

They know there's no established community that they get to touch from the outside.  This is a nascent community they get to play a role in building.

Frozen was a great movie; despite a title that implies fixedness and division, the key message of the movie was "love thaws, true love heals."  

Through great trials, the hero broke free from expectation and, in so doing, open up her whole community to new possibility.  They loved her for it.  The audiences love Disney for it.  And the added-value keeps coming.

Do what you love.  Love what you do enough that you want to do it with others.  Love your audience enough that you inspire them to geek out about/contribute to your service/product/idea.

Absolute message control?  Let it go - in the era of value-add, there's nothing cooler than geek-chique.

Not Exactly What I Meant by Value Add

For the candidates these ads promote, they are better than campaign-produced ads in important ways.

They don't count against the tight spending limit of $1.3 million per candidate.  They allow supporters to effectively circumvent the $2,500 cap for campaign donations by contributing far more in services.  And, crucially, they allow the candidates to simultaneously benefit from the attacks while retaining the ability to plausibly deny they have gone negative.

Not exactly what I had in mind when I wrote this bit about value-added user generated content, but you know what? I'm fine with this.  That's the whole point of an open society - not everyone is going to produce stuff that matches your tastes.  

The trick for leaders is to encourage that which, challenging or no, promotes debate, conversation, connectivity and solutions.  For things that don't support their value sets, it's perfectly fine to say something like "I think I get what they were trying to do, but I'm positive they could find creative ways to get the message across without an attack on someone's character."

This is especially important where a leader's opponent is in the cross-hairs.  Why?  Because leaders lead, and leadership is about leaving no one - even your opponents - behind.

Paris Meilleur ‏@parismeilleur  1h

Dalton's advice to Millennial leaders: 1. Leadership is about service - it's not about you, it's about them.

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Paris Meilleur ‏@parismeilleur  1h

Dalton's advice to Millennial leaders: 2. Leaders are incomplete. Take time to reflect. Struggle to be wise.

Paris Meilleur ‏@parismeilleur  1h

Dalton's advice to Millennial leaders: 3. Leaders take the high road and in so doing, leaders represent us at our best.

Paris Meilleur ‏@parismeilleur  1h

Dalton's advice for Millennial leaders: 4. Leaders put their character ahead of their reputation. Character is what you truly are.

Paris Meilleur ‏@parismeilleur  1h

And final piece of Dalton's advice to Millennials: 5. If you're going to lead, you must be an idealist. You must never give into cynicism.

Disney Bold and Open: Something to Marvel At

"It's almost like we have a built-in GPS system for storytelling," Disney exec Bob Iger said, adding: "They live and breathe Marvel full time just like the Pixar folks live and breathe Pixar full time."

Do I fully believe that Marvel has a mapped-out plan for movie into 2028?  Absolutely.  Do I think it's fully populated with detailed content down to the characters to be highlighted and Easter Eggs to be embedded?  Not in the slightest.

But that isn't the point - that's no the genius of this announcement.  By creating even a framework that lets them credibly encourage fans to imagine a temporal journey into an expanding universe with them, Marvel has given them cause to voice their thoughts on who and what they'd like to see on the big screen.

This, folks, is what's known as co-designing.  It's a bit like parenting - do parents ever get bored of watching their kids grow up?  Nope.  When you invest so much of your time and energy into a product, a brand or an individual, it becomes an extension of you - literally, you live through it.

I've been watching Disney with a suspicious eye ever since they cancelled The Clone Wars, but as it is emerging that they've thought their actions through, taken into account various fan bases and are really interested in sustained profit through an ongoing relationship instead of a series of bombastic one-offs, they're starting to win my trust.

Bob Iger was wise to reference Pixar, because that's a firm audiences have come to trust, too.  We know the folk at Pixar are as invested in their creations as we are, meaning they will always, always focus on the little value-added pieces that turn products into experiences.

Disney has Star Wars, too - and is bringing it back to life in a massive, carefully-orchestrated way.  

Marvel and Star Wars?  Frozen and Pixar?  

Theme parks, toys, teacher resources, Corporate Social Responsibility?

Re-read that last one.  Disney, along with firms like Microsoft, is a world-leader in social support and sustainability.

Disney is providing massive amounts of content through various platforms, each honest to their own unique brand and loyal to their own customer bases, yet integrated into one seamless, efficient, powerful whole.  It's like a random bunch of blocks put together through collaboration to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

Their partners trust them.  Partners who produce content that countless fans around the world love and believe in.  By empowering their team members, Disney is giving their new end-users cause to trust them, too.  It's funny how that happens.

Just imagine that government worked that way.  Heck, Disney could even help support the movement that will get us there.

"You've become part of a bigger universe, you just don't know it yet."

CSR: Investing in Value Add

Lu Buwei had a vision and was willing to bet his wealth, career, family and life on a long-term investment, because he recognized the value of investing in a person, he became the most powerful person in China.

Not really - it was Qin Shi Huang who became the most powerful person in China.  He unified the nation, built great monuments, shed a great deal of blood and eventually killed himself with mercury poisoning in his vain attempt to live forever.

We remember Qin Shi Huang as much for the misery he caused and the terrible toll his vanity and fear of death took upon the later years of his life.  His is not a happy story, though it is one that endures.

Lu Buwei got mixed up in scandals involving Qin Shi Huang's mother, was stripped of his position by the king he made and eventually committed suicide.  But he is remembered.

Both men rose to the heights of power because of a vision that transcended themselves; both were brought down by their own selfishness.

There's a big difference between investing and adding value:

 - one invests with the aim of eventually gaining a significant return.  

- one adds value with the hopes of providing that return to others.

We have a whole host of leaders out there right now who see themselves as empire-builders, incrementally investing in closed futures they think will immortalize their names in history.  The narrow tactics and devious tricks they employ to get there inevitably lead to the tainting of their legacies and often as not, their fall from grace.

Which is why I love the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility so much; it provides a win-win for everyone.  

There are countless visionary value-adders out there who care not a whit about legacy or what they will get in return; they are truly and openly committed to what they can give, not what they can receive.  

They are driven by their vision, not their own selfish interests.  But there's not a lot of money in altruism.

If the would-be Emperors are smart, they'll recognize the value in out-sourcing the visionary work and positioning themselves as patrons.  That way, they remove the risks of their ego tainting the impact of their legacy but get to take all the credit - the thought leaders and social innovators won't care, so long as they're given the resources and freedom to do what needs done.

Visionary value-adders - invest in them and you won't be disappointed.

Why Cars Should Be Considered Hes

I'm not saying we would be better off without an auto industry.  But we would certainly be better off without taxing our own industries every year to pay off Detroit's extortionists.

The Harper Government is not fond of unions.  They block growth, demand the world and generally impede success through aggressive obstinance - right?

The auto industry, clearly, is a different matter.  They simply do a good job of selling their value to the Canadian economy.  Squeaky wheels and grease, so to speak.

This sounds oddly familiar:

"The women don't come as often to complain.  The men do, so my experience is a little different in that I do think that more men put a fuss up about money than women."  - John Tory

The auto industry is subsidized beyond it's actual contributions to the economy, because they put up more of a fuss about money.  They complain, they threaten, they spend time, effort and money advocating for themselves - and as such, get more.

But is this overall a good thing for the Canadian economy?  Are we greasing the wheels at the expense of our economic chassis?  By heavily investing in traditional manufacturing, are Canadian governments impeding our national ability to innovate and growth into new opportunities?

Well, no - because if those new opportunities were so great and bountiful, clearly someone would be aggressively selling them to the laissez-faire purse string holders.  These innovators, social and otherwise, would be aggressively pitching, attending fundraisers, golfing and otherwise strategically hobknobbing with our socio-economic influencers.  That's the way the capitalist system works, right?

"More women need to invest the time in any capacity available to them to strengthen their relationships with colleagues."

By doing things like going out for drinks after work, weekend golf tourneys, all that kind of thing.

Which is kind of hard to do if you have kids.

It's sad how many competent, even excellent women I know in fields ranging from community consultations to government relations who are almost apologetic when they get pregnant, because they know it's going to place a burden on their employers.

Worse still is knowing how many working mothers (who don't make enough to afford nannies) simply can't go drinking after work or play golf on the weekends, because it's just accepted that they're primary caregivers - even when they are full-time employed.

To sum up, women who take responsibility for both work and family are punished because they aren't pushing themselves while men who take the time to sell themselves get the raise and the corner office.

Conversely, men who "act maternally" by taking responsibility for family and firm, putting the interests of both before self are marginalized.  They aren't man enough, you see - they don't complain enough or drink enough or go to the links enough.

I laugh when I hear people like Michael Hlinka talk about how employers reward value as a matter of principle.  We've got a very primitive notion of what value is.

But so what as along as the economy keeps rolling as it always has, I suppose...

Adding Value: You Can't Script Authenticity

When actors improvise, it can create some of the most authentic scenes because, well, they truly are authentic.

"I think Canadians are tired of politicians that are spun and scripted within an inch of their life, people who are too afraid of what a focus group might say about one comment or a political opponent might try to twist out of context, to actually say much of anything at all," he said.

People love Jennifer Lawrence; they love Justin Trudeau.  What do they have in common?

Exactly.

Red Book, Blue Book, Changebook: Tim Hudak Cribs Saruman

Do you know how the Orcs first came into being?  They were elves once, taken by the dark powers, tortured and mutilated.  A ruined and terrible form of life.

  - Saruman, Lord of the Rings

The Progressive Conservatives of Ontario have a new video for you to watch - new, that is, in that it's someone else's creative work with some conspiracy theories and snide remarks thrown in.  Oh, and a police siren, because we know sirens make people uncomfortable.

They meant for this to be a sharp, possibly witty criticism, I'm sure.  But they've also given a fresh look into how they think and what they view as the role of political bosses.

Hudak, in everything he has done, has stood against.  His semi-famous white papers are all about disparaging what there is, presenting cuts with new covers and finding every flaw, conspiracy and villain that can be mined from civil society in Ontario.

What he has consistently failed to do is create anything new, to add any value to the proceedings.  In fact, he's falling into tropes that are demonstrated to fail.  Hudak plans to cut regulation, cut taxes and strangle the public service, hoping that somehow the private sector will suddenly decide that, unfettered by social bonds, it's in their best interest to fill the gap.  There's no evidence to support that position - in fact, the facts point the other way.

"A central problem with attitudes in the Ontario business community is that there continues to be hesitance on the part of business leaders to make substantial investments or start up new companies," the study laments.

Despite the Liberals transforming the tax system into "one of the most business-friendly" in the industrialized world, "businesses have not fully taken advantage of the many incentives that have been created to promote growth."

We know the impact Hudak's policies would have, because the evidence is clear - they don't inspire wealth to flow, they inspire economic hibernation.  Leaders don't stand against - they stand for.

They also create new products, services and ideas.  They add value.

Hudak isn't adding value; with his policies and his attack ads, he's simply twisting and torturing what someone else has laid out before him.

This approach might make for good politics, but it's not leadership. 

UPDATE: Notably, the secret NSA briefing document describes part of the U.S. eavesdropping agency's mandate at the Toronto summit as "providing support to policymakers."

If you can't innovate ideas and you have no vision of where to go next, you can always crib from others.

My Phone Will Start Ringing Any Minute Now!

Two narratives I'm contemplating today as I dive further into defining what a truly networked society would look like, how it would work and why partners from across multiple spectrums will work together to catalyze it.

 

The public service Integration Imperative:

 

Human and social service leaders are responding to the changing preferences and usage patterns by developing a range of new digital platforms, including integrated websites, online accounts, and smartphone and tablet apps.

 

The apps have a range of capabilities enabling clients to update personal information, upload documentation, and view transaction histories across a range of programs.

 

Integration, for instance, can remove perverse incentives that cause providers to work in isolation rather than share resources and collaborate to achieve more effective interventions.

 

The evolving nature of PR:

 

I asked him about the state of the PR industry, and he said the challenge for PR pros is this: We're mainly talkers in a world where companies are looking for makers.

 

It’s safe to say that in the evolving marketing communications landscape, PR firms are competing more and more often with ad, digital, social media, content, and whatever new hybrid agencies appear on the horizon. The industry’s challenge is not only to get clients to think about us, but to think of us first.

 

The real challenge for PR is that it's a sales business; a focus on marketing existing value over creating new content is hard-wired into the industry.

 

The biggest challenge of government is that service delivery models are silo-focused; everyone knows they need to integrate, but A) don't know quite what that looks like and B) see integration as a threat to their turf.

 

How on earth do we bridge the gap between what we're comfortable doing and where we need to be going?

 

Sorry, phone's ringing, gotta sign off.  You know where to find me when you're ready to have a conversation!

Marvel Phase 3: Tahiti is a Magical Place

So what is up with Phil Coulson?

 

He's stabbed through the heart, then he's starring in Agents of Shield, with the only explanation as to what happened in between is reference to Tahiti as "a magical place" to recover in.  

 

If you care at all about the character - and thanks to a brilliant portrayal by Greg Clarkson and some great writing (in no small part thanks to Joss Whedon), people DO care about him.  We want to know what happened.

We'll get to Phil in a second; first (and related) let's step back and look at Marvel's cinematic strategy for a bit.

Marvel has cleverly built their rollout around phases designed to slowly reel audiences into the Marvel Universe.  It's a complex place, that universe, with imaginary countries, aliens, sentient robots time travel, parallel timelines, etc.  But it also has more relatable street-heroes like The Punisher.

The phased-in strategy makes that reeling an organic process.

PHASE 1: A Realistic Entry

 

 To hook audiences, Marvel started their film odyssey off with Iron Man - a rich guy with cool toys that more-or-less makes sense in our world.  They also had Captain America, a hero whose powers are muted (there's really nothing he can do that Bruce Willis or Harrison Ford haven't done while playing John McClane or Indiana Jones); his stand-out strengths are his humility and leadership skills.  We admire the guy - we feel comfortable following him on his journey.  Let's hope Cap just doesn't jump the shark while Nuking the fridge.

 Phase 1 also introduced Thor - an alien/god who went through a very archtypical journey from Arrogant Bully to Empathetic Leader.  It's a story everyone knows and is comfortable with; given the real-world experiences Thor went through, we can relate to him, too.  Cleverly, there was a reference in Thor to magic and science being "one and the same" in his world.

Phase 1 culminated in The Avengers, which saw Captain America forced to come to terms with a strange new world in much the same way that Marvel's audiences are.  The film ended with a huge battle between Heroes and Aliens and introducing Thanos as the Big Bad, officially transitioning into Phase 2.

PHASE 2 - Going Sci-Fi

Now that the wall between our world and the sci-fi one has been broken, Marvel is starting to fill in the extra-terrestrial part of the map for us, notably with Guardians of the Galaxy which will use a Captain America-like character to organically guide us into that space, too.  Marvel's got a lot riding on GOTG, because if it isn't that successful they'll have a harder time pushing other sci-fi properties forward.

 Thor: The Dark World will also help with this, though, as it brings an even stronger sci-fi presence to earth than did his first outing.  If you're a fan of the shared universe Marvel has created, you're going to want to see how all the threads connect; more lines simply provide more hooks.

We know that Phase 2 will end with Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron, which is another sci-fi related theme; a sentient robot (possibly an evolution of Iron Man's Jarvis program) will threaten the world with The Avengers saving the day.  How Thanos will fit in to the picture leading towards an Avengers 3 confrontation remains to be seen.

But what of Phase 3?  If it's to have a unique theme and pull back the curtain on an even more fantastical Marvel realm than the last phase, what could it be?

PHASE 3: Tahiti is a Magical Place

Marvel has a whole world of magic to explore as well.  It's a bit of a stretch for American Ganster-loving audiences to go that far without a bridge, but bridging worlds in Easter-Egg like fashion has been a hallmark of Marvel's strategy.

 

There's been lots of talk around a Dr. Strange movie - a big character in Marvel but a hard one to deliver in a way that has mass appeal.  If there's a subtle transition from sci-fi to fantasy, though, audiences will have an easier time following through.

Which brings us back to Coulson.

We already know that SHIELD has a jump on the general public when it comes to what's going on in the world - there are countless references to that fact in all of Marvel's properties.  We also know that not every SHIELD agent is in on the Big Picture - they have to get to Level 7 to see how many of the sci-fi pieces connect.

Yet when Maria Hill and Sheppard Book talk about Coulson in the Agents of Shield pilot, they refer to our hero as not knowing what happened to him and that "he can never know." If there are things Coulson isn't in on, could that imply a Level 8?

Tahiti is a magical place, indeed.  I can't wait to see what we find when Marvel takes us there.

Leadership With Gravitas

So they said, "If we make it amazing for him right where you are, will you be OK?"  And I said, "yeah."

From that moment forward, Sandra Bullock was anchored to Gravity and is bringing all the weight of her acting talent and marketing star power to bear.  They trusted and empowered her - she responded in kind.

Just imagine if more leaders treated their people with the same amount of respect and empathy they expect for themselves.  Think about what they could accomplish.

Winged Victory: How Do You Get The Job You Want?

Little Evan loves Lego.  He also apparently has very supportive/technologically skilled parents.

Evan's adding value to his experience, creating an experience for others and creating one hell of a proof-in-the-pudding CV for himself.

There's been talk about a Wonder Woman film/show for ages.  Nobody seems able to get it off the ground.  People like Rileah aren't waiting for a studio to act now - they're making what the world wants all on their ownsome.  The audiences are following.

What's the lesson, here?  Set the example you would like to see.  Know what you love, think what you'd like to do.

And just do it.

Breakfast In Ontario

There's no reason that Ontario can't expand its role as a hub and become a centralized access point for innovation, industry, investment and human potential for the global village.

The Ontario Liberal Party's Common Ground online policy platform is drawing positive commentary as an innovative, purposeful and engaging use of social media.

 

It's early days yet, and it will take ongoing commitment from OLP staffers to keep their policy hub ticking and to dole out periodic value-add upgrades, but things like this can make a huge difference both in terms of fuelling policy the people will like and associating the Liberal brand with all kinds of positive things.

 

Of course politics isn't about being positive, it's about poking a stick in the eye of your opponents.  Therefore it should really come as no surprise that someone (or ones) out there in Oppositionland immediately started looking for ways to rain on the Common Ground parade.

 

Appropriately enough, it appears someone did a Google search of "common ground" to see if they could find any meme-worthy material (or likes music and is old enough to recall the mid-nineties).  In this effort, they landed on the line "we've got nothing in common/No common ground to start from" of the song Breakfast at Tiffany's by, funny enough, the band Deep Blue Something. 

 

It's a great song - upbeat tune, good to dance to.  When I was in university, I lived with a DJ who used to play it all the time.   We'd play it and drink Moody Blue before heading out to the bar.  Good memories.  Which is why I can recall how the rest of the verse (and chorus) went:

 

You'll say that we've got nothing in common

No common ground to start from

And we're falling apart

You'll say the world has come between us

Our lives have come between us

Still I know you just don't care

 

So it's not that the two Parties don't share common ground - only that one simply isn't interesting in trying.  But then:  

 

 CHORUS:
And I said, "What about 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'?"
She said, "I think I remember the film, yes
and as I recall, I think, we both kinda liked it."

And I said, "Well, that's the one thing we've got."

 

So it's kind of a silver lining sort of thing.  There's always common ground to stand on.  In fact, we always stand on the same ground - and breathe the same air, cherish our children's future, etc.

 

Not such a good meme theme to pick, when you think about it.  Regardless of who's seeing through who, though, there is so much left undone - massive, structural challenges that will require shared solutions with broad support to fix.  None of us are getting any younger; if we don't care enough to move beyond entrenched positions and end our differences, we can at least help make world safe for diversity (of ideas, of personalities, even of partisanship) tomorrow. 

 

I feel bad for those who choose not to get on the train - it's leaving the station regardless.

 

If Sun Tzu could sing:

I love performing talent, more than anything else.  Powerful singing, evocative dancing, acting that completely transforms a person and tranports an audience - theatre is magic.  When you find the triple, quadruple threats, sit back and allow yourself to be swept away with sheer delight.

Which is why this video of Christina Bianco singing Total Eclipse of the Heart made my morning.  Not only does she sing, beautifully - she brings a knowledge, a respect for her peers and the capacity to in the blink of an eye transform voice, body language and even the words she utters.  That passion, raw talent and irresistible sense of control Bianco brings to bear that draws you in to the community of her performance.  

As spectators and participants both, we are willing to place ourselves in our hands because she so clearly demonstrates a love of what she does, a respect for her source material and through the value she provides, respect for us, her captive audience.

There's a valuable lesson in this for anyone charged with leading people.

And if you like impressions, here's another one of my favourites from another master performer.

After Action Reports: Death and Iteration in Business

Of course, you can always blame someone else for your woes and keep doing things the way you always have.  That tends to work real well.

When you find the right priority - and it might be a bit loftier than pure profit - you expand your perspective and enhance your capacity to bring new insights and new tools to the table.  Inevitably, those additions will benefit all your other objectives, including profit.

That's how value-add works.

Not Sharing the Opportunity to Learn is a Cardinal Sin

I have never worked for a company that was dogmatic about project postmortems but I have always wished I had. After all, project postmortems teach us so much.

Learning from the mistakes and experiences of others constitutes the better part of our business education. It’s why we ask successful entrepreneurs to coffee and hang on every word when they speak at conferences. All those stories are postmortems. Postmortems condense all the experience and learning into a nugget of shared wisdom.

Despite their value, postmortems are uncommon. They exist only in delicate corporate cultures that demand excellence but support learning. Harder still, framing one’s own failure to colleagues daunts the entry-level employee as much a seasoned CEO.

It’s rare to find an enterprise that conducts postmortems consistently. Very few startups do. But I came across one business in a sector I wouldn’t have expected that exemplifies the value of the everyday post-mortem.

Alcoa, the Aluminum Company of America, generates $24 billion in revenue and for decades held the title of largest aluminum producer in the world. In the mid-1980s, the company hired Paul O’Neill as CEO. O’Neill changed the course of the business and doubled revenues in ten years because he instilled one particular value in the company. Unlike his predecessors who focused on increasing profitability to drive market cap, O’Neill championed safety as priority one from his very first shareholder meeting.

This ostensibly odd decision created a cascade of cultural changes within Alcoa. First, it united the interests of managers and unions who had been at odds over wages and benefits. After all both sought safer working environments for their teams. Second, because every accident needed to be reported in a timely fashion according to company policy, Alcoa became one of the first large enterprises to adopt email. Last, as employees focused on reporting accidents quickly and widely, the company cultivated a culture wherein people learned from others’ mistakes and everyone benefitted as a result. Accident rates plummeted, productivity rose and the business boomed.

A few years into O’Neill’s term, at a shareholder meeting, a Mexican nun (who was a shareholder of Alcoa) pointed out to the CEO that some members of her parish had suffered exposure to toxic gases working for Alcoa. The company investigated. They discovered that one of the most senior and tenured members of the management team, Bob Barton, had covered up the gas leak. O’Neill fired Barton immediately.

O’Neill said later, “…no one else had the opportunity to learn [from the accident]. Not sharing an opportunity to learn is a cardinal sin.” And his employees agreed.

Postmortems demand a culture of honesty and communication, two of the core values of the strongest relationships and cultures. I hope we see more of them in startups.

Context Marketing and Microtargeting

Political micro targeting is a variant of this theme - though really, it kinda ignores the "context" part.

 

People focus more on what they want than what they need; nothing special about this, it's just biology.  Our body sends us signals indicating feelings that we have to interpret as Requests For Action; we may want a burger because we're in the mood, but what we need may be iron.  It's the external flavour bits worked into the product that give us a narrower craving, which of course is a result of product design and marketing.

 

Same with politics.  We may want to hear strictly about what politics has to do with what we feel is directly relevant to us - say, crime and punishment policy.  What we need, though, is to have the proper context - what are the cognitive determinants of criminal behaviour?  How does social development impact that process?

 

When we have blinders on, someone behind us gets to dictate our direction.  Add context and you get better choices.

 

Being the one who provides context - who is able to marry both wants and needs - now that's adding value. 

 

And value sells. 

 

 

Context Marketing Is Newest Social Media Buzz

August 30, 2013 by Jayme Soulati

 

When you put a noun in front of “marketing,” you get a new trend, #RockHot topic and buzzword. I’ve said that in a blog post or two. It was bound to happen sooner or later – content marketing is being dethroned. Instead of content, insert “consumer.”

Consumer is king and content is queen.

We bloggers and content marketers are the royal subjects to none other than the king. In this case, that’s the consumer, our community, our followers, engagers, lurkers, subscribers, and readers.

It is our inherent duty to deliver relevant and remarkable content our king can use. When a consumer shares and comments on the content you create, then you’ve done your duty. You can remain in the monarchy.

I bet you’ve gotten bored with the “content is king” mantra, too. So, it was no surprise that “context” has become the latest trend on the ‘sphere.

What Is Context Marketing?

I am a HubSpot user; aiming for that digital marketing certificate to put a label on my educational investment this year. When you do inbound marketing, you first must know your buyer persona. Who is most likely to purchase your services or product? What are the demographics around them?

With that knowledge, you begin to feed appropriate content that matters to your prospects. Give them what they need at their doorstep.

• Use RSS feeds to deliver relevant blog posts.

• Build your email marketing list and develop solid content in newsletters.

• Engage at a higher level with even higher level professional content.

• Become the authority for your audience with remarkability.

You’re likely already doing context marketing. Now, you just need to be aware of its cognitive definition.

Give consumers what they need, in the best place at the right time.

Are you already using context marketing?

 

This article “Context Marketing Is Newest Social Media Buzz” first appeared on Soulati