They got us hooked on data. Advertisers want more data. Direct marketers want more data. Who saw it? Who clicked? What percentage? What's trending? What's yielding?
But there's one group that doesn't need more data…
Anyone who's making a long-term commitment. Anyone who seeks to make art, to make a difference, to challenge the status quo.
Because when you're chasing that sort of change, data is the cudgel your enemies will use to push you to conform.
Data paves the road to the bottom. It is the lazy way to figure out what to do next. It's obsessed with the short-term.
Data gets us the Kardashians.
HT: Marco
May 15, 2016
Trust is the biggest hurdle.
And trust largely comes from social proof.
Is everyone doing this?
Is it safe?
Will I be embarrassed/ridiculed/left out/left behind/feel stupid?
Social proof shares a word with social networks, but they're only loosely related.
Social proof is the story we end up believing.
Your job as a marketer, then, is to take the threads of social proof and weave them together into something powerful.
No, you can't fake this (and shouldn't try). But you can amplify it. You can focus the proof on a tiny cohort, so that it has more impact. You can invest in media that acts as a megaphone, multiplying the impact of the proof you already have.
One way to be trusted is to trust the people you seek to serve.
Mostly, you can work to build something that's worth trusting.
May 14, 2016
Roller coasters work because of momentum—the quantity of motion from the downhill allows the car to make it up the next rise. Without momentum, the car would merely stop. But few things in the world of ideas follow the same rules.
Ideas have no mass, they don't coast.
Authors fall into this trap over and over again. They believe that a big launch, the huge push upfront, the bending of the media in their favor (at any cost) is the way to ensure that weeks two and three and eleven will continue to show solid growth.
A decade ago, I wrote two different posts for friends who were launching books. The ideas still stand.
I'm betting that an analysis of the Billboard charts over the last fifty years would confirm that the speed a song makes it to the top has no correlation with how long it stays at the top.
Here's a look at the cumulative sales for Your Turn, the book I published in November 2014. And you'd find a similar curve for most successful books.
The launch is the launch. What happens after the launch, though, isn't the result of momentum. It's the result of a different kind of showing up, of word of mouth, of the book (or whatever tool you're using to cause change) being part of something else, something bigger.
Fast starts are never as important as a cultural hook, consistently showing up and committing to a process.
May 13, 2016
Most people don't get too upset at anything a two-year-old kid says to them.
That's because we don't believe that toddlers have a particularly good grasp on the nuances of the world, nor do they possess much in the way of empathy. Mostly, though, it turns out that getting mad at a toddler doesn't do any good, because he's not going to change as a result (not for a few years, anyway).
Couldn't the same be said for your uninformed critics? For the people who bring you down without knowing any better, for those that sabotage your best work, or undermine your confidence for selfish reasons?
It's hardly productive to ruin your day and your work trying to teach these folks a lesson.
Better, I think, to treat them like a toddler. Buy them a lollipop, smile and walk away.
May 12, 2016
Commonly misunderstood and misspelled as "striking a cord."
A cord is a single strand that connects. You can strike a cord, but not much happens.
A chord, on the other hand, is the resonance of multiple cords, more than one vibrating together.
That's rare, and worth seeking out.
It probably won't happen if you don't do it on purpose.
May 11, 2016
… is now two problems.
May 10, 2016
It's great to dream like a kid, but no fun to be treated like one. It bristles because we feel that, even if the person involved has best intentions, we've outgrown being treated like a child. Some behaviors to consider if you want to avoid this situation…
Make long-term plans instead of whining
Ask hard questions but accept truthful answers
Don't insist that there's a monster under the bed even after you've seen there isn't
Manage your debt wisely
Go to school, early and often
Don't call people names
Get your own drink of water
Don't hit your siblings
Stop bullying
No tantrums
(On the other hand, all the good stuff about being a kid helps you be happier and endear yourself to others: being filled with optimism and hope, smiling, trusting, finding creative solutions to old problems, hugging for no good reason, giggling and sharing your ice cream cone with a friend.)
May 9, 2016
Doing things with rigor takes effort, but not everything you put effort into is done with rigor.
Rigor is a focus on process. Paying attention to not just how you do things, but why. Rigor requires us to never use an emergency as an excuse. It is a process for the long haul, the work of a professional.
An amateur bread baker leaves the kitchen coated in flour, and sometimes, perhaps, ends up with a great loaf of bread.
A professional baker might not seem to be as flustered, as hassled or even as busy. But the bread, the result of this mindful process, is worth buying, every day.
We know that you're working hard.
The next step is to do it with rigor.
May 8, 2016
Many people are trying to find their calling.
But that doesn't explain Marianne Money, bank manager, or Jim Kardwell, who owns a card company. Or Thomas Duck who started Ugly Duckling rent-a-car and Tito Beveridge who makes vodka. It doesn't explain why people named Dennis are more likely to become dentists…
I'm not sure that anyone has a calling. I think, instead, our culture creates situations where passionate people find a place where they can make an impact. When what you do is something that you make important, it doesn't matter so much what you do.
It's not that important where. It matters a lot how. With passion and care.
May 7, 2016
When we were kids, my mom, fully exasperated, would survive a day when school was closed by dropping a bunch of us off at Sheridan Lanes for a few hours of bowling.
You only had a certain amount of money to spend, and each game (and the snacks) cost, so we knew that one could only play a few games. Which meant that every single roll mattered. Don't waste one.
Unlimited bowling is a whole different concept. As many games as you want. Roll to your heart's content.
When you're doing unlimited bowling, you can practice various shots. You can work on the risky splits. You can bowl without remorse.
As you've guessed, the fat pipes of the internet bring the idea of unlimited bowling to much of what we do. Interesting is enough. Generous is enough. Learning is enough.
It's a special kind of freedom, we shouldn't waste it.
More on this in my new interview with Chase Jarvis. (YouTube)
May 6, 2016
