The door is rusted shut.

You know this, intuitively.
You’re aware that people have far too many choices to deal with.
Too much information to process, most of which is conflicting.
And, they simply don’t trust information from business people.
But you persist.
You knock, knock, knock.
With uninspiring messages and meaningless behavior.
And no one answers.
It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over.
And expecting different results.
It’s also insane, especially in a rapidly changing world, to do the same things over and over.
While expecting the same results (or even comparable ones).
Don’t be insane.
Change!
But don’t change for the sake of change.
Don’t try to create opportunity by being novel.
Discover opportunity.
Uncover people’s desires.
Then create value with bold, novel ideas.
You can tweet and follow and blog and upload videos and dance in the streets until your fingertips bleed and your shoes fall apart.
And you’ll never truly engage people.
Not until you’ve created something original and compelling.
Something that turns you on and draws them in.
Something that you’ve mastered and they desire.
Something you and your audience care deeply about.
Perhaps that something is content.
Heaven knows the world needs more great writing, music, photography, and filmmaking.
Music lifts our souls.
We’re transformed by a compelling photograph and inspired by a rousing speech.
Movies and theatre help mold our sentiments.
Humor keeps us sane.
Whatever it happens to be, go for the gut.
Make it bold.
Be inventive.
Charm people.
Take a stand and make it significant.
So yes, have a great, long weekend.
Then come back to your work with passion.
As the great photographer Cecil Beaton urged:
“Be daring, be different, be impractical.
Be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision.
Against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.”

Do what they love.

“Do what you love and the money will follow.”
How do you interpret that statement?
Many have been led to believe that if you do what you love, a lot of money will follow.
And there is a ring of truth to it.
It goes something like this.
If you love it, you’ll be open-eyed and curious about it.
You’ll study it, learn about it, and spend more time doing it.
And all of that passion and attention (love) will give you an edge over your competitors.
I’m not so sure.
Yes, passion is extremely important in business, as well as in other aspects of life.
And certainly, those who truly care and are genuinely excited about their profession will have an edge over their competitors.
But success in the marketplace has little to do with what you want or what you love.
It’s about being other-focused.
Or to put it another way, “Do what they love and the money will follow.”
Love your customers, like parents sending their children off to their first day of school.
Your inconvenience, like rushing around to get your child’s lunch ready while making breakfast and reviewing spelling homework, will provide your customers with convenience.
Your fear and pain, like working two or more jobs to pay a second mortgage that will inevitably be used to finance your child’s education, will provide your customers with a sense of comfort.
Delaying your gratification will provide customers with theirs.
Your risk will be your customers’ reward.
The marketplace isn’t a complex environment with complex solutions.
It’s simple.
Not easy mind you, but simple nonetheless.
Help people feel better than others do, and do it at a profit.
The challenge is to continuously change and innovate, and achieve this simple concept over time.
So again, if it’s money you’re after, you must do what they love and the money will follow.
And if you’re truly blessed, you’ll also love getting up in the morning and doing it.

Don't fool yourself.

Here’s a warning sign.
One to alert you to when you and your organization are fooling yourselves?
Simply listen closely for these erroneous statements.
“Our real problem is a perception problem.
People simply don’t understand our unique value.”
What is a “perception problem” anyway?
Isn’t “perception” knowledge gained by perceiving something?
And isn’t perceived value in the subjective eyes of the beholder?
So what’s the “real” problem?
I’ll tell you what it is.
Organizations want to change people’s perceptions in a flash.
And they’re discovering that they can’t.
In his book Story, the screenwriter Robert McKee distinguished fact from truth.
“What happens is fact, not truth.
Truth is what we think about what happens.”
Perception, people’s truth, is what drives their behavior.
But people don’t perceive in order to discover the facts, to construct reality.
They perceive in order to make personal meaning of their present circumstances.
By comparing them to their past experiences.
Ultimately, people perceive in order to make predictions, to manage the future.
A future that uniquely suits their needs and desires.
Plato wrote, “Knowledge is nothing but perception.”
If you want people to know about you and your brand and its value to them, stop fooling yourself.
Your facts will never be the same as their truth.
If you focus on the facts, you’ll believe that your mission should be to convey those facts.
It’s an illuson.
The truth rules.
Everything is subjective.
Every decision is driven by what is inside someone.
Memories, images, stories and feelings.
The key to successful influence is to forget the language of logic and arguments.
And become proficient at the language of perceptions and beliefs.

We need more dots.

It was a beautiful spring morning in the early 90s.
My business partner found me laid out on a hospital bed.
A respiratory ventilator strapped to my face.
It was a fateful experience.
Thankfully, it wasn’t medically necessary.
I placed myself in that uncomfortable position (it was my company’s ventilator).
I wanted to feel what our customers were feeling.
And I was hoping to solve an intractable product performance puzzle.
After what seemed like hours of breathing into a plastic mask, the answer mysteriously appeared to me. 
It manifested itself as a “what if” question.
One that our people fervently noodled over, experimented with and, eventually, brought to life in a very creative way.
I’ve often thought about that “Eureka” moment.
As well as other sparks of inspiration I’ve experienced over the years.
How does my mind manufacture these insights?
Am I a right-brained person?
And how did others come up with their breakthrough marketplace ideas.
Especially since other very smart people watched in disbelief.
Sometime around 2005, I was introduced to a theory of brain function that would answer my question.
And radically change my views on both creativity and human behavior.
That theory is called memory-prediction.
It was developed by Jeff Hawkins, inventor of the Palm Pilot, and described in his 2004 book On Intelligence.
“The brain is not a computer, supplying an output for each input it receives.
Instead, it is a memory system that stores experiences in a way that reflects the true structure of the world, remembering sequences of events and their nested relationships and making predictions based on those memories.
It is this memory-prediction system that forms the basis of intelligence, perception, creativity, and even consciousness.”
It appears the brain works like an elaborate and evolving “connect the dots” puzzle.
Adding new experiences creates new dots.
And that makes our mental pictures richer and more insightful.
My flash of insight was not created by switching my brain.
From a rational, left-sided orientation to a more intuitive, right-brained one.
Instead, my new breathing experience added some critical missing dots to a partial picture.
Enough dots for the pattern to magically appear in my mind’s eye.
In his book The Future of Capitalism, Lester Thurow made a provocative prediction.
“We are about to enter a world of punctuated equilibrium–a period of economic change so dramatic and unsettling that America’s middle class, as we now know it, may simply cease to exist.”
He concluded, “Business must learn to operate in a world where human capital or ‘brain power’ is the only strategic competitive asset.”
We’ve entered that period.
We live in that world.
Yes, it’s time to turn on our “brain power.”
But we don’t need more data or meetings.
We don’t need to “be creative” and “think outside the box.” 
We need to get outside the box.
We need to turn off theories and turn on uncertainty.
By experiencing life firsthand.
We need to spawn new patterns by creating new experiences.
We need more dots.

There's your brand strategy!

In the book Human Motivation, Harvard psychology professor David McClelland points to three things that drive everyone.
Achievement, the desire to compete against increasingly challenging goals.
Affiliation, the desire to be liked and loved.
And power, the desire for influence and respect for oneself, and to empower others, to offer them influence and respect.
My research reveals three additional ones.
Aesthetics, the desire for sensory pleasure and stimulation.
Control, a sense of being in the driver’s seat.
And identity, advancement of our personal narrative and values.
So ask yourself, What are we doing to motivate people, to feed their hungers and desires?
Are we helping them achieve?
Are we feeding their hungers to be recognized, to be liked and loved?
Are we connecting them with like-minded people and empowering them to empower others?
Are we providing a beautiful, pleasurable, and engaging experience?
Are we providing a sense of control, full knowledge and participation?
Are we helping them feel good about themselves and their decisions in our presence?
Do we believe passionately in these pursuits?
Now, list precisely how you are uniquely going about it.
Ta-da!
There’s your brand strategy.
As it so happens, it’s your leadership strategy as well.

Does branding matter?

Friday, January 12, 2007, 7:51 am.
The start of a Washington Post social experiment in “context, perception and priorities.”
And of Joshua Bell’s 43-minute nightmare.
For the experiment, Bell, one of the world’s greatest violinists, donned a cap and plain clothing.
And busked for change as an incognito street entertainer in a D.C. Metro subway station.
1,000-odd rush hour commuters passed by.
But only seven stopped to listen to Bell.
Seven.
He collected a paltry $32.17 from 27 people, excluding $20 from the one person who recognized him.
Despite being an internationally acclaimed virtuoso, Bell’s subway audience was blind to his performance.
It was simply background music to them.
There’s your modern day marketplace parable.
Preoccupied, stressed out people.
An exceptional, refined idea.
And, in affect and effect, nothing. Nada.
A brilliant idea, even if placed directly in people’s paths, is simply not enough to engage them today.
Please don’t delude yourself into believing that it is.
The results will break your heart and your spirit.
Instead, realize that perception, context and priorities (a.k.a. “branding”) matter.
A lot.
The marketplace is an impassioned dance.
It’s a moving and evolving exchange of value.
Yes, Bell had his moves perfected.
His core competencies were second to none.
But he didn’t appeal to the unique circumstances and desires of his dance partners.
He didn’t bring his idea to life in a clear, meaningful and differentiated way.
And the results confirmed the Post’s dispassionate approach.
A self-fulfilling prophecy if I’ve ever seen one.

A brand is embroidery.

The warp of a fabric is the threads running lengthwise.
It forms the background or framework.
The woof is the threads running across the warp.
Together they create cloth, structure, foundation.
Like the various departments of an organization.
Or the activities of a solopreneur.
They hold it together.
But cloth is a commodity.
It’s easy to create, and holds little value.
A brand is embroidery.
It’s an artistic rendering of the cloth.
One that adds beauty, meaning and stability.
And one that requires distinctive conception and production.
But there’s a big difference between the back and the front.
Everything is orderly and purposeful on the front.
The back is messy.
Purposeful, yes, but containing various tricks and shortcuts.
Do you want to get unstuck, to end your self-doubt? 
Stop comparing the back of your embroidery to everyone else’s front.
I’ll let you in on a little secret.
Everyone’s underside is a mess.
Sure, it’s integral to the design.
But it’s not displayed, and seldom acknowledged.
So accept your mess and create!
Your goal is to produce unique value from threads that are readily available to everyone.
Using as many tricks and shortcuts as you can.

Desire narrows.

Last week I felt an air of foreboding.
Nothing serious.
Unless you’re hoping to get people’s attention.
I received seven unsolicited business books.
Four in the mail and three electronic versions.
The authors all desire my attention, and yours.
And in the past I would have happily read them.
And provided a review and an endorsement.
First, I love to help people.
And second, I used to love business books.
I’ve read about one a week for the past 30 years.
But my perceptual field has exploded with options.
Books, blogs, newsletters, magazines, videos, podcasts, hangouts.
Yes, my awareness has broadened.
But my attention has narrowed.
It had too.
I simply don’t have the available bandwidth.
So I no longer read “business” books.
I only read books that interest me.
Ones driven by my immediate and prevailing desires.
Desires that have narrowed.
They’ve narrowed my interests and narrowed my choices.
This is happening to everyone in every domain as options continue to proliferate.
Fragmentation, nichification, whatever you want to call it.
If you want to be chosen, awareness is paramount.
But it’s a costly diversion without attention.
Attention is what focuses awareness.
It’s a beacon of light that’s directed by desire.
And held steady by interest.
In an age of abundance, desire narrows.
Appeal to it relentlessly.
Or its probing light may edge you out.
And leave you in the darkness of irrelevance.

The yin and yang of brands.

There’s a yin and a yang of every brand.
The yin is the water and earth.
The substance of the offering.
The “value.”
The yang is the fire and air.
The theater.
How you bring that “value” to life in a vivid and compelling way.
If you’re stuck, if your growth is stalled, you either have a yin problem or a yang problem.
If your current customers rave about you but you’re not growing, then you have a yang imbalance.
It’s time to invest in the magic of your offering.
Bold and creative approaches to communicate and demonstrate your idea to more, like-minded people.
On the other hand, if customers view you as simply one of many options, it’s time to strengthen your yin.
To refocus your energy on the logic of your brand.
And weave in more distinctive value for your audience.
This yin-yang tension is real.
And it’s being felt by many as brands continue to get pushed and pulled by the liberated and empowered masses.
Don’t sit passively and let the tension rip you apart.
Do something.

The paradox of success.

Success in the marketplace of products, services, causes and ideas is driven by scarcity.
Always has been and always will be.
But achieving scarcity is a very different pursuit in today’s chaotic, connected and rapidly evolving marketplace.
The old way of attaining scarcity, and thus success, was through control.
Control of resources, control of the airwaves, control of distribution, control of capital, control of real estate, control of knowledge, and even control of interactions with people.
Paradoxically, these days success is achieved by giving up control.
Consider selling: A universally accepted, time-proven approach.
Today, the simple word “sales” conjures up controlling tactics like “foot in the door” and “closing techniques.”
Modern day consumers repel at such stratagems.
They want to feel informed and cared for.
They want respect and understanding.
They want you to slow down and focus intently and confidently on them and their feelings.
This new desire has created a new scarcity.
And a moment in time that holds more possibilities than any period in the history of business.
And the only thing standing between you and the results you truly want is you.
And your need to control everything.
Control blinds you to opportunities.
Control is driven by your ego’s need to serve itself.
Control is an illusion you cling to primarily to alleviate your fears.
In a turbulent environment, control is your enemy. 
We like to believe otherwise.
We like to believe that control is a good thing.
An attribute of a strong individual.
In our upside-down way of thinking, we assume that by being in control we can prevent bad surprises and get precisely what we desire out of life.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The need for control comes from insecurity.
It is fear-based.
Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of being judged by others, fear of loss, fear of not making quota.
And this fear is what prevents us from discovering our true passion and purpose.
It prevents us from doing what we do best and letting others do what they do best.
It stifles growth and pushes others away from us.
Great leaders understand the distinctions of today’s tumultuous marketplace.
They’ve given up the need to control events, have come to terms with their identities, and are dedicated to adding value and happiness to people’s lives.
They inspire.
They embrace change.
They accept the uncertainty of the future.
Do you want to be fearless in this new and complex environment?
Do you want to get past the impatience and skepticism of today’s savvy customer and employee and create something truly scarce?
Simply change your intentions.
Start right now by listening to your inner voice and never act again without first asking yourself:
“Am I passionate and proud of this approach?
Is this a caring thing to say or do?”
When you create this openness and excitement for life, the feeling radiates within, and to others around you.
Sincere caring for others will act as an antidote to reduce fear and anxiety.
You won’t be afraid of what others think or whether or not you’ll be successful.
You’ll simply feel good about your efforts to engage with, and help, others.
Giving up control will also create a huge sense of internal relief.
By giving up control, you won’t have to pretend to be perfect, to know it all.
You can set grand expectations and avoid the disappointment that comes from trying to micromanage people and events.
By allowing for the unexpected, you’ll stay mindful and in the present.
Let your anxious mind go.
Feel and understand with your heart and gut.
Don’t be quietly cynical or apathetic.
Don’t push or persuade.
Be open and optimistic, compassionate and kind.
Give up control.
Give up trying to be the best in the world and instead focus on what matters most.
Being the best for the world.
Let those grand ambitions for wealth, status and power fade away with the old economy.
It will take time and patience.
But it will make you scarce.
And successful.