If you’re trying to sell sushi, you don’t market it as cold dead fish
Category Archives: Not What You Think
Breakdancing Babies
No this isn’t one of Evian’s Dancing Babies
After posting an incredible break dancing video the other day I saw the one below on Phil’s Unionversity website, so had to share it, ouch!
A Very British Contract
I always believed and pushed for a flat hierarchy in my business structure… and yes I realise that a flat hierarchy is an oxymoron, but it’s a great way to express my approach to organising my business structure, as the entire thing is built upon respect & trust and not meaningless job titles! (a pet peeve of mine!)
We had a very British contract for all staff including myself, it contained the sentence, “Everyone Makes The Tea” what that meant, was everyone within the business was an equal, anyone & everyone was free to suggest & implement new ways of doing things, but on the flip side they were expected to perform the most mundane tasks, if they saw something was amiss, it was up to them to deal with it, not simply pass it on to someone else, it was all about being pro-active and not re-active.
We started off with a policies & procedures document, but we got rid of it in the end, as it was simply full of rules, thus limitations. I’d sooner have a frame work that everyone can work within, than hard and fast rules of what must and must not be done.
There are the nay sayers, those that say this approach never works, that you will simply end up in chaos (Anarchy is a great thing until you need a plumber!), but I disagree, allowing autonomy to flourish instills a culture of respect for those working with you (not for you), it’s highly rewarding, and you might be surprised with the outcomes!
Organic Fusion Engineer
I dislike job titles (especially inflated ones), I never use one myself, your actions define what you do for a living, not your business card.
If you excel at your work, you won’t require a job title, you probably won’t need business cards either, as everyone will already know what you do & who you are, as you’ll be the person they’re talking about & respect, the person they go to when they need things done really well.
There are times you can put an inflated job title to good use, when you want something to talk about or set yourself apart from the rest of your field, Organic Fusion Engineer is a fun job title I saw on a carpenters business card, I used him because he was recommended, and I’ll always remember the work he did, but I’ll never forget his job title!
You Lucky Bastard!
Next time you think someone’s lucky, remember there’s no such thing as luck, it doesn’t exist.
Of course there are those that are born into wealth, survive death defying accidents, born with good health etc, but that isn’t luck, that’s good fortune.
If an opportunity arises and you take advantage of it, some will see that as luck, you were in the right place at the right time, but you know that you’ve likely worked very hard to be prepared & be in a position to take advantage of the opportunity when it arose.
So luck is being prepared & being in a position to take advantage of an opportunity when it presents itself, it’s that simple.
I’ve never made a mistake in my life!
I was watching a film the other day and it had the following line…
“A man learns nothing from winning, but the act of losing elicits great wisdom, not least of which is how much more enjoyable it is to win… it’s inevitable that you will lose from time to time, the trick is not to make a habit of it”
I’ve often said that I’ve never made a mistake in my life! OK I admit, that may sound a bit pompous… sure I’ve made errors, big ones! but I’ve always learnt from them, so I don’t see them as mistakes, but as learning experiences.
The day I stop learning from them, is the day I start making mistakes!
Brands Build Character – Character Builds Brands
Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. What branding expert said that? Abraham Lincoln of course???
what’s the f’in diffference?
here’s a great quote, unfortunately I don’t know who said it… “I wish to do something Great & Wonderful, but I must first start by doing the small things like they are great & wonderful”
As I’ve posted previously, don’t become indifferent to your customers or clients, you could lose them not only because you did something wrong, but because you didn’t do enough.
Size really does matter, something insignificant to you, may be all important or a stumbling block for your customer.
These things can be difficult to spot, no matter how hard you look, you won’t find them all, plus you’ll never be perfect, so listen to what your audience is telling you, and if they’re not telling you anything, ask them! don’t fool yourself by thinking their silence is because you’ve got everything right, it’s probably because they’re already looking somewhere else.
And make sure you’re asking the right questions, don’t ask, “Is everything OK?” ask “What is wrong & what could we improve?”, don’t ask “Why would you choose us over a competitor?” ask “Why would you choose a competitor over us?”
So, what’s the f’in diffference? Is it the little things? the small stuff? yes… but it’s the small stuff you don’t see and has to be pointed out to you, like the extra “f” in the word difference, that’s the f in difference, don’t expect to find them all on your own.
Le Roi est Mort
In my Digital Brand Protection days, I had a presentation based around ROI, but it had a twist, as on the last slide I revealed I hadn’t been referring to “Return On Investment” as everybody thought, but “Risk Of Investment” that got their attention!
Upon jumping back & going through the presentation again, the audience understood exactly where I was coming from & the importance of what I was saying. Don’t get seduced by only looking at the high returns, weight up the possible costs of damaging your Brand & reputation, especially if you are aligning yourself with another brand.
There are times you have to take the risk and go with your convictions, that’s where RONI comes in “Risk Of Not Investing”. Seth wrote a great piece this morning that’s entirely about RONI.
Yes, absolutely, you could lose everything if you risk it all and go with your gut feeling, but you could still lose everything if you do nothing. If a competitor is hell bent on pushing forwards when you’re content to sit still, don’t be surprised when they win.
“You can never defeat a man, with nothing to lose”
So go for it! what have you got to lose?
Don’t Project Ideas, Reflect Solutions
If you’re a real consultant you appreciate that you’re clients are the experts in their area of business, not you.
Listen to what they have to say, understand their needs, focus on their problems.
That way, your solution will be a reflection of their needs, not a projection of your ideas.