A drag called Moan–opoly !
The idea here is not to bemoan, but a nudge to make things better. Because, we are all in it together. Remember, one of my earlier blogs- collective flourishing?
Distilled, actionable insights on branding, innovation, creativity, leadership, soul enhancement, marketing, advertising and design thinking
A drag called Moan–opoly !
The idea here is not to bemoan, but a nudge to make things better. Because, we are all in it together. Remember, one of my earlier blogs- collective flourishing?
“Half of the troubles of this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough.”
Yes, there is nothing half hearted about a no. It’s a complete answer by itself. That said, you are not closing the door on momentum or progress. When we offer a generous “no” to someone we care about, we honor our work and their role in it. We care enough to offer them insight about the change we seek to make–and to tell them the truth about what we can’t do at the same time that we’re celebrating what we can do.
We live in a world where saying ‘yes’ is rewarded by reinforcing social habits, whether in professional situations, sharing responsibilities at home, or even navigating intimate relationships.
When you say ‘Yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘No’ to yourself- Paulo Coelho
It was sometime in the late 90’s. A cold, blistery Manhattan evening. And the Friday bar hopping had done its shift ( of mind, body & soul). Good bhais( after a few drinks ” all the world are brothers “- Fakespeare) and goodbyes exchanged multiple times over with friends, I headed to the nearest subway station to board the A train to Central Park West. From out of the shadows springs this unkempt man in an ill fitting New York Yankees hoodie and Harley Davidson tracks which had me stopping in my tracks, as if playing the childhood game called ‘ statue ‘. But, this was no time to take any liberties. As I stood there( no clue whether it was rooted by fear or was I sporting a false sense of spirited bravado thanks largely to the ‘spirit‘), the man broke into Lionel Ritchie’s ‘ Hello ‘.
Normal hellos are different, I am sure of that in spite of my state of inebriation. To tell you that his voice was exquisite would be an understatement. As he sang, he put his hand out begging for a few cents or dollars. He could have easily been on any Broadway stage and deserved all the spotlight. Not just New York, but cities around the world are home to the homeless, some of whom are incredibly talented. Here was this guy at the hands of a rampant, unjust and gentrifying urban market, doing what he thought he must in order to survive. He was using the talents he had to scrape by, so he could perform the following day, and every other day, over and over again.
We are all cogs in a system that tells us that we must be ‘ creative ‘ to progress. In hindsight, it appears that capitalism of the twenty-first century, turbocharged by neoliberalism, has redefined creativity to feed its own growth. To be creative in today’s society has only one meaning: to continue producing the status quo.
That said, it has always not been this way. Creativity has been and still is, a force for change in the world. It is a collective energy that has the potential to tackle capitalism’s injustices rather than augment them. Creativity can be used to produce more social justice in the world but for that it must be rescued from its current incarceration as purely an engine for economic growth.
Heralded as the driving force of society, creativity, allegedly, is the wellspring of the knowledge economy, shaping the cities we inhabit and even defining our politics and business. Then what could possibly be wrong with that?
My counterintuitive rant here is that we need to rethink the story that we are being sold.Creativity is a barely hidden form of the ever-expanding marketplace. It is a regime that prioritizes individual success over collective flourishing. It refuses to acknowledge anything-job, place, person- that is not profitable. And that changes everything: the places where we work, the way we are managed, and how we spend our free time.
A dream is a complete moment in the life of a client. Important and fascinating experiences that tempt the client to commit substantial resources. The essence of the desires of the customer. The opportunity ( or should it be AWEopportunity?) to help clients become what they want to be.
We shape our words. And then the words shape us.
It’s migration time. Get into the ” Dream Business “. The ” Incredible Imaginings Business “.
My rant here is that most of us are still mired in the Old Economy, Old Product Thinking. But, all of us, MUST, strategically, take pages from and come to grips with the fact that the winners of tomorrow…will be masters of the dream business.
And the vision is to visualise, imagine totally offbeat, even insane schools, hospitals, enterprises, permutations, combinations providing..so so so far from just products and services..” impossible-turned-possible-
The stakes are high. We talked about words shaping us. Here’s the next vocabulary s..t..r..e..t..c..h: dreams.
Consider this very inspiring statement made by former Ferrari North America CEO Gian Luigi Longinotti-Buitoni. Dreams are his shtick. Dream products. Dream fulfillment. Dream marketing. Dream provision.
” A dream is a complete moment in the life of a client. Important and fascinating experiences that tempt the client to commit substantial resources. The essence of the desires of the customer. The opportunity to help clients become what they want to be “.
Look at the marvellous use of words that shape dreams- ‘ complete moment’ , ‘ tempt ‘, ‘ desires ‘, ‘ essence ‘, ‘ commit ‘ and the beautiful summarising, ” The opportunity to help clients become what they want to be “.
He continues to articulate the difference between ‘ common products‘ and ‘ dream products ‘:
Maxwell House versus Starbucks
New Jersey versus California
Hyundai versus Ferrari
Suzuki versus Harley-Davidson
Carter versus Kennedy
Connors versus Pele
CNN versus WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE
Nothing necessarily wrong with the first part of each of those pairs. Each offers a solid workaday response to some need or another. But the second part…the part that comes after versus..” stuff ” that all carries a dreamlike power that goes far far beyond the realm of mere ‘ need fulfillment‘.
Longinotti-Buitoni preaches the marketing of dreams. An idea that he compressed into a word, all of his own making called ‘ Dreamketing‘:-
Dreamketing: Touching the client’s dreams
Dreamketing: The art of telling stories and entertaining
Dreamketing: Promoting the dream, not the product
Dreamketing: Building the brand around the Main Dream
Dreamketing: Building ‘ buzz ‘, ‘ hype ‘ ‘ a cult ‘
And for all the stakeholder apprehension about getting into the dream wagon, the financial returns on dream products are miles and miles beyond those compared to common goods.
So, let’s raise the bar. Way, way, way up. Say experience. Say DREAMS. Please!
Dramatically ( or Dreamatically). Alter. Perspective.
ENDS
Everyone loves a good story. Stories are a communal currency of humanity quoted Tahir Shah in Arabian Nights. And without wanting to sound far fetched, storytelling is our obligation to the next generation. Passing on the baton, if you may.
‘ Last words are for fools who haven’t said enough‘ – Karl Marx
That is a telling narrative on our compulsive need to play the power dynamics game. Of having the last word. Accumulating brownie points.
In the context of life’s brevity, last words do take a different meaning. Often, the words are brief because there is no energy for a full conversation. “Mama” is one of the most common last words that people speak ( no surprises there). Some people’s last utterances are curse words. Others may mumble a word that holds significance to them – but it may mean nothing to their families – for their final words.
Contrarian as it may sound, but an apology is a good way to have the last word. And set the foundation for the connection, communication and conversation to move forward.
You can’t win them all, you can’t please them all nor can you convince them all. So, if the person on the other end is not singing from your hymn sheet, or doesn’t agree with you, smile, nod and move onto more important things. A simple strategy that will save you so many headaches: don’t care about winning trivial arguments.
Weak people take revenge. Strong people forgive. Intelligent people ignore. Life is short. Learning to not care about having the last word will save you so much time.
Your chances of being heard and understood grows exponentially when you adopt the disciplined practice to listen.
My last words before I conclude this post would be:-
” Never try to have the last word. You might get it ” – Robert Heinlein
Oftentimes in marketing we use terms like Last Mover Advantage or Late Mover Advantage ‘. Brands coming to life at a later stage in a category that is established or maturing can reap the learnings and unlearnings of brands who have come before them. There is a vast reservoir of knowledge and actionable intelligence readily available without one having to go through the grind, time and expense of trial and error.
Over time that civilization set foot on this planet, 107 billion people have lived throughout history. The current world population is just over 8 billion( 8,059,147,655 as of Friday, September 8, 2023) according to the most recent United Nations estimates elaborated by Worldometer.
April 10, Circa 1912. Probably, a Red letter Day in the history of passenger shipping. Among other things. Red Ocean would be a fitting metaphor.
The Titanic, launched on May 31, 1911, set sail on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City on April 10, 1912, with 2,240 passengers and crew on board. Nicknamed the “Millionaire’s Special,” the ship was fittingly captained by Edward J. Smith, who was known as the “Millionaire’s Captain” because of his popularity with ‘ wealthy passengers ‘.
As passengers waited to enter the limited number of lifeboats, they were entertained by the Titanic’s musicians, who initially played in the first-class lounge before eventually moving to the ship’s deck. Sources differ on how long they performed, some reporting that it was until shortly before the ship sank. Speculation also surrounded the last song they performed—likely either Autumn or Nearer My God to Thee. Ironical. None of the musicians survived the sinking.
In the early hours of April 15th, 1912, over the course of 2 hours and 40 minutes, the RMS Titanic sunk in the icy Atlantic.
In the end, an U.S. investigation faulted the British Board of Trade, “to whose laxity of regulation and hasty inspection the world is largely indebted for this awful fatality”. Other contributing causes were also noted, including the failure of Captain Smith to slow the Titanic after receiving ice warnings. However, perhaps the strongest criticism was levied at Captain Lord and the Californian. The committee found that the ship Californian was “nearer the Titanic than the 19 miles reported by her Captain, and that her officers and crew saw the distress signals of the Titanic and failed to respond to them in accordance with the dictates of humanity, international usage, and the requirements of law.”
ENDS
We know that ideas are aplenty but ideas without action are regrets.
Actually I quite like some of the vocabulary that permeates social media communication. Often times you come across someone responding to your WhatsApp or DM with just one word ‘ Done ‘. This four letter word would surely be going along with the grain of crossing the bridge before coming to it. That said, notably, it is also a promise made in advance for action to follow.
So practice or principle? Practice, any time. Promise or performance ? It’s a no-brainer, ain’t it? Performance. Knowing, willing or doing? Doing wins hands down.
Author and screenwriter Ray Bradbury had this to say on the power of cumulative action:
“Action is hope. At the end of each day, when you’ve done your work, you lie there and think, Well, I’ll be damned, I did this today. It doesn’t matter how good it is, or how bad—you did it. At the end of the week you’ll have a certain amount of accumulation. At the end of a year, you look back and say, I’ll be damned, it’s been a good year.”
Attitude precedes outcome. You need to show up before inspiration knocks at your door.
There is no better domicile to be in than at the intersection of thinking, feeling and doing. That is where the biggest contributions stem from. The people that really create the things that change this world in their own little or big ways are both the thinker and doer in one person. As they say, it takes two to tango.
When we think about trying out a new restaurant or an outfit that you normally wouldn’t have or wave a flag against a policy that you are not in alignment with, it is easy to fall into the trap of expecting everyone to notice your action. But, alas, at most times, no one does. That’s because no one cares about the noise in our head (or the actions we take) nearly as much as we do. You might think it’s going to cause a big commotion when you do something that’s inconsistent, but if it’s generous and useful, it’ll simply happen. So stay the course.
We are enveloped by a system that resists the hustle, the action for the short-term. Because status quo is a comforting territory to be in. But patient, persistent and focused action can pay off.
The world is tumultuous. Urgency defeats emergency. The world needs your leadership. The journey of a thousand miles remember, begins with a single step.
Action precedes change. And as the as the seminal philosopher Marcus Aurelius quoted “ Universe is change. Life is just an opinion “.
ENDS