The Best 12:21 of Your Day: The Happy Secret to Better Work

This TED talk delivered to us all the way from TEDxBloomington is on rethinking how we view work and happiness.

Shawn Achor is CEO of Good Think, Inc. a corporate consulting firm. A former Harvard instructor, he explores positive outcomes and human potential, especially what he has coined the "Happiness Advantage."

Fundamentally, Mr. Achor believes that instead of working productively to gain happiness, we should work to be happy in order to increase work productivity. He uses his study of "positive psychology" and the belief that we need to escape the cult of the average in order to maximize our happiness. This makes complete sense once you look at it that way, but it is seldom done in any industry.

Let us consider a key piece of research that Mr. Achor references. When gauging success in the workplace only 25% of success is based on IQ. A full 75% of job success is due to optimism, social support and viewing stress as a challenge instead of a threat. 

This is huge for several reasons. First, we need to consider hiring and how we evaluate people. Considering there personality and attitude more than their IQ or educational attainment. How will they respond under deadline? How will they work with their peers? What overall attitude will they convey?

25% of success is based on IQ

75% of success is based on optimism and support 

Second, we need to consider how we manage. As a small business owner and someone who has spent a career in high-stress, high reward industries, this positive outlook is seldom used. Take for instance the advertising agency environment. Most agencies motivate their staff through winning of accounts, deadlines and the work hard - play hard system. Thus, the motivation is based on the success or failure of clients, revenue and projects delivered. The current model of, "hard work = success = happiness" simply forces employees to reset their goalpost of success to meet the next client deadline or next new business win. You never feel happy because there is always another goal to meet. 

But what if we followed Mr. Achor's philosophy? How do we make people feel positive in the present?
What if we focus on instilling happiness as a basis and then letting that happiness and optimism carry the individual to success?
It is a great thought that all leaders should consider.

 

The Best 17:16 of Your Day: How Beauty Feels

Designer Richard Seymour paints an incredible picture of beauty and why it matters. Not a whiny appeal that we need to appreciate beauty that you hear from designers from time to time. No, he outlines for us how we subconsciously know beauty, appreciate beauty, respond emotionally to beauty and most importantly, know what is not beautiful.

From a branding and marketing perspective, this reinforces to me that as professionals we need to do a better job of selling quality design to clients. We need to work to convey to them that an immersive brand experience is valuable. That they need to invest in their brand, their packaging, their total experience. Not just because it will look beautiful, but because the consumer will respond to that beauty. They will act on it. Ultimately, if it is on message, they will buy it and regard the product more highly.

Richard Seymour's design company, SeymourPowell is a leader in product and packaging design. You should check them out, view their work and see how it makes you feel.

This is a TED talk that all designers should watch. More importantly, this is a talk that all agency owners, strategists and branding experts should watch. Enjoy...  

Richard Seymour: How beauty feels

Dying a Qwikster Death

Article first published as Dying a Qwikster Death on Technorati.

Reed Hastings, CEO

It was a death that most everyone knew was inevitable. The ill-conceived direct mail spin-off of Netflix, Qwikster, has been declared dead only a month after its creation. Brian Stelter of the New York Times covers it deftly in his Media Decoder column. While this is a catastrophic and high-profile failure, we see this same type of mistake daily in companies big and small. Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix is attributing it in his press release to moving too quickly,

“Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that. There is a difference between moving quickly — which Netflix has done very well for years — and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case.”

There is no doubt that they moved to quickly, but speed doesn't kill, if you don't make the other mistakes they made. Hidden in the multiple missteps of bad naming, terrible branding, bad launch strategy, poor planning and unsatisfying public relations management are two key failures.

Failure #1:   They lost sight of their company vision in making this decision.

Mr. Hastings stated in the 2003 Netflix Annual Report that the vision of the company was to create "the best movie experience.  Period." A laudable goal and a worthy one. The company abandoned this vision in an attempt to advance the company to what future customers will demand. The problem with that is that their customers are not future customers, they are current customers. Anyone who uses Netflix will tell you that the online streaming library is far from "The best movie experience." It lacks many current films and TV shows as well as many classics and art house films. The consumer does not want to hear excuses. There are valid ones about licensing, Hollywood studios being difficult and cost-revenue factors. It is not the consumer’s responsibility to understand your company’s challenges. All they are required to do is determine if your company vision matches the experience.

Failure #2: They forgot that the customer comes first.

It’s an old adage, but a very important one. Simply put, they placed revenue and expense at the forefront of boardroom decision making. Evert decision should start with the questions "what will make our most loyal customers love us even more? What will make our former customers love us? What will convert new customers over to us?" Those questions are the first litmus test. Once those ideas are on the table is when you sharpen the pencil and determine what makes the most financial sense for the current landscape and into the future.

Failure to Launch. Now on Netflix

So what should have Netflix done? I guess the better question is, what should Netflix do now? The reality is that the mail order DVD business is dying. No doubt. They need to exit it. Perhaps they felt that a quickie (pun intended) rebrand and spin-off would allow them to make a value sale of that portion of their business. This was not the way to do it. The value of their DVD business was in the brand of Netflix which they are not willing to sell and the infrastructure. Most possible buyers would have bit on a sale as-is, without a spin-off business. Netflix should invest in more streaming films, better software and distribution services, better search and viewing features and so on. They should make streaming the best it can possibly be.

Second, Netflix should consider a tiered Premium service for streaming customers. Offer exclusive content, preview viewings of new releases and even live streamed content. Make it a real and worthwhile premium product. At the same time, they should slowly continue to ramp up the pricing of the DVD mail order product. Over the course of a year or two the price will have steadily climbed to a point in which a smaller user base is paying a premium for the service. It will then become an "exclusive" service versus a lag service.

The Qwikster death should certainly be a reminder to all businesses that they need to reflect on their vision and customers before making any decision.   

Buy Less, Benefit More

Yasuhiro Yamashita designed small home

Alternately titled, Better Living Through Curated Belongings.

Graham Hill is a writer at Treehugger.com and a designer. He explains in his TED talk how and why we should simplify our lives through smaller spaces, fewer things and more thoughtful living. He covers the idea of editing your life. His talk is certainly worth a listen. In it he explains how the world benefits and how the individual benefits.

Leading a more sustainable life is laudable for all of us, but I am more interested in how producers of things benefit. How does the furniture company, the electronics company, the car company benefit? In more ways than you can imagine.

Engaging in a cultural shift toward possessing fewer belongings does not mean that our earnings and total spending on goods and services will change. What it does mean is that we will start to desire products that are longer lasting and of more quality. Couple that with the trend of localized consumption and you have a perfect storm for and explosion of micro and artisanal manufacturers of a huge array of products. I believe you will also see a growth of locally based Etsy.com style sites. But what does this shift mean for current products?

The strong retailers and manufacturers will start to adapt. Companies like Target will start to stock more refillable and reusable products. The days of the low quality bookcase that goes to the curb on trash day after a couple years will be replaced by high-quality solid wood bookcases made from reclaimed materials. You may also start to see retailers offering trade-in and trade-up programs. The consumer will benefit but so will the retailers. Fewer total transactions may occur, but each product transaction will be at a higher price point and invariably a higher profit margin.

Neighborhoods will benefit by having more infill homes, more density and more civic engagement. If you live in a smaller home that doesn't have 4,500 square-feet you get out to public spaces more. Restaurants will see continued increase in frequency of visitors. Architects will have to be much smarter, but will get to be much more creative. Smaller home construction will also allow more custom designs as the total construction cost will be lower.  

Smaller quality product manufacturers located in your city will mean more jobs, closer commutes, more use of mass transit and so on.

Getting on the leading edge of this trend could hold great potential for business owners and entrepreneurs. There is great potential for more small retailers, small neighborhood grocers, residential renewable energy providers  and even service providers to help consumers downsize their lives.

A lot to think about as this trend takes hold, but a lot of possible benefit for all of us.
   

The Most Important Infographic Ever

After many months of extensive research and study, I have compiled a comprehensive Quadrant Analysis outlining where most industries fall in service and product quality.
Additionally, I have highlighted where there is a "white space" of opportunity.

For ease of use, I have bundled the companies by industry. The ones who fall within the "Opportunity" section I have listed by name.

Now, hopefully industry CEOs and CMOs will read and understand this chart.

The conclusion is that most companies need to adopt a mantra of "Don't Make Shit and Don't Be An Asshole." 

The Best 16:17 of Your Day: The Origins of Pleasure

This one is a bit esoteric, yet incredibly relevant to marketing, branding and communications professionals. In short Mr. Bloom hypothesizes that our knowledge of the origins of an object is critical to our emotional response to it. He uses art and forgery as his primary example, but this is critical in our lives with brands and products.

In short, if we perceive a brand as an original, a brand of quality. One we have had positive experiences with before, we will respond to it with pleasure and enjoy it more.

I will leave it at that, and let Mr. Bloom explain the psychology of it. If you are in the marketing and branding world however, listen to this talk with an eye toward how you reach consumers. Is your brand, your story, reinforcing originality and trust... pleasure?

It is critically important to realize that the experience and perceptions of a consumer will determine your brand's fate with them, even if your product is identical to one they love. Think about that next time you decide to skip brand planning and go for a crowd sourced logo. The next time you consider skipping a review of your retail experience, your staff training.

Once you lose originality and the consumer loses that pleasure in your brand, it is gone.


Paul Bloom: The Origins of Pleasure

 

Update: The Post Office Doesn't Like Radical Ideas

Last week I discussed some radical ideas that might save the U.S. Postal Service.

Five Radical Ideas for Saving the U.S. Postal Service

As it turns out, they seem to think that worse service is the answer to their ills. 

According to a recent Washington Business Journal article, they feel that closing processing facilities is the way to balance their budget. Given the decline in mail, closing some facilities may actually be needed. However, here is the problem. According to the Postmaster General this would result in much slower delivery of First Class Mail. Having worse service for more cost doesn't seem like a way toward solving their problems. 

Your new Post Office

On the bright side, they are actually implementing one of the Radical Ideas... Sort of. 

I proposed that the USPS sign a massive co-location deal with places such as McDonald's. They are not doing that, but they are moving forward with what they call "Village Post Offices." According to this CNN article, up to 3,700 mostly rural Post Offices could be converted to this type. Basically, small general stores will pay for the right to have Post Office services in their store. That way they can sell stamps with their Lotto tickets, beer and fishing lures. 

This isn't quite the massive transformation or positive brand relationships I would like to see, but I guess it is a start.  

 

AMC Not to Blame in KC Metro State Line Battle

Today we diverge a bit from the usual branding and marketing commentary to discuss economic development and civic engagement:

AMC Theatres is the latest in a long line of Kansas City area companies to use the state line that runs down the middle of our metropolitan area to their financial advantage. In May, it was Applebee's jumping to Missouri to take advantage of incentives. Now it is AMC, fleeing downtown Kansas City after 91 years, and taking over 400 employees to Leawood, Kansas. They have every right to choose the location of their company. They are not a public trust and owe the citizens and taxpayers nothing. In fact, the Park Place development they are moving to is a very nice location. AMC has a clear goal of minimizing corporate expenses and maximizing corporate revenue. They are owned by a multi-national investment company, the Carlyle Group, that according to their own media info, "seeks to deliver attractive returns for our fund investors." Pretty clear what AMC CEO Gerry Lopez has been tasked with delivering back to the parent company.  

AMC Theatres current HQ

 Much as they cannot be blamed for their decision, they also cannot be considered good civic citizens. In taking the tax incentive package, worth anywhere between $60-67 million they are certainly returning an attractive return to their investors. However, for the Kansas City metro area, those are tax dollars lost for core investments in our community. The economic development experts are not only shifting tax revenue from one state to the other, and from one municipality to the other, they are taking dollars out of the coffers of the entire metro. Does anyone believe that the Carlyle Group, or AMC for that matter, will invest those dollars back in our city? Will they be generating a bevy of new jobs? Will they create a multi-million dollar education fund? No, that is not the corporate mission of AMC.

Park Place development

The public relations spin placed on this decision is simple. AMC could have moved to any number of cities and taken all of those jobs out of our metro. In fact, by their own words they point out that Kansas City is only the 28th largest AMC market. Thereby hinting at the fact that there were 27 other possibly more attractive markets that they could have taken their headquarters to. I am sure that this is true. Many cities would have loved to have lured a Fortune 1000 company headquarters. So the Kansas City area may have avoided the disaster of losing another large employer. But what have we gained? Nothing.

So if AMC is not to blame for the metro area losing $60 plus million in tax revenue while gaining zilch, who is? The economic development officials on both sides of the state line are to blame. These men and women have done nothing to benefit the citizens of our area with this type of deal. They are fighting for bragging rights at the behest of the narrow geography they represent. They seem to forget that this is a complex metro area that does not exist within any one border. Hundreds of thousands of people cross dozens of political boundaries every day. Their lives are only improved when all of the areas they visit are improved. They don't care whose road it is, they just want it to be nice when they drive on it. Our economic development officials do not seem to get that. They are a myopic bunch at best.

So what can be done to improve our entire city? The Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce recently launched their Five Big Ideas plan. It is an ambitious and worthy roadmap for our future. How does corporate poaching improve entrepreneurship? Translational technology transfer? When was the last time any of the economic development teams in Kansas City lured a Fortune 1000 headquarters from another city to anywhere in the metro area? If we are going to give away $60 million in tax incentives, shouldn't the return on investment be completely new dollars to the area? 

As citizens we musty demand better from all of our elected officials and the people they hire. The civic leaders of our city also need to stand up and work to grow our region, not just one small areas. The Greater Kansas City economy grew at only 1.52% in 2010, according to a report in the Kansas City Business Journal. That is good for 222nd among all metro areas. This does not even take into account our success globally. We are losing the fight, and we are losing it because we continue to let it be lost by fighting among ourselves. This is not unique to Kansas City, but we seem to do it better than most other metro areas. 

We need to understand and accept that businesses will act in their best interest every time. We should leverage that motivation and focus our energy as a metro area and a region on new business creation, employment expansion and new employment recruitment. Continuing to shift headquarters a few miles at the expense of millions in needed tax revenue is a fools game. Consider that the next time your municipality raises your property tax rate, fees and sales tax after granting millions to lure a new business across a street.     

Entrepreneurs and The Cult of Stubbornness

Definition of Stubborn adj.\ˈstə-bərn\
1. Having or showing dogged determination not to change
one's attitude or position on something, esp.
in spite of good arguments or reasons to do so.2. Difficult to move, remove, or cure.
See also, 'Being a Dick.'  

I will admit that I am stubborn. From early childhood I was usually convinced that my way was the right way. My Lego airplane was perfect (even if it did have one wing twice as large as the other), my own special way of doing algebra was the right way, and so on. That carried over into adulthood, and on occasion, it still rears it's ugly head.

However, in advertising and design you need to let go of the ownership of ideas and realize that sharing, collaborating and refining a vision many times results in a much better outcome.
That is probably true in most life decisions, but for this post, I will limit it to simply my profession.
Over time, I came to the realization that letting go of my stubbornness, embracing new ideas and swallowing my pride in ideas usually led to more success.
That brings me to today's lesson kids.

MOST ENTREPRENEURS ARE STUBBORN S.O.Bs!  

In fact, the entrepreneurial community teaches and rewards stubbornness. It is a cultural problem as much as an individual problem. Institutions that breed founders of startups, the great MBA programs, the tech startups, the incubators and the entrepreneurial foundations ALL reward and admire stubbornness. They may mask it in business speak or call it a 'can do' attitude, but ultimately, it is stubbornness that hurts them.

Let me give you a recent example. While consulting with some of the most talented new entrepreneurs selected from over 1,100 applicants the number one refrain was "Your idea is the best." The second message was "Don't let anyone tell you it will fail." Waaaaaaay down the list of ideas taught where "listen to experts" and "value constructive criticism." So, what was the result?
Several of these fledgling start-ups eschewed expert advice on naming, branding, marketing, product array and market research. They were willing to stick to their idea even if the facts were stacked against them. They were unwilling to alter their idea even a bit.
Some even refused tens of thousands of dollars in free design and brand work provided by the non-profit in order to crowd source a logo from their own ideas. So what happens when the Cult of Stubbornness kicks in?

Invariably many of these stubborn entrepreneurs will succeed. The road may be tough and they may burn through a lot of good people, but they will probably succeed. Many will fail. Many would fail with great collaborative efforts. The belief however, that they succeeded by being stubborn is a fallacy. The institutions that teach and reward this stubbornness should instead instill in these entrepreneurs the value of collaborative work. They should teach them how to identify great talent. How to hire quality branding and advertising agencies. How to stick to the core idea that is their own, while collecting and sorting customer data and feedback to make it better.

Entrepreneurs that bring a great idea to the table and then bring the right partners on to refine it will have the best chance at success.
Great entrepreneurial institutions like the Kauffman Foundation could refine their message to benefit the entrepreneur and the great support network that is there to help them launch. VC firms should also insist on this before investing.

That is my stubborn idea.