Creating America's Most Entrepreneurial City

This past year the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce rolled out their Big 5 Ideas for improving the Kansas City Region and making it great. One of those "big ideas" is the bold goal of making Kansas City "America's Most Entrepreneurial City." To advance that vision, they appointed a committee headed by Peter DeSilva, CEO of UMB Financial. Mr. DeSilva has organized a series of Community Conversations, comprised of small business owners, academics, educators, corporate executives and more to discuss and form some tangible plans for achieving the goal.

Recently I attended one of these sessions and came away impressed. Many of the same old ideas and challenges were bandied about of course. But between the 90% of same, there were some new and exciting ideas. One of the ideas that came from the team I was on sought to look at barriers to entrepreneurship from a different perspective. We chose to look at it from a human perspective. Think about the life of an entrepreneur outside of their business plan. From this the beginning of a big idea was formed. The Entrepreneur's Safety Net idea seeks to remove barriers that make founding a start-up, growing a new company and even selling and starting over possible.  

Hopefully, these ideas will be added to the well of ideas that come from these sessions. They will grow, evolve and become something great and meaningful for current, and future, innovators in our region. I simply left too inspired by these ideas to just sit and wait for the larger committee to take them on. I felt starting a virtual dialogue might help. 

Thus, you have the forming ideas of the the Entrepreneur Safety Net Program

1. Healthcare

Creation of a community-based healthcare program that is portable and affordable for small businesses and individuals. It could be portable and consistent, as individuals change employment status or even employers within the region. It would be preventative-based and use technology to keep costs low. Cerner as a global leader in healthcare technology should play a leading role in creating a regional healthcare program. Ideally there would also be a shared pool created were the business community could help to subsidize healthcare for some start-ups while in their early launch phase and they would contribute back to the pool as they grow. 

2. Childcare

Much like healthcare, childcare is a major barrier to many small innovators. Kansas City is known as a great community to raise a family, but the childcare network is sporadic and expensive. Using the model of the larger corporations and universities that have created their own highly successful childcare centers, we would propose a civic network of childcare centers that are designed to accommodate the children of the creative class and the start-up business owner. Flexible hours, tiered cost structure, community activities and more. 

3. Advanced Entrepreneur Education

One of Kansas City's great assets is how the city's non-profit organizations and universities have created exceptional programs for entrepreneurs. From the Kauffman Foundation and their FastTrac program, the Helzberg Entrepreneurial Mentoring Program, the various great university programs, such as the UMKC Bloch Business School and the Kansas City Art Institute; there is no lack of opportunity. There is however a problem with cohesion and selection. All of these educational programs need to create a clearinghouse and sharing program with the student in mind. What program or combination of programs are best for an individual? Then help that student craft a course of study that benefits them and sets them on the best path for building and growing a business in Kansas City.    

4. Primary Education

Like most mid-size and large American cities, Kansas City has a serious problem with urban education. Many other initiatives are underway to attempt to address the challenges facing our educational system and I wish them well. For improving entrepreneurship, we need to look at current realities, and how we can create a school (or school network) that appeals to those considering our city to start a business or are already here. These women and men are generally highly educated and creative and want to find great schools for their kids. Currently, they are limited. Why not create a "district" that spans state lines and district borders and focuses on creative high-quality education? Use the new Kauffman School as a basis, but for K-12 and not limited to the current Charter School constructs.       

5. Continuity of Resources (Entrepreneur Concierge)

This is perhaps the easiest one of the eight ideas to accomplish. All of the government entities need to put aside their differences and work with the local non-profits to create one simple gateway for all new business start-ups. The Area Development Council has had some success with this, but they are not conducive to the small start-up. There should be a singular point of contact throughout the entire life cycle of a company, regardless of the location in the metro or the type of business. Have one "concierge" that is there to assist and guide a business.  

Additionally, our region has several great small business incubators such as Office Port. What the region needs is an effort to connect and unify the incubator programs. Tie together and leverage resources across for-profit facilities and university facilities.   

6. Community-Based Venture Capital

We have one of the great philanthropic community funds in America. The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation currently administers over $1-billion in assets that benefit countless programs in the region. We also have several great venture capital funds in our region. The great missed opportunity is the creation of a community-based venture capital fund that is designed to support and fund early stage start-ups for the benefit of our community. A fund seeded by the philanthropists and local corporations and administered by a board of local leaders.  

7.  Start Up Neighborhood

All great cities known for innovation have one particular area or neighborhood especially known for the vibrancy of the entrepreneurial spirit. This becomes the hub from which the identity grows. Businesses may start in that area and then move to other areas within the region as their needs change. By designating and aligning assets to help create one key innovation hub, we will be able to better craft our message and story to the rest of the world. This benefit then spins off to the entire region. Creating an energetic center of innovation also reinforces the idea of the "Third Place" for individual interaction and idea exchange. Richard Florida does a great job explaining this in his book Who's Your City.   

Hopefully these thoughts will coalesce into something tangible. Perhaps they will spur new ideas, debate and perhaps even real action. I am excited to continue to be an entrepreneur, while also pushing this greater discussion of how we can create a true American Entrepreneurial City.

Now I want to hear from you. Please share this article and leave your thoughts on this first draft of ideas. I will edit and refine as we continue a virtual dialogue.

Thank you.






Article first published as Creating America's Most Entrepreneurial City on Technorati.

Our Hometown: Kansas City As You Have Never Seen It

We are proud to be based in Kansas City, Missouri.
It is truly an overlooked gem of a city that is gaining a lot of momentum as an arts, culture and innovation destination.
Below is a time lapse video in HD that gives you a nice feel for what "America's Creative Crossroads" is all about.

We will share more on our hometown, but for now, enjoy this series of photos that are truly worth millions of words. 

The Best 16:10 of Your Day: Unintended Consequences

Every one of us had made a decision that has had unintended consequences later in life. Now magnify that idea and consider inventions, ideas and ideals that impacted people on a global scale. That is what Edward Tenner, a historian challenges us with in this TED Talk.

In this age of hyper technology and innovation, we should stop and consider the possible unintended consequences of many of the tools that we use daily. There is much written about the near term consequences of cell phones, social media, the Internet, Google and more. But what about the changes that these innovations and devices will have on humanity in 50 years, 500 years or even 5000 years? Technology futurists seldom think in distant time frames.

Mr. Tenner does a great job of getting us out of this near-term history concept and start thinking much larger. Always a good thing for any of us who work on entrepreneurship and ideas.

Enjoy...

Edward Tenner: Unintended consequences

The Best 5:30 of Your Day: After Your Final Status Update

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Adam Ostrow, editor in chief of Mashable, gives us a great topic to consider as we celebrate Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). What happens to your online "life" after you are gone? Now this is certainly not the most enjoyable topic, but it is a very important one. Facebook claims more than 800 million active users. The latest statistics I could find via the World Fact Book estimate that 55.3 million people die annually. That is two people every second. Given that we are about to hit the seven billion population mark, many of the newly deceased are not social media users. However, a large number are active on social media, thus the number of deceased users grow exponentially. 


This gives us a lot to ponder. What is the role of online media? Does Facebook, Twitter, Blogs all exist just for the living? Could they become memorials to the deceased? A modern way for the departed to remain in our collective consciousness and be remembered? Those of us active in following social media and technology trends are quick to point out that all information you share on the Internet should be considered permanent and public. Does this apply after death? 


Watch Mr. Ostrow's video below and start to ask yourself if you have or will use social media to remember people lost in your circles. How will this impact the amount of information archived? How should online groups such as Facebook handle archiving? What opportunities are out there for creating a more robust remembrance in "the cloud" for those that want it?  

Now I wonder how many presenters on the TED site are no longer with us in body? 

Adam Ostrow: After your final status update

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.
   

Rockhill Recommends: Googlization

I took the time last night to attend a lecture at the Linda Hall Library on Google's impact on the Internet and our culture. More on that in a second.

First a brief shout out to the Linda Hall Library. It is one of the leading science, engineering and technology libraries in the World. 

The information they have archived, and the role they are playing in current innovation cannot be underestimated.

I would also recommend that you visit their latest exhibit, This Time It's Personal: Innovation In Your Home. From Aspirin to the light switch to Pez Candy, it covers the research, discovery, development and intellectual property of things we use every day.  

The opening speaker in support of the new exhibit was Siva Vaidhyanathan, a professor of media and law at the University of Virginia. His talk was in support of his current book, The Googlization of Everything (And Why We Should Worry). He has a supporting website as well here. This post is not a review of the lecture or a commentary on the book. That will come later after I have had a chance to read the book and do some research. I would however, recommend that everyone take some time and check out a bit more about his thoughts on Google. 

Siva does a nice job of summarizing the incredible role that Google has played in our lives in the 13 years (yes, it has actually been that long) since its founding at Stanford in 1998. Early on the mission was simple, but oh so lofty...

Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.

He raises the valid question of why we should trust Google with this and how they have delivered.
Why this task shouldn't be entrusted to the academic institutions and librarians of the World.
Google determines how important search results are via their algorithms and he provides examples of Google modifying results for various reasons in spite of their claim that they do not alter search results. Some are for generally altruistic reasons such as a racist website "gaming" the results to get higher placement. He questions why we, as consumers accept this. Generally, it is because we don't know.

It is comforting to know that Google doesn't remove information. In that respect they really do attempt to archive all of the World's information. However, as a writer and researcher, I do find that you need even sharper personal analytical skills when working online.

He also offers a few other tidbits of insight that are worth considering:

• We are not Google's customers. The advertisers are. Google only views us as customers so far as they need us to keep eyeballs on their site to sell to advertisers. 
• As technology consumers we generally are willing to accept technology as magic and not explore how a product or service works. Companies such as Apple and Google benefit from this. 
• Google fundamentally transformed the Internet for the better by working to filter out pornographic results that were served via spam or due to typographical error. This work to make the Internet safer for business and family use helped to also make the consumer feel safer about using the Internet for their financial needs.
• When you use Google you are seeing the world through their lense. It is filtered. 
• Google may be radically different in five years and may not even exist in ten. That is the type of technology world we live in.

Overall, Mr. Vaidhyanathan offered some great perspectives on the good and bad of Google. The questions that he poses are easily applicable to many other communications channels, social media et cetera. 

What he did not discuss is the rapidly expanding technology channels that Google is moving toward. For instance, I am typing this using Google Chrome browser. Google has mobile technology, hardware with Chrome Book and is developing a one-gigabyte Google Fiber technology in Kansas City. It is currently being installed outside my office window.

(Update) Google now has also opened a retail pop up store in London as reported by The London Evening Standard. This could be the direct assault on Apple that many have anticipated. The fundamental difference is, if Google is successful in hardware and retail sales, they will also possess an incredible wealth of content and the means of distribution.  

I look forward to exploring these more and sharing thoughts with my readers here. 

Possibly the most cogent and interesting comment was when he likened Google to Julius Caesar. A benevolent dictator who does indeed improve life for many but at what cost?    

Angry Birds Stealing My Wallet?

Angry Birds are Everywhere

The Atlantic recently published an article, Estimating the Damage to the U.S. Economy Caused by Angry Birds, that caused quite a stir.

In the article, Alexis Madrigal offers up how much American productivity is lost by employees playing Angry Birds at work. He uses a a variant of a calculation that a consulting firm has used to determine lost productivity from the NCAA Basketball Tournament. I am not here to question his math, just the basis of the assumption of "lost productivity." 

In my professional career thus far, I have been a lowly account coodinator at a huge advertising agency and the director of accounts, with large teams of employees. I have also been the president of a region of a company and an entrepreneur of a tiny startup. Through all of these career moves I can assure you of one thing. People at work don't need a specific smartphone game to lose productivity. They (myself included) are perfectly good at seeking out ways to distract themselves from work. Referencing the hot new game is simply a device that journalists use to get the readers attention. An article titled, "Various Means Employed by People to Lose Productivity" isn't nearly as exciting as picking the hot new game or industry.    

Courtesy of The Atlantic

If we look back through the archives of 'lost productivity" articles I assure you they list causes such as the personal computer, phone, water cooler, windows, air conditioning, co-ed working environment... and so on. Therefore, the lost productivity idea is a fallacy as it relates to specific new technology advances. What the advent of smartphones and social media has done, is make it easier to hide the actual activity from their boss. But banning Angry Birds and social media doesn't solve the problem. It only leads more secretive activity and alternative forms of lost productivity, such as people standing around talking about playing Angry Birds!

I am certain there are plenty of great Human Resources professionals that could chime in and offer a great deal of suggestions on how to increase productivity in the workplace. I am not going to attempt to tackle the complete productivity issue. I do feel that it all stems from proper supervision and pro-active management with a human understanding of how people work and live.

I do want to take a minute and address the Angry Birds and larger social media challenge that employers face. How to best solve it? 

Employers should stop directing their IT staff to block offending games and sites. They should stop issuing corporate policies designed to prevent game play and social media (specifically Facebook and Twitter) usage at work. Instead, they should look at their customers and understand that they are probably using the same channels of social media and games. Enterprising marketing officers should be challenging their company to see how they can turn their most avid game playing employees and heavy Facebook users into defacto developers, idea generators and online brand advocates. By engaging with employees about their online activity, a company can better understand changing trends. If employees as unafraid to talk openly about what they are doing, ideas can be shared. 

- Integrate social gaming into company team building.

- Offer incentives for employees that bring ideas on integrating company products into social gaming or online advertising

- Focus less on restricting activities of employees and more on accountability of delivering results.

- Offer at work education on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. 

- Conduct education on what information employees can share about the company and its products. 

- Let social sharing about your company occur naturally.

- If you have active social media marketing staff already, they should add monitoring and reporting of social media activity to their responsibilities. 

There is a great deal of potential in leveraging the ideas from social gaming and the actual reach of social media. If handled proactively and positively by a company, you will be creating a large innovation team and social media marketing team from your existing employees. 

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." 

Google+, Party of No One?

Google opened up registration for it's Google+ social network to everyone today. That might be the catalyst that it needs to drive usage and propel Hangouts, and it might not. There is no doubt that the Google name propelled Google+ to near cult status at launch. Social media types bragged about invites and being a first adopter. Volumes were written nearly overnight explaining how this was a game changer. Google+ was the future. Facebook was going the way of Myspace. Twitter was dead... Most entertaining was that the death tomes were written and spread on the very networks that were supposedly dying. 

This Hangout is Awesome!

But a funny thing happened on the way to world domination. It appears that for all the members signing up, few are actually hanging out in the Hangouts. As reported by Dan Reimold for MediaShift, Google+ "is worse than a ghost town." While actual details on traffic and usage are hard to come by, more anecdotal evidence is suggesting that the assumptions of lack of volume is in fact the case. So what does this mean for the ever fracturing social media world?

First, it proves that the raucous social media landscape is the Wild West. While some continue to focus on niche applications, LinkedIn for example, others continue to drop into the general consumer arena. Over the next few years many corporate obituaries will be written, but the winners will be very strong players with some incredible applications. Buckle up, it is going to be a fun ride.    

It also reaffirms that Google is not King Midas. Like every other business, they will need to work hard to build relevance and be very strategic about it. If Google+ was actually a VC funded start-up void of the Google connection, I believe that it would have worked much harder to create category buzz. It would have launched a branding campaign and reinforced the natural occurring brand advocacy. In short, a boot strapped start-up would have fought and engaged earlier. They would have nurtured actively some initial category users. 

The next few weeks will be a litmus test for the social network. Will the opening of Google+ to the 'general public' spur it past the "must engage daily" tipping point? Just as important is the announcement of the new API Hangout. Allowing third-party application development could certainly kick the place into high gear. new features are being launched as well that hold a great deal of potential.  

Without a doubt, there are some exciting things occurring on Google+. It has some exciting features and is being adopted in very exciting ways by journalists the world over. The journalism potential is huge, and very exciting as we look at media convergence. 

The University of Missouri School of Journalism has taken the lead in the Google+ newsy world. KOMU TV, the school-owned NBC affiliate has embraced it 100%. They recently launched a 4p.m. hour-long web newscast. The U_News@4 anchored by Sarah Hill uses Google+ as a core component of the news. This application holds the potential to truly transform local television. While Google+ is a core component of this news program, it remains to be seen if it will become the vehicle or if another outlet will co-op the segment as more news outlets follow Mizzou's lead. I will write more about this specific item soon. TV NewsCheck has done a nice job covering it's launch thus far. 

Worth it in spite of our terrible graphics package

Sample of U_News@4

I look forward to following, engaging and seeing where this all goes. Based on what we have seem thus far, Google+ will have a future, but it may be far different than the Facebook killer it was purported to be. 

Until then. Get to Google+, grab a Hangout and see if it is indeed a party of one. 

 

          

Making Your Escape

Everyone needs to get away sometimes, be it literally or figuratively. 

We escape into a good book, music, sports... But sometimes you need to escape to an actual place. My retreats are usually neighborhood coffee shops and bookstores. There are some great ones here in Kansas City thankfully.

However, the place I envision when I need to really clear my head is 4532 miles from here. It is a place I have visited many times over the years. After each visit I leave inspired and refreshed. It is usually good for at least 10,000 words of creative writing. 

That place is a famous, if small, bookstore at 37 rue de la Bûcherie on the Left Bank in Paris. 

The wonderful Shakespeare and Company. 

Since most people, myself included, can't just drop in on a Friday, here are a few photos for a virtual escape.  

Enjoy... and remember 

"Be Not Inhospitable to Strangers Lest They be Angels in Disguise"  

 

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

 

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.     

Last Lecture by a Legend and Mentor

Dr. William Bondeson recently retired after teaching philosophy, medical ethics and humanities for 50 years at the University of Missouri. He truly defined the term Renaissance Man. Words cannot express the impact that this man had on my life and my career. The University of Missouri Honors College is truly a hidden gem, and among the greatest academic programs in the country. When I was considering colleges, Dr. Polansky, the recently retired Director of the Honors College, took me to Shakespeare's Pizza (how appropriate) on a high school campus visit. Dr. Bondeson happened to cross our path on the way and joined us for lunch. The conversation that ensued was unlike anything I had ever heard. The topics spanned the upcoming basketball season to the pasta served at the University Club with a healthy serving of philosophy and literature sprinkled in.  My college decision was sealed after that meal. 


Over the years at Mizzou, I was lucky enough to have Dr. Bondeson for six courses. He invited his students into his home, chatted with us on campus and invited theatrical performers for us to experience. I returned often, I volunteered at every chance to help recruit the best and brightest to Mizzou. I stayed passionate about the things he taught us. In short, he helped inspire me to care about gaining knowledge for knowledge sake. This emphasis on breadth of knowledge has served me better than any other specialty class or training.  


The following lecture is long, but well worth the time. I will leave you with one thought. 
Understanding the origins of ideas, the ideals of man, the philosophy and values through history and the role that the arts play in all aspects of our lives is the single most important knowledge you can possess. That knowledge allows you to understand the world around you and simply makes you better at anything you do in life. There are things you can memorize. There are things you can learn. Then there are things you must experience.   

The unexamined life is not worth living. -- Socrates

Hopefully you have had a mentor like Dr. Bondeson in your life. If not, soak up a bit of the wisdom of Bill and then seek our your own  great mentor. Enjoy... 

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. 

  

The Art & Science of the Startup

It seems that one of the hottest new trends is the attempt to define and compartmentalize the entrepreneur. To define how they are created, if they can indeed be created, who they know, how they were educated... on and on we go . I guess it is human nature to try and quantify then replicate the conditions that make a successful entrepreneur. I believe there are indeed some traits and experiences that can lead to success as an entrepreneur. There are also some pitfalls that lead to incredible failure, but more on that in a later post.

Having worked with a lot of entrepreneurs as clients, and with the leading entrepreneurial foundation, The Kauffman Foundation, it is my conclusion that there are some markers that help to define an entrepreneur. Those markers alone do not create success, however. You cannot crate a set path for individuals and expect the same outcome. Entrepreneurs are as diverse as the startups they create. They also need a level of support and guidance different from others. More on our work on that later as well.

Regardless of the value of determining the 'origins of entrepreneurs' our friends at LinkedIn have created a very nice summary of some of the markers that help us to define successful entrepreneurs. It is worth a look:

Sequencing the Startup DNA from LinkedIn

There is a link to a more detailed study at the bottom of the article.