Capital C

Give Yourself an A

Benjamin Zander is the Conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, and one of the most inspirational speakers I have ever listened to.  He was also a great teacher famous for handing out an A to every student, the first day of class.  All he asked in return is that they write a letter to him saying why the deserved the mark.  His theory was that if your projected yourself into a future desired state, that talked about what you had learned and accomplished in his class, there was a better chance you would achieve it.  Give yourself an A for something you really want, and then write the letter why you deserved it.

Art Meets Data

Every day we are hit with a tsunami of statistics, facts and conjectures.  Some real some dramatized, and more often than not all synthesized by the consumer.  77% of consumers skip through all television ads, if given a chance.  80% would buy filters to knock out irrelevant information.  Once in a while something breaks through, and more often than not by combining art with data.  A great example and a must video to watch is Chris Jordan’s talk at the TED conference, where he uses images to dimentionalize his statistics in a compelling, provocative way, proving it's possible to mix data and art. (the above image is a tiny fraction of the 100s of millions of cell phones that go into landfills every year.)

The Buddha Sense

Deepak Chopra’s book Buddha offers great insight into marketing and the importance of appealing to and tapping into the right senses. “Erasing a memory isn’t a simple process like erasing scribbles off a chalkboard.  The eyes have the longest memory, followed by the nose.  Who doesn’t remember the blinding white snows of yesterday, the swooning scent of a rose, the brilliance of an unfurled peacocks’ tail?  But try to imitate a robin’s song, something that you have heard a thousand times.  Few people can.”

1 Minute Powerpoints

Mark Twain once said- "I'd have written a shorter letter, but I ran out of time".
A challenge we all face is one of condensing our ideas, thoughts and presentations down to their essence.
Many top execs are demanding 1-3 minute powerpoint presentations, to start developing cultures of focus and elegant communication.
Try the 1 minute Powerpoint, create extreme clarity and free up everyone's time (except your own).

The Neuroplasticity of Change

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change itself, literally.
Science is beginning to accept that the old 'brain as rigid machine' philosophy is wrong. The mind and brain are actually quite capable of organic rewiring at any age, building and forming new pathways of thought and capabilities, even if there was damage to the brain.
The mind cuts paths of behavior in the form of neural grooves, which make it easier to do what we do best. The problem is that the only constant is change, and when we change, getting out of those grooves or ruts is difficult, and creates anxiety.
So the message here is that anxiety in small doses is good; that's what change feels like. That's what progress feels like, and that's what you're brain reformatting and redesigning itself feels like.
It won't be long before that uncomfortable feeling becomes satisfying and encouraging, because it's proof that the impermanence of life is being embraced.

Leading From Behind

Nelson Mandella is one of those truly enlightened human beings. So when he talks about leadership, it's worth taking note.
Mr Mandella describes his style as 'leading from behind', which is about creating context and a receptive environment for other leaders to excel. He sees the ultimate leadership role as coach and architect, allowing people to develop, evolve and flourish. It's the capacity to recognize the web of interdependence that contemporary business operates within, where recognizing and identifying other's natural genius and putting it in the spotlight is critical. So the true skill of the modern leader is to subjugate their own ego and be the designer of the systems and structures that allow teams to shine brightly.
It's a long walk, but one worth starting.

The Human Medium

Let's say that a medium is something that something else moves through. That's an intentionally grade three explanation, but anything further would be about mediums and not humans.
Human mediums are the corporate or social organisms that ideas move through.
The question is: does your idea respect the medium it's intended to move through? Do you understand it, as any scientist would understand the components of an experiment?
The truth is, we don't recognize the importance of the human medium or human systems as we design ideas. We think the medium will magically conform to and transmit the story, but that rarely happens.
Good idea design recognizes that human systems are unique and complex, and ideas need to be designed to conform to and work within the organizations limits, the human emotional variables, biases, preconceptions, fears, passions...
Unless you decide you want to change the system, which is noble and achievable. But that too requires work and understanding. Because you still need ideas to move through the human medium to change the medium itself.
So understand your medium, understand the dynamics, understand the biases, mythos, ethos and KEEP IT SIMPLE. And be humble (the hardest part).

Shit Knives & Improvised Ideas

Anthropologist Wade Davis in a TED talk described an inuit man who had his weapons taken away from him, so he defecated into his hand, and as it froze he fashioned the feces into a knife which he used to butcher an animal.
The best of us do the same with ideas. Sometimes we need to quickly squeeze one out and fashion it into a useful, relevant tool immediately, on the spot, with only the material and knowledge at hand.
In the speed game of innovation, thinking fast and prototyping faster is the game.

User Innovation

The competitive landscape is changing; a statement we've heard for decades. But this is different. The 4 key drivers are 1- rapid global connectivity, 2- digital technology reducing cost, 3- disintegration of industry boundaries and 4- emergence of social networks.
So we're moving to a much more personalized solution, dependant on the ability to engage in multi institutional collaboration.

The new mantra- platform and experience, not product.
The challenge is understanding the mindset and lifestyle of the user, moving from the focus group to ethnographer, from the quantitative to the qualitative. It's about active users not passive consumers. Value is being redefined as systems of value. Therein lies the difference.

Thinking Visually

Dan Roam's book 'Back of the Napkin' would probably done poorly 25 years ago. It was a time when idea sessions on napkins or any scrap of paper was commonplace. Then along came Powerpoint and ideas were expressed in this seemingly more efficient format.
What we lost was the spontaneity of quickly communicating loose ideas, and the willingness to let a concept die and be reborn, all between a few sips of beer and bites of pretzel.
The point is this- the more time we spend on an idea, the more rigid it becomes in our mind, and the more likely we are to defend it. Loose drawings of ideas keep the concepts light and flexible, succint, and open to input and changes on the spot.
Try to 'people-ize' things (stick figure) and dimentionalizing ideas (shopping car piled higher than last year). These compact visual ideas let us scan back to the pictoral thought and 'get it' within milliseconds.
Stay loose- bk

Bagged a Keynote

This morning I was the keynote speaker at Store, Canada leading retail conference
If I did my job right I will get across three key messages. 1) convergence of forces are putting every street corner, every banner, every brand and every consumer up for grabs. 2) the consumer is in control, she is pissed, cynical and trading up or trading down for deals, there is no middle ground. 3) Powerful and relevant consumer and category insights are the life blood of winning.  Insights that are continuously calibrated to enable operators to adjust every element of their organization on the fly. My talk but a wonderful collaboration with Bennett Klein my creative and strategic Partner and James Fraser our in house retail guru. - tc

Wicked Problems

Get ready to hear this term. It's creeping into the contemporary corporate lexicon as a great description of problems that are persistent and pervasive, and yet too slippery to grab hold of. The term 'wicked problem was coined by design-planning theorist Horst Rittel to define these nasty challenges. Geeks go here.
Stanford U and Neutron design recently put together a survey of top 10 wicked problems, based on input from 1500 CEOs and business thought leaders. No surprises there but worth a peek.
I love the term because it creates a classification for those issues that consistently challenge and derail our best intentions, or add friction to otherwise smooth processes.
Wicked problems aren't solved with silver bullets, they take time and understanding. But putting them into the category is the first step.

Digital Diggs

Here's some diggs dug by CapC staffers.

P&G to Spend 20% on digital in Canada
Tim Penner, P&G's president in the country, has vowed to boost online spending from 3% of its media budget to as much as 20% for the company's fiscal year that starts July 1.
Digital Spending
Your dedicated social media staffer
Want to gauge response to potential new products? Use social media. Want to compile or validate keyword lists for PPC or SEO? Use social media. Want to develop or test new ad campaigns? Use social media…and you might need a full time staff.
Full-time Social Media
You're likely not my friend, even if Facebook says you are
Facebook has clearly broadened (redefined?) what it means to be someone’s “friend”.  Could the backlash be around the corner? (NOTE: To get around purchasing the article we put a cached version which looks a little wonky)
Are we friends?
Get a Virtual Makeover
With new advances of face recognition software finally a decent quality virtual makeover solution hit the market.  Now you can upload your face and within minutes check out various haircuts and make-up options. 
Hmm… I wonder how I would look like bold
Japanese mobile game for spicy snacks
Japanese food maker Tohato launched a mobile multiplayer online game to promote their new snack products, delightfully named "Tyrant Habanero Burning Hell Hot" and Satan Jorquia Bazooka Deadly Hot." Buyers use their mobile phone to scan the 2D barcode on the bag and then join either the Habanero Evil Army or the Satan Jorquia Evil Army.
More here
Panasonic teams with Google to bring streaming Web video to your TV
Imagine being able to access YouTube videos from your nice new HDTV.  Think about accessing online content the same way you do on a cell phone.  Of course Google will hand-pick the highlights and stick on an ad on top of it.
YouTube in High-Def
 

The un Meme

I just read a great article on the meme 'un'.
Un is so relevant to our counter culture, where anything established is unestablished as quickly as possible, especially in electronics and online. The un-website is the new webidea where widgets are allowing brand interactions within the user space, not the brand space. Ning and Yuwie are out to unFacebook the web, while 'conversations' are unselling and unmarketing to consumers.
Ironically, the un-meme was traced back to 7-UP's UnCola campaign several decades ago, where two letters positioned the brand beautifully and created a new conceptual space for society in one swoop. But go easy on the un; it can get unoriginal pretty fast.

Canal St. vs Wall St.

As we move towards an economy of handmade, consumer generated, pirated, open sourced stuff, speed is the game. The latest and greatest Oscar-buzz-driven object is on Canal street a week after the awards. Wall St. heads are spinning as the prosumer pirates hack culture and capitalism faster than they can measure it. Serial innovation is the only solution, requiring a culture of creativity and user delight focus. So get that insight hat on and connect your cerebral hemispheres. It's gunna be a bumpy ride.

Lessons in Life

I had dinner with an individual who gave me a lesson in life that I want to share.  The story began with his father who built a business empire in Africa, counted the Royal Family of England upon his personal friends, and sent his sons and daughters to the finest universities to be educated. Upon their return they expected to inherit these businesses but learned that in their absence their Dad had sold or given away his empire. His reason was the fun he had on his journey, of building, creating, failing and rebuilding, and he didn’t want to deny his children of the same opportunity. With this gift of life they went off on their own journeys, to different parts of the world, including Canada. Today they have created wealth beyond anyone’s imagination, and they give much of it back, but its not their balance sheet that matters – its ensuring that this lesson continues for generations to come – that shining eyes, beating hearts and hands that craft, not assets is what life is all about.

The Elastic Mind

If you look up the word elastic in the dictionary, you'll discover the attributes around the concept of elasticity are identical to those needed for robust design thinking.
I came across this term while listening to Paola Antonelli, the Curator of Architecture and Design at MOMA explaining the exhibit, Design and the Elastic Mind. She outlines the role of designers in making complex technology and ideas usable by simple mortals.
The Elastic Mind idea is a brilliant term to describe the emerging mental skillset that leading thinkers must develop. And I specify skill-set: a flexible, expandable collection of thought systems and mental tools available to understand complex problems and challenges. In Design Thinking, the Elastic Mind is flexible, never married to ideas, never locked into process, until absolutely necessary. The elastic mind is always expanding with data, but connecting cause and effect in creative, insightful ways.
The Elastic Mind understands Black Swans and Predictably Irrational thinking.
It's my idiom of the day.

Idea Protectionism

Sometimes i'm shooting the proverbial shit with friends and certain topics always come up around the idea of networked culture. These topics demonstrate what I call idea protectionism: the need to hold on to old ideas to maintain our guarded identity. Here are two examples from the last few days-
Friends: The linguistic evolution of the word and the resulting progress of the idea is disturbing some people. Obviously, in our hyperconnected culture a friend has taken on new meaning. This doesn't change the old one, it just demands that the word be qualified: old friend, good friend, casual friend, Facebook friends. Linguistic evolution will be rampant, but we still try to fight the losing battle to protect traditional applications.
Mixing Business and Pleasure: Another conundrum is the mixture of work and social life in a digital community. Again, we'll see the evolution of a new type of relationship that may be a hybrid of both or something altogether new. That's not a problem, it's just a new paradigm. And that's a good thing.

Stop the Bleeding

An article in May 17 ROB says our Provincial Government has promised $614 million dollars to support automotive manufacturing in Canada.  Can someone send our politicians a brochure on the new Tata- which is 3 meters long, seats four comfortably does 65mph sells for (£1,300) – the same price as the DVD player in a Lexus.   Invest the money in creativity, innovation, harnessing our oil riches in an environmentally friendly manner – but automotive manufacturing?  Our time is done.

Can Iconic Brands Survive Line Extensions ?

There are very few iconic beer brands left in the world.  Brands that enjoy immunity regardless of the price and promotional tactics of their competitors.  Heineken, in almost every market, enjoys iconic status.  It has a unique flavour, colour profile, and sells at a premium, it rarely discounts, and most of the innovation centers around innovation, and most of the promotion around exclusive I would cut off my arm to go events.
So why screw things up and launch Heineken Light?  I call it greed – frothing at the mouth at the size of the light category, a lay up volume grab by leveraging their brand name- Bud did it why can’t we?  Mark my word – before you know it they will be bonus beers, free t-shirts, and price tactics.