Capital C

Grafitti as Social Media?

My musing for the morning… As seen on the TTC on my way in… A TTC poster focused on raising awareness of treatment of TTC workers by the public had the following copy (and grafitti’d response) on it (no different from any “hijacked” OOH poster really…)
Poster copy: “Treat a TTC worker as you’d want to be treated yourself.” Graffiti scrawled on top: “Have you seen the washrooms? Ha!” Besides making me smile, it did make me think about social media (in the context of companies having dialogue with consumers)… This is no different than the dialogue that companies are seeking to crack in the digital space. The poster just has limited opportunity to continue that dialogue (and reach larger audience). It was effective in sparking the conversation however!
Mark Jordan

The Empathetic Singularity

Test after test proves that, in spite of being strangers, we are wired for empathy, and therefore have an innate ability to know and care for each other. There is a perfection in our social systems that allow us to maintain an incredible level of civility. It appears that our moral/ethical minds drive us to socialize and survive as a mass of humanity, deeply interdependent.
And future generations will continue to embrace this collective, as technology evolves us towards that famous 'singularity'; the integration of technology and biology. Although this sounds ominous, empathy will always drive us, and networks will start to look for ways to integrate empathy into the presently autistic formats that exist today (ie; email).
Marketers will need to keep pace, and spend more time interacting than selling, so that the sale will be authentic. Autistic marketers within the singularity will be weeded out and blocked. Start learning to care today.

Apes With Taste

I heard a quote from the latest spoof on Morris' classic Naked Ape, this one called the Well-Dressed Ape. The author muses that one of the key differences between ourselves and chimps is that they don't need to be constantly reminded they're chimps.
I'm sure this insight has been put forth many times through the history of social anthropology, but it's shockingly relevant to WHAT WE DO FOR A LIVING.
If we can remember that we're really evolved, hairless apes, we'll remember to think like the instinctual, emotional mammals that we are, and design messages and persuasion with this in mind.

Rumi-nation

Rumi, the great Sufi poet advised;
"Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment."
Rarely has advice been so hard to take and so valuable to follow. Try it. It will truly unlock worlds of deep understanding.

The Handoff

As positive organizational dynamics become THE critical ingredient in a winning company, the element that continues to fascinate me is the transfer of critical information across teams and groups. It's where games are won or lost, very much like an Olympic relay handoff, as Tom Kelly points out in the 10 Faces of Innovation.
Looking more closely at how the project is communicated across functions will greatly enhance the quality of the final product, and the ownership of the task across groups. The result; continuity, clarity, pride and accountability, all without loss of momentum. Five critical attributes of any project handoff.

Deep Smarts

How does an organization endure?
-Through what business psychologists call Deep Smarts, or experienced based wisdom.
Deep Smarts=knowledge+experience x intuition, with intuition being a critical component of good judgment and effective innovation.
Deep Smarts is an organization's ability to transfer knowledge, understanding and experience to the entire company. Cultivating Deep Smarts is one of the key responsibilities of all leaders, to move from entrepreneurial energy to sustainable competitive advantage.
It involves the creation of opportunities for future leaders to experience first hand challenges around managing core business opportunities; working towards the 10,000 hours of experience rule that Gladwell examines in 'Outliers'. At that point, our batting average of good judment calls breaks 500.
Knowledge framing, filtering building and transferring are the core of Deep Smarts, so the first bit is to get into bed to your leadership team, know them intimatly, and keep talking, discussing, teaching and challenging.