3 Reasons for Optimism

Despite the adage that “if you aren’t outraged, you aren’t paying attention” that is true in so many areas of our world today and in the face of ever-increasingly devastation that are afflicting our communities, our national and international relationships, and our families, there are three rational reasons to be optimistic.

1. Character: optimism changes you

The natural world teaches us that living things need hardship to achieve their full potential. Flavorful and sweet grapes are produced only after vine pruning. Tomatoes and peppers need periods of drought to produce fruit. In my experience, we are the same. It is not the periods of prosperity and comfort that define us and shape us as individuals, but our character is refined in the fire of hardship. The idea that what “doesn’t kill us makes us stronger,” can be true if we commit to self-reflection. If you are paying the tuition, think about the education you are getting.

2. Community: optimism fosters helping

Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers’ fame, recounted his mother advising him to look for the “helpers” whenever he heard of tragedy or saw scenes on the news. First responders rushing in when others are rushing out. Neighbors helping neighbors. Human kindness on display without regard to the things that can artificially divide us like location, race, creed, or language. This is a reason for optimism. That all of us facing challenges and changes big and small, can assist each other. When we think about humankind, tragedy allows us to be both human and kind.

3. Creativity: optimism unleashes new ideas

A “the sky is falling”, or worst a “the world is out to get me” mentality, shuts down the creative problem solving process. Your creativity engine is closed for business if you blame others or get overwhelmed by circumstances. We are capable of amazing innovation and can create solutions that are simply unimaginable to those who weren’t open to possibility. Sitting amidst the rubble might be the next new building approach that would survive the next storm, unearthed with a fresh perspective and an open mind. 

Often in the throes of life’s challenges, it is extremely difficult to remember these benefits of optimism. This is one of the many ways that we can help each other. Not with vague platitudes, but by walking alongside each other in the storm and helping to develop character, community, and creativity.

Originally published on LinkedIn Pulse. The photo was taken at the Spruill Gallery in Dunwoody, GA.

On Fear

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway.  What’s important is the action.  You don’t have to wait to be confident.  Just do it and eventually the confidence with follow.”  -Carrie Fisher

Time

“What you do with your billable time (work time) will determine your income for the year.  What you do with your nonbillable time (free time) will determine your future.” – Art Gensler

I was at an event recently and as an ice breaker each table was asked to answer the question “would you rather have more time or more money?”  A great discussion ensued about upcoming college bills or the need for more of the finite hours in the day. 

Do we have enough hours in the day?  Do we have the hours we need to accomplish what is necessary?  I know I never feel like I do, but I am also aware that I waste time on a fairly regular basis.  I am sure you can say that same. 

Do I need more hours, or do I need to use them more productively? 

How much downtime do I actually require to be refreshed enough to do what needs to be done?  Am I getting enough sleep?  Am I prioritizing things like exercise, study, and family time the way that I should?  What use of my team leads to the most happiness?

These are incredibly personal questions and ones worth asking.

Self-Service Business Strategy Consulting

I recently saw a professional form Intuit’s innovation practice sit down with two start-up companies to offer mentoring and strategy counseling.  Instead of focusing on the answers and the discussions, I noted the questions he was asking and thought they might be an interesting playbook for others to run.  Ask yourself these questions, honestly and at a level that anyone from any industry could understand, and you will go a long way to clarify and refine your strategy for success.

• What is the most important issue facing your business today?
• For the audience you are targeting, what is their pain?
• When you talk to customers what was unexpected?
• Have you found anyone who has the pain you are looking to solve?
• How big is the problem and how are customers solving it today?
• Can you solve the problem once, get paid, and validate that it is a need?
• Have you heard any red (or possibly yellow) flags from customers about their need for the product, their willingness to pay, etc?
• Who can be a lighthouse account for you?
• If the business didn’t work, what would be the reasons why?

Twenty Seconds of Insane Courage

"You know, sometimes all you need is twenty seconds of insane courage. Just literally twenty seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it." - Benjamin Mee, "We Bought a Zoo"

Can You Afford Your Affordance?

Thaniya Keereepart, who runs the business of TED on apps, recently spoke about the use of design principles to change the way we interact with each other. 

She explained the idea of affordance.  It’s a user design idea that the look of something tells you how to use it.  A door knob or dial tells you to turn.  A button was designed to be pushed.  A handle to be grasped. 

The same could be true of people.  She says that the language we use in an email, the posture we assume in a meeting, and the space we take up in the room can all impact how people interact with us. 

Just like design begins with objectives, if each of us asked ourselves “what do we want?” and “how do I want to come across?” before meetings or presentations, we would likely get better results.

There are dozens of books about executive presence and TED talks about goal setting, language, and power, if you need some inspiration.

The Difference Between a Mission and a Cause

Missions are assigned. Causes are chosen. 

Rights vs. Needs

I am hearing a lot of talk of what constitutes basic human rights.  I have heard things like freedom of travel, access to state-of-the-art health care, access to clean water, a safe and comfortable home, basic education, higher education, and voting for political officials all listed as rights.  And it has led me to have some questions?

Is every human need a right?  If human needs for food and water are rights, what about other needs?

I have been told that humans need to laugh.  Is this a right? The freedom to find things funny.  Or do they have the right to have someone else make them laugh.  To pay for other human services, I am taxed.  What if it was demanded that I tell jokes to make my fellow citizens feel better?  Ridiculous, you say.  But this illustrates the perils of making a long list of things and calling them “rights.”

What about the need for safety?  Is that a right?  What is the role of the individual in this, if they engage in risky behaviors?  Safety is both a reality and a perception that spans a great deal of arenas from seat belts to street lamps.

What about sex?  Is it a need?  Is that need a right?  When does one person’s right to satisfy a need impact another’s rights?  How does one person’s right to sex conflict with others’ right to safety?

What about privacy?  Is it a right?  Clearly we don’t believe this in practice, because I think there are laws against not giving your children social security numbers or keeping them out of school (of some type) which requires them to have certain personal details disclosed.  So, in this case the right to welfare services and public education are in conflict with our right to privacy?  We give up privacy all the time (some saying effectively killing the whole idea of privacy), in exchange for convenience, services, or even safety. 

What about property ownership?  Our economy is based in no small part on the sanctity of property ownership, but what can be owned?  This has been debated for centuries and we rightly settled that you can’t own people (which was accepted for an unacceptable number of millennia and still is in some places and is more common in developed countries than we want to admit).  But we can own plants, farms, livestock, and pets.  We can own real property and equipment.  We can own (even fractional) legal entities that aren’t really alive, like corporations.  We can own contractual rights to thing that we don’t own (like stock options, etc.).  Are all these rights?  So, does that mean these things are needs?  Do we have a need to own things?  And whose job is it to satisfy that need?  Do you need to be given things or do you have the right to earn them?

For a whole host of reasons, humans need to be treated well by our parents.  We need to be fed, spoke to, and taught how to function in the world.  It’s a need.  Is it a right?  We act like it is with child protective services, the foster care system, and child protection laws (all good things).  So, if it is a right for kids, does it become an obligation for parents?  In order to drive, you have to prove that you have the ability to not be a harm to others and that you have the means (insurance at least) to drive.  Because people have the right to be safe as pedestrians and other drivers.  But the same isn’t true of parenting.  A parent’s right to making choices can be in direct conflict to their kids’ right to safety and a host of human rights.

We all have the right (mostly) to manage our own reproduction and so much has been written about this recently in the news.  But that right has consequences.  Where does right end and privilege begin if people are horrible parents and infringe upon the rights of their off-spring?

Regarding the right to your own body, what about exercise?  Our bodies certainly need it.  But is it the freedom to exercise that is our right or should we mandate exercise the way we do other things (i.e., like school attendance or lunch breaks for hourly workers). 

You see what I mean.  This “rights” versus “needs” is tricky.  And it is further complicated by the fact that we live in an interdependent community. 

Just like we need to be careful calling “wants” “needs” and confusing the ideas, I feel like we need to take the same caution with “rights” and “needs.”  Maybe, all we have the right to in the end is the freedom to satisfy our own needs in a way that doesn’t diminish others’ rights to satisfy their needs.  This all sounds good enough, but it is very difficult in practice.  Especially, in a world where shocking headlines of “rights violations” can keep citizens from thinking critically about the implications of a society of having so many rights and where they conflict in practice.

On Customer Input

Customer input results not only in insights into functionality, price, and features, but in empathy. Empathy is much more valuable.

The Four R’s of User Research

1. Right user
2. Right methodology (asking the right questions)
3. Right analysis
4. Right time (in the process)
   - Strategist at PayPal

Free Business Idea #32

What if someone combined a pizza place (like MOD) with the business model of Toms shoes?  For every pizza sold, one would be given to a hungry person (through a school, at a homeless shelter, through service agencies, etc).  I bet people would pay a little more for their pizza knowing they are helping a good cause.  Plus, it could make people choose your pizza place over others when corporate events and birthday parties came around.  It would taste good and make them look good while they are doing good.

Someone should do this.  And tell me about it.  You’re welcome.

Millennials: The Summary

Other generations owned big things, like homes and cars, and shared communications, like phones.

This generation shares big things and owns their own communications. 

On Burdens

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it." - Lena Horne

Staying Curious

"I suggest you take everything as a good sign. You'll fall asleep happy and wake up curious. If that's madness, let me be mad." - Martha Beck

Progress is Diagonal

Anyone who has lived knows that nothing good comes without some heartache, struggle, and failure along the wall.  Any truthful trajectory showing a result doesn’t look like a rocket.  It looks like a squiggly diagonal line to the right.  Success is an upwards sloping line, but at any point of the line, the slope wasn’t upwards. 

On Unlearning

"We are often told we need to know how to learn. But how do we learn to unlearn." - Chris Dede, Harvard

To build new habits. To change our approach, to find a new path. 

Being Content With Your Content: How to Know If It's Time to Change

Several years ago, I penned a song entitled “Content” [kuh n-tent] that was all about being satisfied.  Everyone pronounced it “content” [kon-tent] and thought it was a placeholder for the actual title. It’s a little ironic actually. Is a musician every content with his or her pieces? Marketers, too, often find themselves asking this question often: am I content with my content?

Author and historian, A. Wyatt Tilby, first used the expression “content is king” in 1914. However, he wasn’t referring to copy, video or audio, but rather to being satisfied. We think of this as a positive thing today, but Tilby spoke of the British monarchy when content was a derivative of “constrained” or “contained.” So, for a royal, their content audience was captive. Literally.

So, how do you keep your audience’s captive attention? By taking innovative and fresh approaches that keep readers informed, entertained and empowered to do more in their daily lives. Here are five ways to know if you can be content with your content or if it is time to change:

1. You are excited for others to read it

This may seem obvious but if the content doesn’t excite you – as the subject matter expert – it isn’t the right approach or needs more work. No matter your profession, we are all called to write and persuade or inform others from time to time – be it a manager, coworker, customer, patient or client. For some, writing is all they do in their jobs, and it comes naturally. For others, it’s a dreaded task. The key is to find opportunities to write about subjects that excite you. When you do, it becomes easier to create content with which you can be content. You may need to stretch the boundaries of your writing comfort zone, and research for supporting sources. But in doing so, the content will be strengthened and ultimately, professional expertise will be heightened. Now, if that isn’t exciting, I don’t know what is.

The key is to find opportunities to write about subjects that excite you.

2. Ask a trusted, skeptical colleague to review

Before you hit “go live” on any piece of content, seek out your most trusted, skeptical colleague to give it a thorough review. He or she needn’t be an expert in the topic of the piece, but you do want their unbiased and honest opinion about the aesthetics, clarity, and audience-perceived value of your content. Does the headline grab the reader and pull them in? Is it true to the “meat” of the piece or is it simply click bait? The latter, while a heavily used tactic these days, can damage your credibility with your audience. Take in all feedback and make adjustments to your content to ensure your audience has the utmost opportunity to engage with, and derive meaningful takeaways.

3. The content has been active for more than three months

Now, let’s talk about the “lifespan” of an effective piece of content. Once you have your ad, whitepaper, blog or video “in the wild,” and your audiences are consuming it, you’ll want to consider how long to promote it. The duration may vary according to the traffic it gets and the resonance of its message with the intended audience. If the piece – whether being promoted via paid venues, or lives organically on your website – has been running for three months or more (or you can’t remember when it was changed), it is probably time for an update. The best way to remain content with your content is to ensure your audience doesn’t have a chance to get bored.

4. It has been seen by your core customers more than seven times

Closely tied to recommended lifespan of your content is the marketing “Rule of Seven,” which states that audiences need to see your content seven times to remember and/or take action on it. If the content is compelling, it can make an impact sooner than seven times. If the content is run-of-the-mill, it can be seen more before becoming redundant. If you’ve used the content in your rotation at least seven times, it’s a good practice to change the content before it becomes too familiar and easily tuned out.

5. The Call to Action is no longer effective

“Call to Action” (CTA) defines the desired behavior of the viewer: buy the product, watch this movie, or shop this store. Although it can be difficult, it is important to measure the results of your content based on your CTA. Pay attention to the messages your audiences are sending to you via the CTA: e.g., are they opening your emails; are they clicking the links; are they visiting your page to learn more; are they sharing or commenting on your content? These are all important indicators of message and content resonance. Monitoring the results of your CTA helps you understand if your CTA is compelling enough, or perhaps it is time to refresh the content.

This article was originally posted on Leaders In Heels. 

LieFi

LieFi: fake news online

Sidewalks on the Map

"In a walking city, shouldn't the sidewalks be on the map, instead of the streets?" - Mike Rawlinson, CityID

Why does Amazon buy cardboard?

Amazon must be a huge consumer of kraft cardboard. We have a model in which product is shipped in cardboard and then, in most communities, is picked up at the curb for recycling. Why don’t we turn this around?

Why aren’t the deliveries made in something akin to a mailbox, but for packages. With limited packaging (ie, soft packaging, reusable totes, etc) and then we have curbside or community drop off of goods? 

Today the brick and mortar retail world relies on customers picking up goods from a store and trashing the packaging at home. What if it was the opposite? The goods were delivered to the home and we dropped off the packaging (on our own schedule). As tools like Amazon become more ubiquitous, the infrastructure for curbside reusable pick-up is a natural next step.