The general consensus for creative people is that discipline stifles creativity, I’m not sure that is the case. I think that in reality discipline allows you to focus on what matters. And when you to focus on what matters, you get more clarity and space in your mind to be creative. You should be seeking to solve the problems of the people you seek to serve. And the only way you can solve the problems of the people you seek to serve is to know what their problems are.
I think that marketing is not the same as advertising, marketing is not about hyping lousy stuff. Marketing is about telling a true story to people who want to hear it. In my experience marketing at its best is when we make things better that are seen and understood by the target audience. I think that if there is a person, cause, organisation or brand that you care about it’s because they do good marketing. Contact me via e-mail for a non-binary meeting about your organisations marketing engagement.
Always try to change things for the better
You can use data, data and more data if you are serving people. Are you aware that every single click you make, everywhere you go is now recorded in a database? And more than that, there is software that allows the marketer to watch while you are shopping, watch you while you rage click on a button. You can get a report that tells you that 28% of the visitors pressed on this button first, we are watching everything. The direct marketer is busy moving tiny little pieces around to try to get a 3% boost, but the intuitive marketer can see how people are interacting and discover what they are seeking. We are stuck in the same circle to see which parts work and which parts don’t.
The purpose of marketing is this generous act of helping people figure out their problems and solving them. The only way to this is to keep doing it and the internet has made it cheaper, faster and easier to do than ever before. The big takeaway is just do it, get the feedback from those people - see how they behave, see how they buy, whether they buy it or whether they don’t. Listen to what they tell you, listen to the questions they ask and the objections they may have, learn from that and do it better the next time and never stop. We don’t have the power to do things to people against their will, contact me via e-mail to arrange a meeting about your organisations use of data.
Intentions mean more than actions
I believe that intentional action sometimes called design thinking saves a lot of time and energy. Part of what we do as a creative is to look at who do we seek to change and what change to we seek to make for them? And then we have to make it for those people.
Design thinking in a nutshell is encapsulated with these three questions:
Who’s it for?
What’s it for?
And how will I know if it’s working?
These questions are essential, and if you don’t ask yourself them then you’ll probably end up stumbling around in the dark looking for solutions.
If you want to learn marketing you do it by doing marketing, by taking action. Reading marketing books and an internship is all well and good, I think you would be better off to figure out how you want to make a change happen and then do it. This is because if you get good at marketing there will be a lot of people who will want you to help them.
Tomorrow can never be the same as yesterday
As a person of colour living in Denmark I really don’t understand why whole idea of racial injustice is not being thoroughly investigated. The locals think it’s not my problem and the culture is very seductive. We will always have these two things competing against each other! The game to keep things same and safe, and my game to make things interesting and better.
Tolerance is not about not having beliefs. It is about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you. Sometimes we think that as creative people discipline stifles creativity. I think that discipline allows us to focus on what matters, and when we focus on what matters, we get more clarity and space in our minds to be creative.
Tolerance
““Tolerance is not about not having beliefs. It is about how your beliefs lead you to treat people who disagree with you.” - Burrellism”
Contrast sharpens the desire
My first summer job was in retail, so since my school days whenever I enter a shop, I always ask myself about how retailers are being inclusive in their retail environment. What’s important to the customers? I think the ability to make it really easy for consumers to buy your products regardless of their knowledge. Mixing customer experience with great technology from your customers point of view will allow you to control the relationship.
For the very first time in our existence we have the necessary resources, capability and technology to address every human problem on the planet. I think the only thing that we are missing is consciousness, so in order to improve the customer experience, start with the employee experience. Do you deliver a consistent customer experience, and if so how? Contact me via e-mail if you would like to deliver sustainable, extraordinary growth by creating an inspiring, unique and convenient customer experience.
I lost my wallet
Yesterday, I lost my Commes des Garçons wallet which I bought in Tokyo (2016). The DKK 500 and various coins is of little significance compared to the lucky Viking coin my son gave to me when he was in 1st Grade. It’s the first time that I have lost anything and I am extremely grateful that I live in Denmark. The Danish technology system is excellent and the ease of access made the process of cancelling my credit card and travel card so easy. Ordering a replacement identity card and driving license was no problem. The psychological impact of my loss is greater than the financial burden of the replacement cards.
In today’s world, possessions increasingly reflect who people are or at least how they would like to see themselves. How much we see our possessions as an extension of ourselves may depend in part in how confident we feel about who we are. I will never forget the memories attached to my faithful companion who was with me 24/7 for the best part of 5 years and I still live in hope that my wallet will be found and returned to me by a kind soul. Only time will tell…
Throw away all the self doubt
This morning I was inspired by watching one of the greatest chase scenes of all time, you can see the video of an iguana escaping a posse of poisonous snakes. Remember that sometimes we need our daily reminder to have faith in what we are doing and that the seemingly impossible at times really means 'I'm possible' with a little hard work, passion, and dedication.
Combine feelings with facts
Your gut and your heart are connected to your brain via the vagus nervous system and 95% of serotonin is produced in the gut. Serotonin is the hormone that gives instructions to the body, for example, when to be happy, positive and in a good mood. The gut-brain axis (GBA) consists of bidirectional communication between the central and the enteric nervous system, linking emotional and cognitive centers of the brain with peripheral intestinal functions. There are both good and bad bacteria in the gut because the gut is connected to the brain and 95% of the instructions for movement is produced inside the gut.
When it comes to decision-making, knowledge is power. How do you feel about knowledge that comes from an unconventional source? Gut reactions can convey valuable information about potential choices and in a fraction of the time it takes to consciously analyse your options. I think it’s best to combine feelings with facts. Professor Julian Birkinshaw (London Business School) agrees that successful organisations must be equally comfortable applying gut instinct with careful research. The brain and gut may make an odd couple, contact me via e-mail to arrange a meeting about how to maximise your strengths and shore up your weaknesses.
Lock arms with the right people
© McGill Media
After watching the football yesterday evening, I had a long discussion with my friends, Sophia and Oscar about the masculine and feminine roles in society. We concluded that biologically women are nurturers and men are providers, like it or not this is programmed within our DNA. Traditionally, women were seen to be soft and men were perceived to be hard, tough individuals. The big question is why is society communicating to men that they should be more feminine, and at the same time telling women to be more masculine?
Throughout my career I have worked with inter personal communication, whether it be sales, marketing or branding. I love the concept of writing to the voice in your audiences head. Broadly speaking, I learned that relieving pain is what we want and maximising pleasure is what we crave. It’s all material and it makes sense to turn over the worst moments in our lives into great lessons, not only for ourselves, but also for the people we seek to guide along their journey.
The second habit Stephen Covey covers in his wonderful book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” is “Begin With the End in Mind.” According to Covey, before you can live a good, meaningful life, you have to know what that looks like. When you know how you want people to talk about us at the end of our life, you can start taking action now to make that scenario a reality later. As I do not chase people anymore, I have learned that I am here and I am happy, and I am not going to run after people to prove that I matter. So, what do I want you to do after reading this, what is my call to action? I think the the end product isn’t as important as the process, contact me in confidentiality via e-mail to arrange a meeting about your processes.
Bad news doesn't get better with age
Whenever any comes to me with a problem I always have an answer for them, I always look for solutions and if I don’t have them personally, then I will leverage my network. Personal ownership is part of my leadership style as I think that it’s all about the team. Nowadays, I have to constantly remind people that you cannot get all the answers from YouTube.
The subjective side is where you involve individual motivation and culture is just as important as having great systems. You can have the greatest systems in the world but if your culture stinks then you won’t have alignment within your organisation. If the culture of helping and supporting each other is not present within your organisation, then there will not be a level of teamwork required to take on the external challenges. Some level of teamwork and personal responsibility is always required when setting the direction of where of you want your organisations to head. Contact me via e-mail for a meeting to discuss an introspection into your “true worth” principles.
Don't believe everything you read
““That a lie which is half a truth is ever the blackest of lies;
That a lie which is all a lie may be met and fought with outright;
But a lie which is part a truth is a harder matter to fight.” - Lord Tennyson”
Problem solvers
If what makes you unique and stand out from the competition is who you are, then the big question is who are you? Another question would be based around your belief system, how do you do what you do? Over the 12 months, I have time to think about not only myself but also how organisations will operate post Covid.
There are more questions than answers, I think that all progressive organisations will have to take a deeper dive into understanding their competition and where they position themselves in the market place. Are interested in laying the foundations for creating a culture where everyone in your organisation works towards the success of everybody? Contact me via e-mail for a meeting.
Pleasure & Pain
The two P’s of motivation are pleasure and pain. I think that people buy products or services for one or two reasons and there are hundreds of books out there around the psychology of selling. In my experience, people buy products or services either to move closer to pleasure or to move further away from pain.
Nowadays it appears that marketers focus all their attention on marketing towards the pleasure, it may also be extremely effective for marketers to target solutions which moves the consumer further away from pain. It’s unrealistic to think that we are going to live our lives in a solely pleasurable way, so brands need also to look at their consumers pain points. Contact me via e-mail for an introspection into your buying process.
It’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it
It doesn’t matter what you do in this modern world, you have to know how to use words. If you want to inspire your employees, negotiations, interviews or even inviting your friends for dinner, words are the key. Nowadays, face-to-face meetings are no longer normal, therefore, relationship building happens remotely, and this makes our style of speaking is even more important. Especially when selling over the phone, as you don’t have the benefit of body language to help you construct a convincing sales pitch. In reality, when speaking over the phone almost your entire message is communicated via your tone and inflection.
The classic and still widely-accepted rule about effective communication was developed by Professor Albert Mehrabian. He found the percentages relating to relative impact of words, tone of voice, and body language when speaking. Just 7% of meaning is gained from the actual words that are spoken. 38% of meaning is derived from the way the words are spoken and 55% of meaning comes from facial expression. And Robert Alberti , an expert in assertiveness and with over 40 years experience of teaching, consulting, writing about, and researching healthy elements of assertive expression, said ”I’ve learned that it’s really not so much what you say as how you say it.”
I think that if I tell you that “you really look great today,” and say it while making eye contact and smiling and speaking in a friendly tone, you’ll likely take it as a compliment. If I say the same words while rolling my eyes, shaking my head, scowling, and speaking with derisive inflections, you’ll know I’m being sarcastic and critical. Contact me via e-mail for workshops and communication guidance.
The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller
““The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come.” - Steve Jobs”
Wear the change you want to see
“The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.
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The big picture
I won the dream and aspiration lottery a long time ago. Would you like to be someone who is lucky enough to do almost everything you want to do? I think if I was in that position this is what I want to do:
- I want to be a teacher
- I want to be of service
- I want to be a person that “turns on the lights” and helps people - not everybody - see things
I really want to live in this positive cycle as I think this is what makes culture matter.
Have a super Easter Sunday and use this opportunity to really think about the kind of life you want to lead and the impact you want to make in this world.
Looking back to the past
The late, great Steve Jobs said, “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something—your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”
I think in the future when we look back at our careers the leaders that we remember will be the ones who:
1. Provided us a safe space to grow
2. Opened career doors
3. Defended us when we needed it
4. Recognised and rewarded us
5. Developed us as leaders
6. Inspired us to stretch higher
7. Led by example
8. Told us our work mattered
9. Forgave us when we made mistakes
10. Contact me via e-mail to arrange a meeting.
Walk and talk
Our “Amarminoen” tour began at 10.10am this morning outside DR Byen metro station on a 24 km hiking trail through beautiful forests, marshlands, beaches. We had sunshine and wind, it’s an amazing adventure ending with beers in Dragør (a picturesque seaside town). I’m so grateful to the Flanuer guys for welcoming me into their group and that I live in Copenhagen.