bwagy, the blog of Ben Young

You want to leap in, say something, to fill the silence.  But if you can hang in there a second it can make all the difference.

Talking in front of an audience, going as if to talk, then pausing a couple of seconds draws attention.

Waiting on the response to a touchy question, those few seconds wait pause helps extrapolate an answer.

Responding to a question after a couple of seconds demonstrates a thought out response.

It’s tough but remember that time is often on your side if you know how to use it.

But you CAN plant the seeds so that what you don’t know grows into something that you do know and helps you get where you want to go.

A blog is one such way, share your ideas & perspectives, see where it takes you.

It’s far too easy to slate a decision off as completely stupid without know the context in which it is made.

Far too easy.

Second guess that context, what would the context be for you to make the same decision?

And could that be the exact context they’re facing?

It’s not the goal, it’s more of a by-product of achieving a goal.

Kind of like when Toyota was pronounced the #1 car manufacturer in the world, the CEO was quoting as saying it wasn’t the goal but a by-product of their focus on innovation etc.

Think about this when you see someone is seemingly against you – are they really?

That is, what doesn’t work today may work tomorrow.

I find this all the time, structurally this idea won’t work here today, then six months later it will work.

It’s a good ethos to have, keep it in the back of your mind and you’ll be surprised when the right idea pops up for the right scenario.

The interesting thing about Stem Cells is that they can transform into any kind of cell.

That is why they are so desired by scientists, their ability to be universal and change depending on a stimulus.

Entrepreneurs are kind of like this too, throw them into a situation, chances are they’ll make something happen.

They’re both the change makers in any given scenario.

With any system, you need to look at what inputs/outputs occur.

Specifically looking at carbon inputs/outputs.  I don’t want to delve into the scientific argument but just want to look at this balance.

When looking at reducing carbon emissions, there are a few fingers to point at: mainly farmers & cars (oil).

The second I understand, if the problem is too much carbon in the atmosphere – where did it come from? Underground where it was stored as oil/coal.

The former is only reusing carbon that is already in the atmosphere (or in plants)…

Thus the problem is capturing this carbon and pumping it back underground however that doesn’t solve our problem as we keep pulling more carbon out.

You see the eco-system is out of whack, we are putting more inputs in and expecting less outputs out – it just doesn’t work!

You’d be surprised on how often this happens! Structurally the same problem just a different context.

The touchscreen revolution is upon us.

No longer do we have to pull levers (like mouse, keyboards) to interact with media we can be hands on.

It is a massive jump, it’s the same as going from traditional media to social media, it adds an extra tactile layer which is responsive.

This direct feedback increases learning, changes the experience and makes it even more engaging.

This shift is something we all need to think about…

Sales through retail chains can often be a pain, especially when it comes to reporting, a lot of businesses rely on restock numbers to calculate sales.  Which are of course quite delayed (in terms of reporting) and not often accurate.

So what can you do to get live sales reporting?

Using RFID technology and a detector at the store front (which can be a small unit) you could tell when your stock left the store, hook that up to a 3G device and you can get live sales reporting.

Which would make things much more interesting.  Simple technology, someone please do it, or if it exists implement.

Seth Godin has stirred up a lot of discussion with his statement that he won’t be producing books the traditional way anymore.

His key point, is that there is a huge amount of friction in spreading an idea via books, with digital the friction to becoming a fan is very very low.

It all starts when we discover something, just like a band, we get a few tidbits, suddenly we’re nodding our head, I like it!

20 years ago you would then seek out another book or record to get more of the good stuff. Unfortunately you might have to backorder or wait 9 months till the next album came out.

Now though it’s more instant you can peruse a back catalog within a few hours; read a series of ebooks, download all the albums off iTunes, read a years worth of blogs. You can go from interest to raving fan with (again) very little friction.

So Seth, I understand why, you’re right ideas can spread much much easier online.

Discussed in Outliers, the Matthew Effect is where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

Or talking that to another analogy, those that learn to read faster, get more attention & reward, so get better.  Those that can’t don’t get the same benefit.

Or those that are born earlier in the year and start school earlier, (generalising) are physically bigger than their classmates, so perform better at sports.  As such they get more attention, more training etc.

Gladwell in short argues in Outliers, people that squeeze this effect and become those outliers (or run with the effect and get there faster).

I was reminded of this in a recent Radiolab podcast, whereby Gladwell was questioning the idea of a ‘child genius’ – what is the relevance of a 7 year old being able to read like a 9 year old, none really? Should we reward them as much?

Food for thought.

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Inspired by Outliers, Radiolab and a recent study in NZ analysing the effect of the brain drain on high academic performers which suggested high academic results equated to real world success…which really is like the 7 year old reading like a 9 year old, your really marginally ahead of your peers – what real world significance does that have?

That has to be the laziest marketing message I’ve heard.

Who wants to be cheaper?

Who wants to attract customers that want cheaper?

Who wants to motivate staff that we’re doing this to be cheaper?

It’s a losing battle… please do not ever ever say your better because you’re cheaper, say your better because you deliver magnitudes times more value, robust support, innovative technology, improving your customers life, increasing their status… the list goes on but you get the point.

Don’t you think?

At least says Kevin Roberts (hinting at his next book).

I tend to agree, thanks to The IceHouse along with a group of entrepreneurs we got to sit down with Kevin Roberts CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi worldwide (but thankfully a kiwi!) and talk marketing.

His point comes from a study of 10,000 or so companies and what differentiates the high performers from the pack.  Those that organise like a family, hard working team, caring yet pushing (who pushes us more than our families) outperform the rest.

And nothing is more demanding than a family… what better way to get the most out of your people.

[He also noted, families do change, grow, separations do happen, new family units form.]