The Kmiec Ramblings

Tag Archive: Book

The Power Of No

Written on August 1, 2010 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

I’ve been digging into Linchpin, by Seth Godin (it’s my first Kindle formatted book) and I’ve been enjoying it immensely. As usual Seth delivers the goods. I’ll be providing a full review like I did for Tribes, once I’ve finished it. However, I came upon a truly powerful passage that I felt compelled to write about.

In a section titled, “Saying No” Seth riffs on the power that comes from being the person who can say, “No.” Now think about that for a second. We usually demonize these people. After all, we want the “can do” person…the person for whom no mountain is too tall. Check out the passage and then I’ll offer up some thoughts.

“There are two ways the linchpin can use ‘no.’

The first is to never use it. There’s a certain sort of indispensable team member who always finds a yes. She always manages to find a way to make things happen, and she does it. It’s done. Yes.

Those people are priceless.

Amazingly, there’s a second kind of linchpin. This person says “no” all the time. She says no because she has goals, because she’s a practical visionary, because she understands priorities. She says no because she has the strength to disappoint you now in order to delight you later. When used with good intent, this negative linchpin is also priceless. She is so focused on her art that she knows that a no now is a worthy investment for the magic that will be delivered later.”

I was always the yes person. This isn’t to say i was a “yes man.” No, what I mean is, I believed that anything was possible. And why not? I enjoyed delivering the impossible. There is a thrill that comes from that. But, of late, I’m leaning that sometimes you need to say no. Saying no allows you to focus. It allows you to prioritize. It allows you to make even more progress than you could have from saying yes to every request.

It took my roughly 14 years in this business to learn that sometimes saying no leads to better productivity and better results. But, I’m finding now that I’ve learned it, I’m becoming a much more useful cog in the wheel.

Tags: Book, Quote, Seth Godin

Romancing The Brick Wall

Written on June 15, 2010 by Adam Kmiec in Misc.

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I was reminded this morning of one of the best chapters in the “Last Lecture,” titled, “Romancing The Brick Wall.” Randy Pausch eloquently and pignantly writes, “Brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people.” I couldn’t agree more.

While this chapter focuses on Randy’s courting of his future wife, this approach and belief is in no means limited to matters of the heart. The idea of the brick wall is that there are always obstacles in life that will appear. Some are small. Some are big. If you really want that something enough, you’ll find a way to overcome the wall.

Probably, one of my favorite examples of this was when a very tenacious soon-to-be grad “forced” her way into a position she wasn’t qualified for. We had a job description posted asking for 5 – 7 years of experience, I believe. It was a Sr. Producer/Account Supervisor role. Well, there was this scrappy, inexperienced person (I can’t even call her a candidate), who refused to accept the fact she wasn’t qualified for the position. She tweeted, called, texted, emailed, and I think even Facebooked me to try and get an interview. Finally, I relented. I figured, I’d give her the interview, explain that she wasn’t qualified (again) and then move on. But, she blew me and everyone else away. Her interview was one of the best I’ve ever been in. I was floored. How floored? We re-wrote the job description and gave her the job. She figured out a way around the wall because she wanted it more than anyone else. That’s what it means to romance the brick wall.

Walls are everywhere we look. Walls are there to remind us of how bad we want something. They are there to keep others out. If you want something…if you really want it, then you’ll have to make the effort to find a way past those walls.

Tags: Advice, Book, Last Lecture, Quotes

The Numerati – A Review

Written on April 19, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising, Misc.

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On Stephen Baker’s direct recommendation I picked up a copy of his book, The Numerati. Actually, I picked up 2 copies and sent 1 to my dad.

I wish he blogged, because his take on the book would make for an awesome read. Long-story-short, from his perspective, the concept of The Numerati has been around long before the book. He credits Isaac Asimov as one of the first people to uncover some of the prediction based ideas introduced in The Numerati.

That said, let me give you my take. If you haven’t read The Numerati, don’t worry I won’t ruin it for you in this post. At a high level Baker shines the light on a segment people called The Numerati. They are a group of very smart people in varying industries, from IBM to the NSA, that are using math to predict outcomes. These outcomes could be anything from a transaction at your local grocery store to a 9/11 like situation.

How is this possible? Data. Everyday people leave behind pieces of data about what they do. Every call we make on our cell phone, every website we visit, everything we purchase on our credit card, and even the places we visit (captured by cameras) all contribute to the information marketers, hackers, and the government have about us. That data when carefully analyzed can help someone determine if we’re:

Republican or democrat
Worth an extra 30K in compensation or unnecessary overhead
Likely to buy recently discounted laundry detergent
A criminal trying to cheat a vegas black jack table

Those are just some of the examples; there are thousands more. Perhaps the most famous example of The Numerati in action was the campaign Barack Obama ran during the 2008 presidential election. His focus on data, people, and the web was unprecedented and is widely regarded as the key component (besides being an amazing public speaker) to winning the presidency.

I found a lot of similarities between The Numerati and Moneyball. Both of these books run counter to Malcolm Gladwell’s arguments in Blink. This fascinated the hell outta me. Moneyball basically says don’t trusty your eyes, trust data, and more importantly trust the right data (eg not homeruns). That’s a really similar idea to The Numerati. After all with the mountains of data out there why would you trust your gut over a model put together by some guy from MIT?

Personally, I’ve always been a “Blink” guy. My instincts have rarely lead me astray. In fact, I’d argue they’ve been right 90% + of the time. I believe that data is important, data without context is useless, and data should be used to LEAD you – not make the decision for you. I’ve seen data for years lead to cases of analysis paralysis and little to no risk taking.

The Numerati concept, not the book, doesn’t seem to account for emotion. If we just looked at the data, why would anyone get married? The divorce rate is 50% and growing? The odds are against you. But, emotion gets in the way. We get wrapped up in the IDEA of a marriage, white picket fence, kids, etc. Emotion, not data drives the decision. As marketers we’ve been taught to focus on reasons to CARE not reasons to believe. Beliefs are rooted in facts which are rooted in data. Caring is emotional. It’s the reason people are willing to pay the Apple tax.

Would the iPhone have come to market if only “data” was used? What about Nike+? Twitter? BMW Films? Nintendo Wii? BlueRay? I don’t think so. To me, the companies that succeed today leverage their data to INFORM and then use their gut (aka Blink) to make the decision. It’s that combination, in the right ratio, that helps you get the DOVE Campaign For Real Beauty campaign.

I kept asking myself throughout the book, “if all of this information is out there and we have The Numerati to help us make sense of the data – WHY aren’t ads more relevant?” Think about it. Shouldn’t the ads you see be smarter and more in tune to YOU? Are marketers simply not paying attention? Are they still seduced by the lure of mass media tools like TV where we’re trying to connect with a broad target/segment, instead of the individual? I’m not sure. I’ve been in marketing and advertising for roughly 12 years and I’ve rarely seen marketers leverage the vast amount of data in the way The Numerati indicates we can and should. Strange. I welcome your thoughts on this topic.

The other thing I wonder is if people would be more inclined to proactive provide data to marketers if they were deriving a better value and experience from marketers. As Baker mentions, we’re already doing this with shopper loyalty cards. For a small discount (eg 10%) on your groceries we’re voluntarily giving the grocery store data about our shopping habits. It’s about a mutual exchange. I give you something and I get something. Seems fair. I can tell you this, I’d give away information about me voluntarily to car companies so that I could avoid seeing ads from any car manufacturer not named BMW. I’m not going to buy a Kia, Chysler, Ford, or Lexus. It’s just not happening. Wouldn’t those companies want to avoid marketing their vehicles to me? Seems fair. I’m open to it, but companies aren’t. Facebook tried this approach with Beacon. But, they made a big mistake in not asking it’s members if they wanted to opt into the program. People want to have a say.

That’s the future to me; companies and consumers engaging in a system of mutual exchange. It benefits everyone so long as the information provided is used responsibly.

Pick up a copy of The Numerati. It’s a great book with real world examples that will help you think about the power of data. Data is powerful. But with great power comes great responsibility. Baker covers this challenge in the book, but it deserves even more attention. As you can see from the length of this post, it’s made me rethink several things and has my mind moving. You’ll be doing the same thing after reading The Numerati.

Tags: Apple, BMW Films, Book, Book Review, iPhone, Nintendo, Numerati, Stephen Baker, Twitter, WII

Who Do You Trust?

Written on February 24, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

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Trust is a funny word. It can mean many things depending on the context. Do you trust your manager? Do you trust your manager to honor the promotion he/she promised? Do you trust your manager with your children? Do you trust your manager to NOT be an axe murderer? Context, can change our opinions on trust.

Trust

Conversations about trust have been going on for a long time, especially in the context of brands, products, companies, and of course people. Lately, trust and another word, credibility, are being used somewhat interchangeably. Can you trust someone that isn’t credible? Is someone credible trustworthy?

This got me thinking and more importantly prodded me to act. A few weeks back I created a survey on PollDaddy.com’s platform that asked a simple question.

Please rank the following expertise, occupations, and/or roles from most “TRUSTWORTHY” to least “TRUSTWORTHY.”

Respondents were given the following options: Firefighter, Car Salesman, Lawyer, Social Media Marketer, Politician, Realtor, Police Officer, and Doctor. I’ve left the survey open, so feel free to view it live.

I found the results somewhat surprising.

Let’s break it down:

Fire Fighters and Doctors are VERY trustworthy.
Car Salesmen, Politicians, and Realtors are NOT very trustworthy
People tend to lean toward trusting police officers, but it’s not a slam dunk
Lawyers are for the most part in the middle, but people are leaning towards not trusting them
The most polarizing category was the social media marketer. Roughly 50% of people have them in the middle.

I expected fire fighters and doctors to be at the top of the list. I also expected care salesmen and politicians to be at the bottom. However, I didn’t anticipate seeing so many people on the fence about social media marketers. Frankly, I find them to be the least trustworthy of all the people.

If you’ve read Malcom Gladwell’s book, “Outliers” or read an article about it, you’re probably familiar with the 10,000 hour concept. Gladwell’s data suggests that people who are EXPERTS have spent 10,000 honing their craft. I’m not sure the number is 10,000 hours, but the concept is something I can buy into.

That said, if we take Gladwell’s data to be true it would take someone approximately 5 years to be an expert at social media marketing. So if we have “experts” today, that would mean someone would have been practicing social media marketing since 2004. Folks, for all intents and purposes that’s impossible.

The concept of social media marketing is roughly 2 years old. Most of the tools and platforms, like Facebook, weren’t even around in 2004. So how, can you be an expert? Well, if we use Galdwell’s 10,000 hour mark and we look at 2007 as the birth of social media, an expert would have to be a 13 hour a day, 7 day a week, 365 days a year practitioner. Again, impossible.

I’m no on the fence about social media marketers. I think there are some very smart people working in the space. But, today, I don’t see too many pretenders claiming to be experts. Don’t believe me? Look at this search result from Twello. Scary, isn’t it.

Frankly, a warning sign to me in any space is someone who calls them-self an expert. Real experts don’t do it, because after all they let their credibility and accomplishments demonstrate how much of an expert they really are.

You’ve seen the data. You’ve seen the results. You’re a smart person. What do you think? Who do you trust? Do you trust me?

Tags: Best Of, Book, Gladwell, Outliers, Polldaddy, Social Media, Trust, Twello, Twitter

Are You Part Of The Tribe?

Written on February 12, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising, Misc.

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I had the pleasure of reading Seth Godin’s Tribes recently. I’ve been on a book kick lately and Tribes made a recent flight back to Minneapolis pass quickly. In Tribes, Seth makes the case that “…any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea.” This is a really powerful concept. It’s one that I’ve seen up close and powerful. One of the most important things to keep in mind in mind is that leaders aren’t necessarily the people at the top of an organization. In fact, often you’ll find that they are several layers down.

Some of the key takeaways for me, without giving away all the goods, were:

A tribe needs a leader, shared interest, followers, and a way to communicate
“No one gives you permission or approval or a permit to lead. You can just do it. The only one who can say no is you.”
Companies need people to drive change; change is what drives growth
Change is inevitable, life is too short to fight the change, so hop on the change bus
Systems, processes, and the like while once successful can become dangerous when “you fall in love with the system”

Perhaps my favorite quote and the thing that stuck with me was this passage, “being charismatic doesn’t make you a leader. Being a leader makes you charismatic.”

Shortly after reading Tribes I came across this article from Strategy+Business. It’s an awesome article, that takes a somewhat counter standpoint. Specifically, they argue, “research shows that most transformation leaders go unpromoted, unrecognized, and unrewarded. And their companies suffer in the long run.” If you will, “change agents” are casualties of war and often cast aside as heretics.

I sent this article on to Seth and asked him specifically:

Seth

Just finished Tribes. Thoroughly enjoyed it. On the same lengthy business trip I also read The Three Signs of a Miserable Job. I saw a lot of similarity between the two. Recently, I also read this article titled “Stand by Your Change Agent” which outlines that, “Research shows that most transformation leaders go unpromoted, unrecognized, and unrewarded. And their companies suffer in the long run.”

Article Link: http://bit.ly/16f9H

I found myself relating tremendously to the article. I’ve watched, quite often, transformational leaders leave organizations…myself included.

The research seems to be at odds with many of the concepts presented in Tribes. I’d love your point of view the article.

Best

Adam

I was surprised and impressed when Seth sent me the following response:

often, tribe leaders leave because they won’t sacrifice the tribe to please management

cost of changing the world…

There’s a lot of truth to what Seth says. As I look back on my own career, I can point to several instances where I elected to leave rather than sacrifice the tribe. In some situations, people in the tribe even elected to follow me.

The world needs more leaders and companies need to embrace them.

Tags: Best Of, Book, Leadership, Review, Seth Godin, Tribes

Why I Never Played Major League Baseball

Written on February 6, 2009 by Adam Kmiec in Misc.

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This was a busy week for me when it came to reading. I read Tribes by Seth Godin, The Three Signs of a Miserable Job by Patrick Lencioni, and Outliers by Malcom Gladwell. I’ll have some mini reviews up soon on the first two. Today, I wanted to focus on Outliers. Having previously read Gladwell’s other books: Tipping Point, which I didn’t care for, and Blink, which I loved, I wasn’t sure what to expect with Outliers. It was an awesome and humbling read. The book truly makes you question the reasons for your success or lack there of.

The book tries to uncover why some people succeed and why others simply don’t. I won’t ruin the book for you, but I did want to share some of Gladwell’s arguments:

What year you were born: For example, if you were born just before the great depression your life would be much harder than if you were born in the 70s.
What month you were born: This was perhaps the most interesting element. If the age cut off for little league eligibility is July and you are born in August you are in a better position to have success than someone born in June. This is because the August birthday would make you 10 years and 11 months old. While The June birthday person would be 10 years and 1 month. Technically both are 10 years old and eligible for the cutoff. But the August birthday person has a 10 month advantage.
Where you grew up: For example New York vs. Montana or the United States vs. Iraq.
The type of home you were raised in: Did you have wealthy parents? Did you have 2 parents?
How much you practice: Specifically he hangs his hat on 10,000 hours. Loosely, people that practice for 10,000 hours at something (eg swinging a baseball bat) are more apt to become experts.

Ok, so what does this have to do with me becoming a professional major league baseball player? Well, I was born in a good era, in August (little league cutoff was July), in New York City (very competitive environment), and in a upper middle class house with 2 parents. Where I fell short was in practice. I dominated little league and high school baseball. This isn’t too surprising when you consider the afore mentioned information. But, it all came too easy. I never practiced enough. At most I estimate I practiced 5,000 hours. Based on the information in Outliers, this wouldn’t even put me in the tier below expert. I’m sure there’s more to it than just lack of practice, but Gladwell’s perspec

Pick up the book, read, and enjoy.

Tags: Book, Gladwell, Outliers, Review

Where The Suckers Moon – One Of My Favorite Quotes

Written on November 23, 2008 by Adam Kmiec in Marketing & Advertising

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Where The Suckers Moon should be at the top of your list if you work in marketing and advertising. This quote is so remarkably appropriate given the troubles plaguing the U.S. auto industry.

Subaru of America had learned the lesson of advertising. Advertising did not work by entertaining or assaulting the intellect of its audience, as the company’s previous agencies had believed. Nor did it work through subliminal manipulation, as so many Americans, ever on the lookout for conspiracies, misguidedly thought. Instead, advertising, as the great ad man Bruce Barton had acknowledged decades before, was “something big, something splendid, something which goes deep down into an institution and gets hold of the soul of it.” To succeed, advertising cannot seek to invent a new soul. Instead, it must reinforce and redirect the existing image. It must serve as a form of mythology, providing the corporation’s various and often competing constituencies – of which consumers are only one of many – heroes, villains, principles, rules of conduct and stories with which they can rally the faithful to remain true to the cause. Only then, with luck and effort, can they win new converts.

Tags: Book, Quote, Where The Suckers Moon