Time’s a constraint
Taking time as a measurement puts the focus on the wrong things. It focuses on the (time)frame rather than on the judgement and the effort to do work. Peter Block quoted by Ed Kless on The Soul Of Enterprise [Starts at 12:15] “All measurements are judgements in disguise.” You can use time to judge the level of effort to be involved in what you do. From there, you can say No, delight or infuriate your customers. Here are the 2 scenarios in play when judging a timeframe to inform your…
The opposite take
Are you stuck trying to articulate what’s your “special sauce”? In a conversation with James Turner, we got to this point. (shared with permission) All good stuff to ponder as I circle and circle my own differentiation. Who do I work with? What do I offer? What problem do I solve? Here’s an easier start to get you in motion: Who do you NOT (and won’t) work with? What DON’T you offer? What problem you’re NOT interested in solving? What type of problem you DON’T want to solve? Fellow daily…
Quit charging your worth
“Charging your worth” focuses on you, not on the outcomes and transformations you can drive. It doesn’t focus on what your clients are after. It assigns the subjectivity to your POV (what you think it’s worth), instead of figuring out what is valuable for your clients. It implies that your worth has a fixed price. So that for whatever task you do, the price will be the same. Design a strategy? X price. Mown the lawn? The same X price. Wash the dishes? Same X price Implement a whole biz…
A Bolt use of time
Usain Bolt is considered to be the greatest sprinter of all time. The assumption we go under is that he uses less time to get from point A to point B, making time the measurement. However, the perspective is not accurate. In words of Ron Baker, “Time is a constraint. A constant constraint”. [Context starts at 4:04, gold at 5:43] You can’t take it, store it nor use it. You simply get faster/more efficient within that time constraint. It’s not that Bolt “uses” less time, he just gets more…
Filipino cuisine & Positioning (under 7 seconds)
A friend of mine just got his restaurant into the top 50 of Asia. If you plan to visit Philippines, this would be a great place. 🙂 Anyways. You know what stood up while going through their posts? Their boldness [in their positioning]. This is their post: What we serve.An 8-course menu that explores ideas around Filipino cuisine. A selection of natural wines, cool cocktails and crisp craft beers.The flavors are Filipino. There will be patis, soy sauce, bagoong, bold, funky, pungent and bitter…
A crazy idea
You’ve chosen not to specialize yet, because of… No niche? Hard decision to make a decision? Multi-hyphen whatever? Afraid you’ll pigeon hole yourself? Afraid you’ll die of boredom IF you choose? Or maybe just don’t know how to decide? I feel you. Walt Stanchfield is famously attributed to saying: “We all have 10,000 bad drawings in us. The sooner we get them out the better.” Same is with your ideas. The sooner you get them out the better. The only way I’ve seen and tested to do so is one,…
Category creation
“Category creation” really is creating sub-categories or niche markets. Hank Barnes. Rethinking Categories Which is not wrong. It’s just *not* creating a new category. To stay in the game of business, you need 2 things: will AND resources. To create a new category, you rely heavily on resources: you need money and time, a.k.a. big pockets AND patient investors. Louis Grenier lists here 4 reasons why *not* to create a “new” category. And it’s bloody genius. BTW, niching down ain’t category…
You’re not getting this guitar back!
“II would never pay a couple million dollars for just about anything.”Guitar plugged and 30 seconds later…’ll give you what you want. But I’m keeping this thing.” Would you pay $2 million for a guitar that was previously re-sold for 150 bucks? Meet Greeny. And his owner: Kirk Hammett (from Metallica). He didn’t buy a 2-million dollar guitar, he bought the unique sound he could make (that this Les Paul —in a specific setting— sounded like a Fender, when they’re not supposed to sound like…
5 ways to see things… different.
Strategic creativity. Unlike the usual take on creativity (drawing, creating art, “inventiveness”), it aims at pondering questions about what could be, instead of what is. It’s not about “How can we be creative?” but about What if this could be different? Is there another way? Can we make another way? Here’s a (sort of) manifesto: BTW, this is not a How-To run/manage creatives. This kind of strategic creativity has nothing to do with that. It’s about how you can leverage your strategic…
99 problems but a b*tch ain’t one
Do you BATCH your thinking? How do you know what ideas are worth pursuing or not? One way it has worked for me has been daily writing. (Thank you, Jonathan Stark!) Daily writing has its challenges, but one that is not is getting ideas —and writing (almost) 24/7… Start Batching Batching ideas comes as a process of putting them down and either making an outline or brain dumping what comes to mind. No judgement. It is what it is. And it’s always a good start. This process becomes a “living”…