Jason Schultz

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.

For those trying to revolutionize the Media, Mobile, Social, and Music space, think about that one for a minute…

Excellent post in the New York Times, and does tie in with my previous post on hard work.

WE’VE all heard the tales of the apple falling on Newton’s head and Archimedes leaping naked from his bath shrieking “Eureka!” Many of us have even heard that eBay was created by a guy who realized that he could help his fiancée sell Pez dispensers online.

The fact that all three of these epiphany stories are pure fiction stops us short. As humans, we want to believe that creativity and innovation come in flashes of pure brilliance, with great thunderclaps and echoing ahas. Innovators and other creative types, we believe, stand apart from the crowd, wielding secrets and magical talents beyond the rest of us.

Balderdash. Epiphany has little to do with either creativity or innovation. Instead, innovation is a slow process of accretion, building small insight upon interesting fact upon tried-and-true process. Just as an oyster wraps layer upon layer of nacre atop an offending piece of sand, ultimately yielding a pearl, innovation percolates within hard work over time.

Read the whole story here… 

So Umair asked “what do you think is toxic about orthodox strategy”? My response, and I merely use the reference to Darwin/GOD/etc to illustrate a point..

So what is wrong with orthodox strategy? Why is business as usual tearing apart the economy? Why is industrial age thinking decaying brands/businesses/institutions/organization from to the core?

Well…. It’s like life, right?

Evolution of species. Natural selection. Darwin, and the like.

The species that last were those which could adapt, change, and procreate.

Orthodox strategy is like playing GOD and trying to create a permanent asexual species from day 1 in an ever evolving world - IT CAN’T HAPPEN. There is no permanence.

Edge strategy is like playing GOD and trying to create a species that can adapt to an ever evolving world at an ever increasing pace. To be able to shift, shuck, and jive. Were talking permanence through adaption, change, and procreation.

Someone should tell the finance/business/f’d world that the dinosaurs are extinct and there is no Jurassic Park.

Web based testimonials have had a rough time and taken a lot of heat during web 1.0. Lucky for them the web is growing up.

Testimonials don’t have to be anonymous. They can allow for new connections. They can add value (but only to those who first add value to the end user or customer). Imagine testimonials by way of social media. A facebook or linkedin profile snippet next to the (previously anonymous) words of endorsement.

People (customers) can connect, talk, and share in ways we never thought possible in web 1.0. Soon all legitimate reviews and testimonials will be powered via social engines to nail down the credibility aspect they’ve always been missing. In the not-so-distant future seeing static testimonials on ecommerce web sites will appear stagnant and cheap.

We think we’ve seen all there is to offer from the social space but it’s a fact that the most revolutionary has not even begun to fight.

 Guaranteed to hold you spell bound:  http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/229

Absolutely Stunning - just WOW

Let’s all set aside our industrial age paradigm of looking at a product for what it ‘is’ the moment its released.

The MacBook Air shares similarities with the iPod. When the iPod came out, it was not the runaway success it is today. It was ahead of it’s time, ahead of the curve, made for what was coming. Same with MacBook Air.

In 5 years if you’re still worried about having a CD Rom on your latest laptop it will be the equivelent of being worried about having a floppy disk drive today.

Look at the underlining changes and shifts, not at the status quo. ASP’s, internet apps, web based *, etc etc etc.. CD WHAT?

 Ok, so this has some wow built in:

Shannon introduced powerful, simplifying, enormously useful new concepts that transformed electronics and communications. For his own amusement, though, he could also go to the opposite extreme. He built an elaborate mechanical contraption called the “Ultimate Machine”.

“Nothing could be simpler. It is merely a small wooden casket, the size and shape of a cigar box, with a single switch on one face. When you throw the switch, there is an angry, purposeful buzzing. The lid slowly rises, and from beneath it emerges a hand. The hand reaches down, turns the switch off and retreats into the box. With the finality of a closing coffin, the lid snaps shut, the buzzing ceases and peace reigns once more. The psychological effect, if you do not know what to expect, is devastating. There is something unspeakably sinister about a machine that does nothing – absolutely nothing – except switch itself off.”

Arthur C. Clarke, Voice Across the Sea

 

Read more here 

So Valleywag writes an article that upsets TechCrunches Mike Arrington who in turn writes an article while builds controversy on controversy.

My thought was that Mike Arrington has given all signs that these types of stories are to spark fire amongst the biggest sneezer’s in the industry so that he can take his brand ever more deep and wide. In 90 days from this controversy hitting the blogosphere no one will care about what Mike said but I would imagine 90 days form now any readers will still have his site bookmarked.

So who is to blame, VW, TC, or human nature?

We are not built to navigate the web. It’s an acquired taste. In fact it’s harder than riding a bike.

It doesn’t mater how many of Nielsen’s books you’re ’site’ complies with or how many awards your ‘graphics’ have won. This is why some of the greatest successes on the web are also labeled the most ‘poorly’ designed. The ‘ugliest’. Well my friend, that is all dependant on what you consider ugly. Are you being herd with all the sheep by ‘guru’s’ of industries who tell you how things ’should’ be or are you looking at humans?

I’m talking BASIC HUMAN NEEDS AND UNDERSTANDINGS

I know what many are thinking: “What?! You mean all those marketing 2.0 audio podcasts I downloaded with top authors talking about using the open-social-media-viral-to-mobile-platform to revolutionize my idea or business isn’t all I need?!”

While these new marketing tips, tricks, and quick fixes are neat and can enhance value - they by themselves are not  *que holy light and church chior*  the ANSWER.

Next time you hear your favorite marketer, for instance Seth Godin in his latest book Meatball Sundae (sry Seth), mention examples of companies, who have transformed into powerhouse companies built on open-social-media-viral-to-mobile-platforms just remember they also did it with hard work. For instance, in Meatball Sundae, Seth really gives the impression that companies like Threadless.com, who are congruent with the 2.0 offerings, are these phenomenon successes which outpace everything else by way of their 2.0 integration. Well, isn’t this correct? NO! It ALSO takes hard work.

Stop believing in what you hear and dig deeper. Tools are your friends and readily available. Take a company like Threadless.com and look up their archived history on the web, their statistics, their story along the way, and find out the truth. While we’re talking about Threadless, this company has been around since 2001, doing almost the same (read: SAME) thing they always have. Same methodology, same products, same hard work into growing the business, same same same same SAME. So let’s point out, they didn’t start 3 months prior to Seth’s book and become a global phenomenon instantly. They worked HARD at it. They kept at it. They were on their grind. These guys worked their fingers to the bone for 7 (read: SEVEN) years before Seth’s book came out.

So when authors or bloggers cite examples of breakthrough companies on the bleeding edge, dig a little deeper and don’t just take it at face value. Look at the HARD WORK that went into these projects to make them work as well. Authors, marketers, bloggers, they all love to go into hyper-detail on the 2.0 and skip past the hard-work-101. Every 2.0 success I know (worth mentioning) was built with dedication and hard work. It may have really powerful 2.0 technologies or even BE one of these 2.0 technolgies, but it also took hard work.

Dear authors: How about a little more information about these companies you like to throw around as testaments to your new ‘formulas for success’? Would you loose value or maybe gain credibility by just letting people know about the hard work / time invested element of the equation? Whether or not you do as an author, I don’t care. New authors will, and readers will embrace that because it’s the truth and better for all of us. You’ll become the fly-by-night-marketing-of-2.0 and I’m personally ok with that. I have a sneaking suspision others will be too.