Nothing moves me like You do

Make eyes with someone...

This SS17, Finley frames the best shades in town with star power in a super lightweight strong metal.
Image via KOMONO, copy made for pre-testing.

Chris Martin tracked his data and got some unexpected results in The Scientist:

"I was just guessing
At numbers and figures,
pulling the puzzles apart.

The questions of science,
Science and progress.
Do not speak as loud as my heart."

What's amazing is how well this heart idea still works.

Jerry Seinfeld who's spent a decade making the best "show about nothing" has always kept to: "no hugging, no learning."

What's interesting, however was the intensive behind-the-scenes homework. Each seemingly 'off-the-cuff' character had been studiously studied by Jerry who confessed, "to a guy like me, a laugh is full of information."

Not a single syllable wasted as he examined "the timbre of the laugh, the shape of it, the length of it – there's so much information in a laugh. A lot of times, you could play me just the laughs from my set and I could tell you, from the laugh, what the joke was. Because they match."

Advertising legend Bill Bernbach, who knew a thing or two about moving people, had always known that facts were not enough. He called them “Simple, timeless human truths”. 

The best lines - buffed to a perfect shine, takes practiced professionalism to make a song. 
And, that takes work. And plenty of those feely little things no one can quite make out.
We're just happy that we got the things we wanted, and not because we needed them. 
Polish your act. It’s the only way we know-how.

Drawing out Genius

Here's how to create distinctive memories:
You draw it.

Distinctiveness - that's one of the things that's known to help memory. We tend to remember the ones who don't quite fit in. The outliers, the oddballs and as the iconic Apple ad so resonates with "the round pegs in the square holes, the ones who see things differently."

Face-to-face with Michiko Merckx

In a study led by psychologist Jeffrey D. Wammes who ran seven different trials, from listing simple words, describing characteristics to visualising objects and writing the word as elaboratively and as decoratively as possible, here's the ONE memory trick that science says works:

Drawing the object beat every other option, including writing - every single time. 

Participants often recalled more than twice as many drawn words. Wammes and his group conclude that drawing encourages "a seamless integration of semantic, visual and motor aspects of a memory trace," in their paper.

Drawing from experience, however, we believe the very act (of drawing) actually gets people into a mindset to receive the experience. We get much better at seeing details linked to the act.

In fact, "drawing a vision of what you are all about" is also called AN IDENTITY, or often referred as A LOGO.

The Design is the Engine

In business -  there’s a very clear distinction between what’s hype or something that really works. 

Design means how something works, not just how it looks. And if the design doesn’t work, no amount of marketing or style can hide the evidence.

A well-designed vehicle is engineered by the way it works, not by doing a sketch and thinking, “it would be really nice if it looked like this.”

And if you want the best equipment to point to the right direction. It must be built precisely with the kind of elements that moves you.

Each of them work individually but come together to create trust, connection, and passion. This is what creates a community of belonging - your real destination.

Best of all, people like the feeling of being part of a collective experience, even if they don’t realise it.

This sense of belonging is what successful vehicles are made of. It's always been about the one that moves you. 

Experience creates an appetite

What's on your menu?

手まり寿司 Temari sushi served at Honey Michikos

Every company has a culture. And one that has its own unique taste. 

One that is not quite the same, each in its own shape and colour, neatly packaged and tastefully delivered.

It doesn't matter if you are the new kid around the block or an aspiring eatery with eclectic taste, you are aiming for that Michelin star, or at least, you'd want to be 'cooking' it right.

Whether your guests hail from the Americas to Asia, be they Iranians or Belgians - you want their minds blown. You'd want to be making it so irresistibly good.

If you got the price right and served the way people like it, you'd be making their lives taste better. They could be 'dining' on your product or service for years to come.

You hope?

Nope.

You would want to keep things fresh. You would trawl the markets for the most seasonal. You would not stop dreaming up new flavours, test new taste buds. You would continue to roll out your gourmet best - in just as many ways, as possible.

That’s what the best chefs have always done. Because they know, their customers will always ask, "What's cooking next?"

You would want them to keep coming back for seconds or thirds and if you're very, very lucky, they might just bring their entire clan.

You'd be a household name.

Dine in - it can be quite an experience.

 

Belly up on values

If we knew who we are, we would stand up.

We would have guts and speak from our bellies.

We would specialise in the ordinary - for the world is made for the ordinary.

We would stock up the details that make up the bill.

We might discover a different kind of advertising.

We could all win.

And why not together.

The Economist of Ideas

When you write a book, you need to have more than an interesting story. You need a strong desire to tell the story. And that analogy is almost parallel to creating meaningful yet desirable brands.

There is never a typical route when one is looking for ideas. You can look at things that one often takes for granted or pulling information in a way that is both intelligent and accessible.

But looking at things in an entirely new way requires a new pair of lens - one that is constantly tested and changed. Be daring, for we are challenged.

People sometimes act as if you go to the epicentre of Cool, the idea comes unchanged from one direct channel and spreads everywhere. It almost never happens that way. The earliest adopters takes an idea and uses it in a form that the rest of us would never use, because we’re not interested in the extreme embodiment of some new idea. We’re more interested in something that fits our lives.

Culture is vested in our lifestyle - be it the environment, services or things. They have to be worthwhile, essential and almost maverick in an every day sort of way. They should not just reflect in the way our culture likes to think about itself, but awake the dreams of a next generation.

We are all made for meaning - one that has purpose and fulfilment. And by realising that life is not linear, that you can always go back, change and set new standards. And when we start to think differently, we start to see different options and possibilities. And brands are just expressions of that philosophy.

Welcome to the economy of Ideas.

Don't do the next thing. Do the new thing.

Change is in the air. Can you smell it?

Disruption is very big business. The keywords are ‘highly ambitious” and “stunningly practical”.

Airbnb will probably be the next Virgin.

It’s just a conservative guess.

All we have to do is look what happened to the old, traditional industries.

At the height of its power, Kodak employed more than 140,000 people and had a market value $28 billion. 

An Instagram later, life was never the same again.

Sometimes, it's easy to underestimate just how much research pays. 

But we live at an age where highly successful companies can easily derail when they are a tad too slow.

Generally - the more you find out, the stronger you stand.

Why? Because positioning is a bit like staking your land.

And it is your difference that's at stake:

1. Difference helps people make a choice between close alternatives.

2. Difference makes people feel more satisfied with their choice.

3. And most importantly, difference justifies paying a price premium.

This means we can never cease to make a difference - not for us, not for anybody else.

Outliers are insiders

"The empires of the future will be empires of the mind."- Winston Churchill

One of the greatest strategists who ever lived, commoner-born Subutai took his place at the illustrious Mongol empire purely by merit. But it was only by age 65, during the European campaign - that he applied the sum total of his knowledge.

Unlike European or Japanese armies, who valued personal valour in a commander above all else, the Mongols valued strategic ability and the skill to make tactical adjustments in the heat of battle above all else in their leaders.

With a practiced sharp mind, Subutai often took his enemies' state of unpreparedness by sudden surprise.

- He studied and observed and always found out the tactics his opponent used before coming up with the most effective counterattacks. He spied on the Russian principalities, the Poles, and the Hungarians for at least a year before taking them on - simultaneously.

- He was always learning. As one of the first Mongol generals besides Genghis Khan who realized the value of engineers in siege warfare and honing this particular weaponry - picked up from Chinese and Muslim engineers, he was constantly learning new things by consulting with engineers and wise men until he had an inferno of military intelligence. 

- He was culturally-adept and was known for assimilating diversity into his forces. He had an especially keen eye for talent namely, engineers during the cusp of a coming industrial age, who brought specialised skills.

- He was an insider. Every battle is uniquely tailored around understanding the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents. He made sure it worked in perfect alignment with the terrain and weather conditions.

- He encouraged lean economies by emphasizing the use of light cavalry. Self-sufficiency on utilising everything they have on their backs not only ensured light travel, it also allowed them to live off their land more effectively and the ability to move on swiftly. Their weapons have always been designed with this purpose in mind.

Subutai retired at 70 - after playing a major role in helping to establish the largest contiguous empire in human history.

All the years of preparation and training produced a sterling line of commanders for the next three decades who served the same corporation - the great Khans.

Legacy starts inside.

Gritters got good bite

What if the smartest people got it all wrong and the secret of Success is Failure. And if so, wouldn’t that make Grit the holy grail of our times?

OK, let’s not panic…

I will concede that Grit, unlike its more empowering cousins Confidence and Ambition are nowhere as intoxicating and may I add… sexy?

As a matter of fact, Grit reeks of old blood, sweat and tears. Tedious? Yes, possibly. But let’s try to keep an open mind.

And here is why:

Grit has been officially touted as our very potent modern-day wonder drug.
The bad news is you can’t really buy Grit anywhere, you do have to grow it. And there is just no elegant shortcut either. That just makes it so much more desirable.

If you can persevere long enough to make it through the next level, that’s what counts, right? Apparently, it is that one personality trait that runs through blue-blooded successful people. That one l-o-n-g stop – that just about stops you from giving up.

Everyone gets nervous; but not everyone chokes under Pressure. Grit, I believe is the nemesis of Pressure.

There is something debilitating about the concept of choking. It suggests that the reason the players fall apart just before last inning because they care too much.

You see, we really, really want to win, and when we get unravelled by the pressure of the moment, The simple pleasures of the game is no longer fun; the fear of losing is what remains.

Just as Martin Seligman believes that Optimism can be learnt – I too believe Grit can be cultivated.

‘The defining characteristic of pessimists is that they tend to believe bad events will last a long time, will undermine everything they do, and are their own fault. The optimists, who are confronted with the same hard knocks of this world, think about misfortune in the opposite way. They tend to believe defeat is just a temporary setback, that its causes are confined to this one case. The optimists believe defeat is not their fault: Circumstances, bad luck, or other people brought it about. Such people are unfazed by defeat. Confronted by a bad situation, they perceive it as a challenge and try harder.’*

Optimists are spunky by nature, not by whistling happy tunes but by learning a new set of cognitive skills.

Grit, similarly isn’t about ‘swallowing’ what Life has thrown at you but being optimistic about good things you’ve uncovered along the way.

The good news is, if you aren’t particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. If we embrace the knowledge, long enough to let go of our fear and self-imposed insecurities, we can jumpstart the process. And the best thing about Grit? If we practice it often enough, you can be easily be the last man or woman standing.

Gritters are a tenacious lot - but it's no fun doing anything without those fluttery butterflies in your stomach. And don't forget to look back once in a while - just to see how far you've come 😃

This was an edited blog post written back in 2012, before Angela Duckworth's famously TED talk - whose research into this subject had been resoundingly validated in her book Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.