GOOD ENOUGH: Is it, er, good enough?

While reading (belatedly) an interview with Larry Light, the then-new chief brands officer at Intercontinental Hotels, we braked hard at this sentence:  “Doing fine is not fine.”  [That quote, from Light’s CEO, segued into how this well-known marketer is upgrading and revamping/realigning the brand.]

Which got us to musing:  How many of us would actually say that … and mean it?

It’s one thing to spout the multiple mantras of continuous improvement, urgency, and burning platforms, phrases often associated with the change world.  It’s another to express discontent with reality – even though it might look pretty good to outside (and inside) observers – and begin making shifts.

Many change masters insist on building a compelling case for making things happen.  They talk to the critical needs of appealing to both hearts and minds, emotions and facts.  News of change on the way ricochets through the halls and plant floors, along with the names and accountabilities of task forces.  Implementation begins, goes onward, then is completed.  Now what?

Those who measure ROIs (and non-successes) of those efforts tell us that a majority never quite meet the assigned metrics.  Our burning question:  Was this a dramatic change, positioned as an “either/or”?  Or are employees and executives rewarded for following the dictates of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and other methodologies continually, rather than all at once?  Will those two very different situations differ in results delivered?

There’s no answer, yet.  The next time someone comments that “whatever” is pretty good or good enough, we’d suggest a sharp self-scrutiny is in order.

A SAHARA BY ANY OTHER NAME

With the frenzy for eating all things fresh, green, and local, it’s hard to remember that only a few years ago, researchers had located way too many urban food deserts here in the U.S. as well as Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.

Coined in the mid-2000s, “food desert” is a concentrated area short on access to fresh meat and produce, long on convenience stores and quick-serve chains.  Metro-dwellers in those areas don’t eat well, get sick often, and are at higher risks for life-shortening diseases.  The solutions?  Safe places to shop, for one.  The rest follow logically:  Educating populations about good nutrition, ensuring these communities have the financial wherewithal to buy healthy food (usually higher in price than the fast-food outlets), and training residents on adopting such alternatives as victory gardens and urban agriculture.

The good news?  With community activism, widespread awareness, and retailer cooperation, food deserts are shrinking, bit by bit by bit.

Yeah, we know what you’re thinking:  “What the heck does this trend have to do with design and change and communications and branding?”

Here was our Eureka:  The same kind of sere-ness a food desert connotes can apply to communications.  We’ll elaborate, of course, through questions:

• ·       Is business writing clear, concise, sparkling … or dry as our proverbial Sahara?
• ·       Are there functions and divisions within the company that, quite simply, don’t communicate well or often enough?
• ·       How parched are your stakeholders – inside and out – for real information and intelligence?
• ·       Do constituents need to travel far to get to that communications oasis?  Or is it as close as their laptop or Internet connection?

Analogy’s over, with one last question:  How long will it take us to build safe places to communicate, and to congregate in communities of genuine conversation?

ONCE UPON A TIME

Much has been written of late about stories and storytelling.

Mel and Pat Ziegler, founders of Banana Republic and serial entrepreneurs, narrate their concept’s early days (BGB, before The Gap buy-out) in Wild Company.

Kentuckian (and former Pittsburgh Pirates player) J.Peterman, no newbie to the art of romance, re-started his eponymous catalog in the early 2000s and is, fingers crossed, succeeding this second time around.  In fact, his newest wrinkle is an online travel adventure bulletin board, building a community for sharing off-beat customer experiences.

Forward-thinking marketers are declaring that do-good promotions are passé, trumped by experiential marketing … and, you got it, stories.

But who’s telling stories?  More, who’s telling them well … and authentically?

Other than actors, of course – and anyone who’s been schooled in presentations (sometimes) and improvisation (occasionally). 

Those of us whose professions rely on tugging hearts and plying emotion – with the whole truth and nothing but  – are, quite frankly, not always so adept at spinning tales.  We forget about protagonists and antagonists.  Rush through the narrative because time is limited.  Ignore the intake of breaths around the plot and the climax and denouement.   And don’t rehearse the actual delivery.

It’s as important inside a business as it is in talking products or services with real-life buyers.  Entertainment for a reason (not for frivolity’s sake) tells our rapt audiences as much as possible, gets them to experience the event through different lenses, underscores a point without preaching, and, in short, screams “genuineness” with a purpose, memorably.  Storytelling’s an art … and an important element of persuasion. 

Which MBA or higher-ed institution will be the first to pioneer that idea in its curricula?

MR. BELL SEZ ...

Futurists, from Al Gore to Google’s Larry Page, see a world filled with multiple robots and complex automated “things,” ready to do our bidding at the touch of an app.

Many are here right now:  Kitchens that talk.  Fitness monitors limiting TV time if wearers don’t meet fitness goals.  Driverless cars and un-peopled fulfillment warehouses.   Robotic surgery and microprocessor plants.

Soon after IBM’s Watson won Jeopardy in 2011, words started flying.  Will “they” replace “us”?  How many will be unemployed after the automatons take over?  Need we fear for our long-term livelihoods?

Truth?  A few of these worries might be valid. 

Remember, though, what these technological innovations are intended to do:  Replace simple and repetitive activities.  They can’t make decisions (Watson, to the contrary).  Nor can they perform complex and dynamic projects (though technology greatly aids us in analysis and scenario building).

Which brings us to our point:  Yes, there is a slight risk for communicators, marketers, designers, change agents, and brand gurus.  The risk:  Not keeping up with the Gores of this world.  Sure, computers can’t write … yet.  [One did act as the late Roger Ebert’s voice when he lost his speaking function.   But couldn’t substitute for his elegant prose and generous mind.]  But if we can’t understand the latest and greatest of trends, automated and otherwise, if we don’t commit to always-on continual learning, yeah, Watson could put us out of business.  No matter what we might think, personally, of all the technology wars or social media or networking or sustainability or [you fill in the blank], it’s our responsibility to be more than aware of what’s going on around us.  To practice and get even better at our profession.  And to share what we know about machines and their impact with our clients, our bosses, our companies, and our customers.

Watson, I want to see you.  Now.