Magic

Seth Godin did a great blog post the other day which I thought I would share. You can read his blog here. Here is the aforementioned post:

A figment

It seems like the only thing you can be a figment of is someone's imagination.

Andy Warhol wanted the word FIGMENT etched on his tombstone. He understood that the only place he actually existed (and will exist forever) is in the imagination of other people.

No, the falling tree in the empty forest makes no noise, and your project or your brand doesn't exist except as a figment in someone else's imagination. The challenge, then, isn't to worry so much about what's happening in the real world, outside, but to work overtime to be sure you exist in the figment world, inside.

You don't need proof. You need belief.

The takeaway: people’s perception of you or your product is all that is real.

Life is a magic trick. That’s all it is.

If you are trying to win reality, rather than perception, you will lose.

I read a book by a famous US election pollster once, his mantra was “it’s not what you say, it’s what they hear”. This reminded me of another Godin blog the other day about categories…

I want to put you in a category

When I meet you or your company or your product or your restaurant or your website, I desperately need to put it into an existing category, because the mental cost of inventing a new category for every new thing I see is too high.

I am not alone in this need. In fact, that's the way humans survive the onslaught of newness we experience daily.

Of course, you can refuse to be categorized. You can insist that it's unfair that people judge you like this, that the categories available to you are too constricting and that your organization and your offering are too unique to be categorized.

If you make this choice, the odds are you will be categorized anyway. But since you didn't participate, you will be miscategorized, which is far worse than being categorized.

So choose.

Make it easy to categorize you and you're likely to end up in the category you are hoping for.

What’s the point I’m making? The truth about you and your art is irrelevant. People don’t see the nuance, the texture, the shades of grey. They see black and white and they make lazy comparisons to what they’ve seen before.

This can occasionally serve you. But it can work against you. One reviewer in Edinburgh accused me of being hack. That is a serious criticism in the comedy world. Why did they do this? Well, I had material on some topics that hack comedians use. So she put me in the “hack” category, ignoring the vast amount of material that wasn’t deserving of this.

This can work in lots of different ways. Think your one wanking gag doesn’t make a difference and people will ignore it? Think again. In one joke they’ve put you in a category with the wanking guys. Think the fact that you wearing just a t-shirt on stage doesn’t make much difference? Think again, you’ve been put in with the rest of the pack. They assume mediocrity because you dress like the mediocre guys. Think girls will see beyond your shyness and see the real you? Think again, you've been put in the category of "gutless loser" with all the other guys who didn't have the balls to challenge them.

You need to care about people’s perception of you, not about who you really are. That is the only thing that will impact their decisions on you: to like or hate you, to buy or not buy your product, to hire or note hire you.  The pre-existing categories make it easy for them to make a category error with you. You need to work to ensure they don’t do that.

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Offering more than they expect

Seth Godin is probably my favourite thinker at the moment. You really should read his blog. He wrote one last week that was so brilliant that I would like to reproduce it in full here:

People don't care how much you offer them.

They care about whether you exceeded their expectations.

If you want to delight, if you want to create a remarkable experience, if you want people to talk about you or buy your stock, the secret is simple: give them more than they expected.

If I walk into your store and it looks and feels like stores I've been into before, my expectations are locked in. Now what? But if I walk into your showroom and it's like nothing I've ever experienced before, you get a chance to set my expectations, right? Marketing isn't merely bragging. Marketing creates a culture, tells a story and puts on a show.

In our rush to get picked or get noticed or build buzz, the instinct is to promise more. Perhaps it pays to promise less instead, to radically change expectations and to reset what it means to deliver on the promise of delight.

Are you offering more than they expect? Be more than just a comedian, be a poet, be a master of pathos, be a showman.

Godin’s advice reminded me of a letter that Teller (from Penn and Teller) wrote in reply to a rookie magician:

“Love something besides magic, in the arts. Get inspired by a particular poet, film-maker, sculptor, composer, you will never be the first Brian Allen Brushwood of magic if you want to be Penn and Teller. But if you want to be, say, the Salvador Dali of magic, well there’s an opening.

I should be a film editor. I’m a magician. And if I’m good it’s because I should be a film editor. Back should have written operas or plays. But instead he worked in 18^th century counterpoint. That’s why his counterpoints have so much more point than other contrapuntalists. They have passion and plot. Shakespeare, on the other hand, should have been a musician, writing counterpoint. That’s why his plays stand out from the others through their plot and music.”

In the comedy world this reminded me of the legendary Daniel Kitson. Kitson should have been a song writer or a poet, that’s why he is probably the greatest stand-up that has ever lived.

What are you offering that goes above and beyond what people expect?

Why you should celebrate being a serial failure

I’ve been reading Seth Godin’s book Poke The Box. Which is a bible for innovation. If you are interested in how ideas spread then check Seth out here.

“Poke the Box” is a gospel about starting things. Godin begs you to be an initiator: someone who starts something. Be someone who is prepared to fail along the way if it helps you make a difference.

Capital is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Money is no longer the foundation of the new connected economy. Ideas, and initiators who lead with a passionate and relentless desire to change the status quo, are. What are the key attributes?  Firstly: resilience; secondly: a holistic outlook towards failure. Failure is a necessary part of the system, a key organ within the organism of innovation. Make friends with risk. Make starting a way of life. Going beyond the point of no return. Leaping. Committing. Making something happen. Have the guts and the passion to ship. Be prolific: make shipping a habit.

The tools to build new business, charitable organisations, artistic projects are easier to access (and cheaper) than ever before. The most scarce factor in new products/services now is leadership: people with the guts and passion to act on their ideas and start. Ideas are pretty common, starting is a lot rarer.

Human nature is to need a map. But you must be willing to be the guy who enters unknown territory without a map: draw one and recruit people to act on it. This leadership is a rare quality. People want to be led, they want a map, they are waiting for a leader: be the leader.

Trial and error is the key to forming the map. Improvise in the unknown territory until you get it right. Start don’t wait. If you fail and realise that you will never get the idea to work: stop, shrug your shoulders, and try something new. It is part of the game. Starting is a game and you are going to lose a lot. But by actually playing the game you will win a lot more than people who never get round to it.

Soon is not as good as now: pick up your phone, send an e-mail, buy that book from Amazon: begin your journey this second. Do it when you are passionate about your new idea, when you have momentum. Say “yes! Let’s do it now!”