Try It. Tweak It. Use It. Share It. Volume 3
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
By Mary Aviles
This month's observational theme has been FRAME and my growing anxiety over a person's vulnerability to strategic reframing. As a lifelong marketing professional, I'm well aware of--and educate others about--media awareness. But, as a parent especially, this talk (good stuff starts at 11:20) has me droning on like an adult in a Peanuts cartoon (WAH, WAH, WAH, WAH, WAH) in every spare moment with my kiddos.
Try It.
Last month, I told you about the work I was involved with on the Susannah Fox event. It sold out and engagement was fantastic. I am still marveling over the opportunity to work live with two people I would never have met were it not for Twitter. For all its challenges, social media can enable amazing connections!
We designed the event so that Susannah's keynote would be supported by a follow-up workshop to expose attendees to some of the skills necessary to encourage more innovation in their organizations. Dr. Joyce Lee has added the workshop artifacts she designed on the Twitter moment. Scroll down to download them and also see some of the clever answers our attendee teams developed.
Tweak It.
You may be familiar with Daniel Kahneman's ideas on System 1 and System 2 thinking. Market researchers talk about this A LOT. I am interested in this recent piece on System 3 thinking and the application of imagination. In it, Leigh Caldwell recommends tools and techniques like Implicit Prospection, Adaptive Concept Testing, and qualitative projection to measure System 3. System 3 can be used to consider choices and has applications for communications or concept testing, product/service launches, and brand development. In practice, participants are asked to imagine their possible futures: the outcomes they would experience after a choice, and how those outcomes will make them feel. The future that makes them feel happiest will likely be the one they choose. I'm looking forward to applying this in an engagement.
Use It.
Not a day goes by that I don't receive at least one list in my inbox. While many of them stress me out with reminders of all the things I'm not doing that I should be...this one went up on my wall. I think I've embraced it because it contains a nice mix of validation alongside a manageable quantity of to dos.
Archive your media consumption - Check. And, this month I dusted off my Trello account to use it for a) newsletter editorial calendar, b) developing future workshop ideas, and c) fleshing out new revenue streams.
Writing your own textbook - Ah, not yet. But, I did contribute a chapter to a book that a colleague is writing.
Make writing a practice - This is volume 3 of this newsletter (which I since repurposed as blog content) so I'm feeling pretty good about checking that off the list and the kind words of encouragement from Josh Spector! Now, I need to work on growing my subscription base.
Debunk your own opinions - This helps balance the aforementioned framing anxiety. I revisit it often.
Go for a walk - I've been walking and talking for years. I need to schedule this in more.
It can be difficult to explain what strategists actually do. This article helps with those conversations.
Share It.
Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist History is my favorite podcast. I love the way Gladwell draws you into a story and then unexpectedly ties it into a present-day issue. I listen on my Apple podcast app and would ordinarily have ignored the bonus content, but happened to notice Adam Grant's name. I was introduce to Adam Grant's The Originals: How Non-conformists Change the World in an article about how the book inspired Scott Rossillo to create the Rainbow Bagel. I have been a fan ever since. The debate is a bit long at 54:05, but it's good, clean fun from Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Grant. It's got:
Teachers v. comedians - who has the most powerful lens into human beings?
Specificity v. challenging weakly-held assumptions as the critical ingredient to interestingness
Individuals v. teams and organizational fit - how much the people around you matter for performance
When it behooves you to demonstrate spectacular incompetence
And, tons of chuckles, I promise
Thank you for setting aside some precious time to read this. Please share your thoughts and any suggestions for improvement. If you implement one of the ideas you found here, I'd be thrilled if you reported back your outcomes!