It's all about adding value
I read. A lot.
In doing so, I hope to gain insight into the wisdom of those who came before us.
I hope to learn new ideas and perspective.
I also read toward the goal of synthesis. I hope that by reading a wide variety of books across multiple disciplines, I can see connections and add value where there are opportunities.
Along these lines, I’d ask, “What’s the best personal development book you’ve ever read?”
I highly recommend Seth Godin’s Linchpin and Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich.
“Most CEOs see the future as a continuation of the path that got them to the C-suite and not as an ever evolving jungle.”
– Jay Samit, Disrupt You!
This is a lesson for anyone in a position they’ve worked to obtain. In our interconnected, global economy, disruption can occur from anywhere and at any time.
What got you there will not keep you there.
The only way to stay on top is to continue to innovate.
Use an iterative framework, like the OODA loop, to continually evaluate what your are doing and why.
“If uncertainty is indeed pervasive, it is imperative for organizations to create the ability to operate comfortably in this condition…”
– Frans P.B. Osinga, on John Boyd
The 21st century business environment is complex. It is perhaps the most complex business environment to exist in the history of commerce. We have built an infrastructure that supports inter-global commerce. A tribesman of the Masai Mara selling wood carvings can, with a connection to the Internet, connect to consumers in America. The scale and potential of this economy is staggering.
It’s also disruptive in that it defies continued domination of a marketplace by a single idea. Google disrupted Yahoo, Facebook disrupted MySpace. Startups are pulling niche traffic (like sales) from Facebook groups and Craigslist.
Uncertainty is a guiding principle of this globally connected marketplace.
Are you positioned to shift?
Today, I want to talk about the 2nd law of thermodynamics.
This law states:
…the total entropy of an isolated system always increases over time, or remains constant in ideal cases where the system is in a steady state or undergoing a reversible process. The increase in entropy accounts for the irreversibility of natural processes, and the asymmetry between future and past.
Why does an organization need to be familiar with this concept?
The short answer is that a business that does not engage in the continual evaluation of their operations becomes isolated from their competition. Their entropy increases.
This requires continual energy input, to mantain that constant level of entropy. You have to do the work, the planning, the execution.
Then, do it again.
Then, do it again.
The strategy that got you to the top will not work to keep you there.
You will be disrupted, unless you are disruptive.
How do you achieve this state, this disruptive nature, this continual evaluation? Through the use of a consistently applied framework.
3,000
That is the average number of ads the average consumer sees in a given day. That is 2.083 ads per minute, on average.
How many of those ads do you pay attention to?
How many do you click on?
How many of those ads did you consent to receive?
If you’re like me, the answers are “very few, even less and almost none.”
Permission marketing, according to the MarketingBlogFather Seth Godin, is:
…the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It recognizes the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.
I would ask you to consider this question:
How do you stand out in a field saturated – utterly saturated – by marketing?
By asking permission.
You may lose sales to aggressive ad campaigns but I suspect you will build long term loyalty.
I’m reading Team of Teams by General Stanley McChrystal today and would share this with you today, found in the opening pages:
(Organizations) must shift from efficiency to sustained organizational adapatability.
With the speed of disruptive technology today and the tools with with competition can emerge from “nowhere”, organizations cannot be content to maintain. What allowed them to achieve market dominance will not sustain the same.
Momentum is defined as the impetus gained by a moving object. It is a principle, a vector quantity of the product of mass and velocity. It is a quality often given to politicians, athletes, brands, stars and businesses.
The question on my mind tonight is, is it real?
There are many thousands upon thousands of words out there talking about the concept amongst businesses.
I believe it is a real concept but that we make our own momentum.
Momentum is the focused application of your battle rhythm. The focused application of your minimum, mandatory processes. The focused application of a framework to develop your battle rhythm.
Then, execute.
And, execute again.
And, execute again.
I’m currently reading The Ultimate Guide to Link Building and found a gem within the first few pages (several, actually).
For today, I’d challenge you to ask yourself ten questions your web presence answers for a consumer.
What are ten reasons they’d visit your site for?
If you can’t provide ten, it may be time to examine your communications strategy.
“A business or product can be understood as the sum of it’s value adding links.”
– Jay Samit
For me, this quote inspires me to daily ask myself, what are your value adding links in my business/product/network?
Why is this an important question to ask?
If you don’t know where you are adding value, you cannot focus your efforts on those parts of your business.
It seems to me that a critical part of a successful enterprise is knowing where you adding value, especially in an age of scarce resources (money, attention, time).
Last week, I posted about the idea of developing a sustainable battle rhythm as a career decision. Seth Godin indicated he viewed his habit of blogging daily as one such decision he’s made.
I wanted to share another component of the conversation. Blogging, Godin says, “leaves a trail.”
What possible benefit could an entrepreneur derive from such an activity?
There are several that I can think of:
What would you add to the list?
22 September edit
I have been thinking about this a lot recently and would add one more item to the list, for now. That is, if you blog the platform is YOURS. Some of the systems out there, like Facebook or WordPress, are promoting the idea of blogging within their system. Facebook also penalizes the sharing of external links in terms of reach. However, in this lies the very reason not to abandon your platform.
Other systems will come along. Facebook WILL be disrupted. If you’ve maintained your content on your own platform, you alone control the disposition of the same.
Just something to consider!
