Purchases always solve problems. And, problems are always driven by deeper needs. In between the problems and the deeper needs are tensions. These tensions are value-driven: in other words, they are driven by wanting the world to be one way and not another.
Each value has two poles: a positive and a negative (e.g., clean/dirty, love/hate, freedom/suppression, etc.).1 It is the battle between these two poles—because moving towards the negative is always a possibility—that creates tension in customers’ lives. It’s these tensions that companies should seek to solve.
A company’s goal should be to create offerings that move the customer closer to the positive end of the value spectrum. By doing so, the customer associates positive movement in their lives with the brand.
Different companies can solve similar problems in people’s lives. It’s the way in which they uniquely reduce the tension that differentiates one brand from another.
Consistently giving customers tools to overcome tensions reinforces behaviors. Reinforcing behaviors is what makes customers develop a relationship with a brand and makes them likely to consider that brand first when making a new purchase. Reinforced behaviors lead to purchases.
When an ad falls flat, it’s usually because it has nothing to do with tensions or it solves a problem that the customers don’t associate with the brand—it isn’t linked to a reinforced behavior. It may be visually appealing; it might even be clever enough to win an award. But, just being visually appealing or clever doesn’t drive purchase. The lack of effectiveness results in companies constantly switching directions. And when they constantly change directions, they lack the consistency required to create reinforcement.
Companies that don’t solve a tension have weak brands. Companies with strong brands consistently help customers overcome tensions and become the heroes in their own journeys.
The best way we’ve found to uncover these tensions is to talk to your customers: specifically your Brand Lovers—the customers that love you the most. These customers love you because you help them in their lives over and over again. As a result, they have a better perspective of what you can do when you’re at your best than your average customer does.
Once you understand these tensions, you can more clearly express your ability to solve problems and more easily reinforce desired behaviors to a larger customer base.
If you’re like most businesspeople, you’ve entered problem-solving meetings excited to devise a solution, but then left feeling like you wasted valuable time.
Often, the solution is similar to something already in place or it was brought up early in the meeting. It feels like the meeting could have been more easily accomplished in an email that didn’t take you away from your desk.
With results like these, it’s easy to question the value of brainstorming. And, it’s understandable why most businesses don’t devote time to regular brainstorming sessions.
What is Brainstorming Really?
Most “brainstorming” meetings look something like this: A bunch of people get in a room and suggest solutions to a problem. People comment on the ideas as they come up. Eventually, one mediocre idea triumphs.
But, this isn’t brainstorming.
Brainstorming, as conceived by advertising executive Alex Osborn, consists of coming up with as many ideas as possible (wild or tame), without passing any judgment.
Brainstorming is about producing ideas, not picking a solution.
This why most problem-solving meetings produce poor solutions: they fail to set aside time to focus solely on generating ideas.
Ideation + Evaluation = Less Ideas
By not focusing solely on idea generation, what ends up happening is that the meetings become a free-for-all with anyone being able to say what they want, whenever they want.
It may seem like this the best way to encourage people to think freely and create a steady flow of ideas. But, it does the opposite: it causes people to fixate on ideas and have their thoughts drift toward existing solutions.
As creativity researcher Patricia D. Stokes observes, “Free to do anything, most of us do what’s worked best, what succeeded the most often in the past.”1
Additionally, allowing people to say anything they want combines the processes of ideation and evaluation. Ideation activates a different part of the brain than evaluation. And, by switching back and forth between these two modes of thinking, you impede the ability of either function to work at its maximum level. In short, switching between ideation and evaluation hinders the generation of ideas.
These sessions end up resulting in a battle over a narrow range of ideas. And, that isn’t brainstorming.
Evaluating solutions should come after the brainstorm has ended, not as part of the brainstorming session.
Creating an Environment of Openness
The brainstorm leader’s goal is to make sure that communication isn’t forced in one particular direction. The leader should help keep everyone on track and set an open, nonjudgmental tone for the session.
The leader must make it clear that there will be no criticism of ideas. The goal is to get as much feedback, ideation, and data out of the group as possible—not to discuss a specific solution.
This method is contrary to the way most people approach group brainstorming. The goal is not to come into the meeting with an idea in mind and then try to win people over to your way of thinking.
Brainstorming isn’t an essay contest or a debate. Evaluating and deciding on a solution comes later. It is essential that the leader makes this distinction clear.
Focus exclusively on generating ideas without judgment. This forces people into being more open and receptive, creating optimal conditions for idea generation.
Facilitating the Art of Listening
The most important factor in producing ideas in a group brainstorm is listening to other people’s ideas, without constantly focusing your attention on the solution you want to champion.
Hearing is a passive act of sensing sound. Listening is a conscious, active process that requires you to give your full attention to the person speaking.
Creating an attitude of openness by not allowing evaluation in the brainstorm makes it easier for people to listen. It’s harder to fixate on a solution when there’s no chance that a decision will be made. The natural impulse to prove a solution becomes minimized.
The creative process is the result of linking ideas to existing memories or ideas and creating new combinations. By listening to others during a meeting, you have the opportunity to receive new ideas that can combine with your own ideas and memories to create more new ideas.
Ideas propagate ideas.
Generating as many ideas as possible is important, as there’s a direct correlation between the quantity and quality of ideas: the more ideas generated, the greater the quality.
Like Ray Dolby, creator of the Dolby NR noise reduction system, advised, “You have to have the will not to jump at the first solution, because a really elegant solution might be right around the corner.”2
Two Keys to Making Your Brainstorming Sessions Work
Establishing an environment of openness and listening to others creates the best conditions for brainstorming.
Create an environment of openness. Only produce ideas; don’t evaluate them.
Actively listen. Pay attention to what others say. Ideas propagate ideas.
Focusing on openness and listening will vastly improve your ability to generate original and valuable ideas.
Everyone I’ve taught these keys to—whether in my creativity workshop or when I introduce them before leading meetings—has found them to be valuable in their own work. I hope you do too.
A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than fear.
Herb Kelleher
The passing this week of Herb Kelleher—the man who filled the skies with flying hearts—made me reflect on compassion and the way we treat ourselves and each other.
At the beginning of each year, many of us set resolutions for ourselves and our businesses: we want our personal lives and our business lives to be better than they were the year before.
These resolutions are usually about fixing something that we perceive to be broken. We fixate on the negative. We give in to our inner critic. And, in doing so, we often forget to cultivate the positive.
This is to the detriment of ourselves and our businesses.
The goal of every leader should be to care about their teams and genuinely want to build them up individually and collectively. True leadership is about leading people, not organizations.
For us to be compassionate towards others, first we must be compassionate towards ourselves.
This year, when setting your goals, don’t focus purely on negative things that need to be changed. Instead, also take time to reflect on the positive things inside of yourself and how they can be enhanced and amplified.
This year, begin your leadership goals from within.
While revolution must be led from the top, it rarely starts at the top. The spirit of revolution already exists in the hearts and minds of motivated employees and loyal customers. It shows up in the individual stories that employees tell about the work they do. And it shows up in the individual stories that customers tell about the products they love. Often a leader need only act as a kind of managing editor, shaping the stories to align with a shared vision.Marty Neumeier1
Despite what many agencies still claim, brands aren’t logos or taglines and they can’t be made or changed with a single ad campaign.
A brand is a living entity with three elements: vision, culture, and customer. These elements influence each other and collectively create a perception about the company. That perception is the brand.
There’s more than one way to create a brand. But, we think there’s only one way to create a brand that will be relevant now and in the future. And, that’s creating an Authentic Brand.
Google “How to Say Thank You” and you’ll get 2.18 billion results. Most are instructional. It’s surprising that something we learned to do as children has that many search results.
Somewhere in between childhood and adulthood, we forgot how to say thank you and, most importantly, mean it.
This is especially true in business where the market often forces companies to focus on short-term transactions rather than long-term relationships. When customers hear a “thank you” in business, it’s usually the result of a company policy instead of something genuine.
Saying something and meaning it comes across a lot differently than when you just go through the motions of saying it.If you don’t mean it: it’s just words. When you mean it, the words carry emotion. It’s the difference between someone faking a smile and a child opening up that gift they’ve wanted for months on Christmas morning.
Over a decade ago, a sales associate at Cole Haan sent me a handwritten thank you note. Thousands of transactions between then and now, and I’ve yet to receive another personal letter from any company that wasn’t mailed with a purchase. To this day, when I’m looking for something new, I check to see if Cole Haan has something I like first. And, guess what: my last clothing purchase was from Cole Haan.
All it took to make me consider Cole Haan first was a handwritten letter that took no longer than a couple of minutes to write. But, it was genuine. And, the sales associate had to look online to figure out how to thank me.
At its heart, saying “thank you” is about caring for customers. Customers want to matter and they want to engage with brands.
Yet, most companies are missing the chance to engage with their customers beyond trite responses to happy customers and copy-and-paste legalese for angry customers.
This is a big missed opportunity. But, it’s not an opportunity that can be feigned. It can only be done with caring. And, a good start is creating a culture that cares enough to genuinely say, “Thank you.”
The current model of the mall is broken. It no longer serves the purpose it once did: for adults, it’s no longer convenient; for teens, it seems too much like something uncool from their parents’ generation to make them want to hang out there.
Inconvenience
Decades ago, having an Athlete’s Foot a few doors down from a Foot Locker wasn’t a bad thing: it gave people more options. Now, with a culture that feels time-starved and that has been taught that you shouldn’t have to go to more than one place to find what you want, having to go to two stores that are interchangeable from a customer-perspective seems like an unnecessary burden and turns the mall into a poor customer experience.
And, when you multiply that by all the cases in the mall where that’s the same–stores selling seemingly the same things–and the mall becomes a beacon of wasted time and a symbol of inconvenience. It’s like a big box retailer putting half the black dresses on the first floor and the other half on the second floor, at the opposite end of the building.
Uncoolness
With teens increasingly turning away from malls, malls are becoming places that no longer contain positive memories of childhood. This will become an increasing issue if nothing changes: there won’t be any nostalgia to bring them back.
The model of the mall hasn’t changed in a long time: it was dated before most teenagers were born–in two years no teenager will have been born before there was an iPhone. It’s a remnant of their parents’ childhood that isn’t even relevant for most of their parents anymore. The mall has become horribly uncool.
Resurrecting The Mall
To become relevant again, the mall as a whole needs to focus on serving the customer, it has to be destination-worthy, and the mall itself has to be a brand.
The mall can no longer allow retailers in based on whether or not they can pay rent. Instead, the mall needs a curator that selects stores based on whether or not they contribute to the overall mall serving the customer better.
In the new model, having two stores selling the same brands of sneakers or two stores selling similar styles of clothing wouldn’t make the cut: they inconvenience the customer.
And, shopping must be easy: a woman’s shoe store shouldn’t be at the opposite end of the mall as a store selling dresses.
The stores must be selected to make the whole experience convenient for the customer and inspire them.
Food courts passing out samples of Bourbon chicken are outdated. With a culture that’s becoming increasingly obsessed with food, the same care in selecting stores must be applied to selecting food vendors: they must be places people want to eat instead of just being there.
Malls must also provide more than a shopping experience: they must be cool to teenagers. They need to be built to be shared in an online, social world.
The mall should be like a mini-neighborhood where people can get all their shopping done, go to a favorite restaurant, and hang out.
The power of the mall of the future is in its curation. Without curation, the mall is just clutter to today’s consumer. With curation, the mall can regain its identity and again become an essential part of culture.
In a society that values goals and results, it’s easy to see why play isn’t valued by adults.
Play is a state more than it is a thing. Play involves doing something enjoyable for its own sake. There is no goal aside from enjoying the experience.
But, play is not a trivial activity: play makes people happier, it helps develop empathy, it reduces stress, and it strengthens resolve. Continue Reading
“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where—“ said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“—so long as I get somewhere,’”Alice added as an explanation.
“Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”
Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Organizations that last know where they’re going. They know how they want people to perceive their business and they know what they want to achieve.
In short, they have a strong vision.
Creating a strong vision is a key to long-term success: it gives you clarity on what you should and shouldn’t do for the continuing health and prosperity of the company.
The vision, however, is only one of the keys to success, you must also have a purpose that drives the vision; and, you must have missions, strategies, and tactics to achieve your vision.
I don’t mean attacking competitors, rather do your customers understand what life would be like without your brand? Do they see the negative of you not being around? Continue Reading
Growth was seen as an endless series of daily choices and decisions in each of which one can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.Abraham H. Maslow1
If you’re comfortable, you’re not growing. It’s the uncomfortable things that make us grow.
The same is true of business: companies that embrace discomfort as a regular part of business life are more likely to achieve their goals and move closer and closer to fulfilling their company vision than those that don’t.
Companies that stay comfortable—which feels great in the moment—end up losing in the long run, which doesn’t feel so great.
