Seth Godin - How to Get Your Ideas to Spread - Nordic Business Forum

Summary

这个演讲深入探讨了营销和创新在当代社会中的重要性。演讲者通过比喻和实际案例，强调了在一个充满变革的时代，如何看待和应对挑战的重要性。他提出，传统的营销策略已不再有效，现在的营销需要更多地关注与顾客建立真正的连接和信任。演讲者鼓励听众拥抱变化，利用创新来领导和激发他人，同时强调了个人行动和领导力在驱动变革中的关键作用。整个演讲充满了对未来营销和商业模式的深刻见解，旨在激励听众走出舒适区，勇于创新和领导。

Takeaways

• 🏌️‍♂️高尔夫被认为是一项糟糕的观赏运动，因为好事很少发生，即便发生了好事，观众也不能热烈鼓掌。
• 🔍作为营销人员，我们的任务是找到兴趣的小线索并放大它们，连接那些脱节的部分。
• 🦇通过不同的视角看待蝙蝠，可以改变我们对它们的看法，这象征着我们需要学会以新的方式看待周围的世界。
• 💡我们不能造成兴趣，但我们可以通过放大小的兴趣点来吸引人们。
• 🕸️拥有互联网访问权限的早期机会并没有保证成功；关键是如何看待和利用这个机会。
• 🚀尤里·加加林的故事展示了人类从生活在泥棚到太空旅行的巨大跨越，象征着技术和工业化的进步。
• 🏭亨利·福特通过提高生产效率使工人富裕，但这也导致了对快速、廉价生产的过分追求。
• 🍅市场营销演变成了制造平均产品以满足大众需求的过程，忽视了个性化和差异化。
• 🚫随着人们对广告的忽视和选择性过滤，传统的大规模营销策略变得不再有效。
• 🌍全球化和互联网使得地理位置不再是进入市场的障碍，任何人都可以向全球客户提供服务或产品。

Q & A

为什么高尔夫被认为是一个糟糕的观赏运动？

高尔夫被认为是一个糟糕的观赏运动，因为很少发生令人兴奋的事情，即使有好事发生，观众也不被允许热烈鼓掌。

演讲者如何描述他们作为营销人员的使命？

演讲者描述他们的使命是找到兴趣的细小线索并放大它们，连接那些看似不相关的事物。

为什么说我们现在生活在一个革命性的时代？

我们现在生活在一个革命性的时代，因为世界正在经历快速变化，错误地应对这些变化可能会非常昂贵。

为什么演讲者提到亨利·福特的例子？

演讲者提到亨利·福特的例子，以说明工业化和流水线生产如何改变了生产和工作的方式，以及如何通过提高生产效率来提高工资。

为什么现代营销面临挑战？

现代营销面临挑战，因为消费者对广告的屏蔽能力越来越强，市场上的选择过多，导致难以吸引和保持消费者的注意力。

演讲者如何解释“大数据”在营销中的局限性？

演讲者解释说“大数据”的局限性在于它只能提供过去的数据，而营销需要的是引领和预见消费者的未来需求和行为。

为什么说在连接经济中，领导力比管理更重要？

在连接经济中，领导力比管理更重要，因为领导力涉及建立信任、获得许可和共享理念，这些都是在一个日益基于网络和关系的经济中创造价值的关键因素。

为什么个性化和差异化在现代营销中变得如此重要？

个性化和差异化在现代营销中变得重要，因为消费者的选择变得无限，人们更倾向于寻找与自己独特偏好和需求相匹配的产品和服务。

演讲者是如何定义“艺术”在营销和领导中的作用？

演讲者将“艺术”定义为创造性地连接和影响人们的能力，它要求人们做出可能失败的尝试，从而在营销和领导中创造真正的变化和影响。

演讲者如何解释在面对挑战和机遇时应该采取的态度？

演讲者鼓励采取积极主动的态度，面对挑战和机遇时不应畏惧失败，而应勇于尝试和调整，因为在快速变化的世界中，这是学习和成长的必经之路。

Outlines

00:00

😊 欢迎致辞和开场白

主讲人热情洋溢地开始了演讲,先是表达了对芬兰的喜爱,然后说明本次演讲的主题是营销。他希望通过演讲帮助听众学会用不同的视角看问题,看到一些原本看不见的东西。

05:00

😢 工业化经济的缺点

主讲人分析了工业化经济追求规模化生产的问题,它 require 大批量分销和大规模营销,导致产品越来越同质化,不再迎合不同消费者的个性化需求。

10:00

😱 数字化时代带来的挑战

数字化让消费者有了更多选择,同时也更难吸引他们的注意力。我们需要从数据和分析中抬头,真正地理解消费者,提供有价值的产品。

15:01

😎 面对变革的机遇

当前是一个变革加速的时代,许多行业都在发生颠覆性的变化。这给我们提供了重新定义工作和创新的机会。重要的是要抓住机遇,调整策略,而不是被困在过去。

20:03

😍 关注不同、关注边缘群体

在这个信息泛滥的时代,平均和普通的东西很难吸引眼球。最有价值的客户往往在边缘,他们有非主流的兴趣和需求。我们应该关注这些“奇葩”,为他们创造价值。

25:05

🤝 建立连接的经济

传统的工业经济建立在稀缺性上,但新经济是建立在丰富性、连接性上。我们需要打开思维,与人建立信任,获取他们的许可,与之分享想法,从中创造价值。

30:07

😚 成为真正的自己

在这个变革加速的时代,我们需要放下身段,敢于与自己的恐惧共舞。只有真正做自己,才能制造改变。我们需要摆脱只照搬照抄的思维,要有创造力,要有艺术性。

35:09

👥 建立社群,领导部落

人类喜欢效仿他人和属于某一个群体。作为领导者,我们的工作就是联系那些有共同兴趣和需求的人,发明和传播文化,引领社群。

40:11

🐮 打破常规,引人注目

在选择茫茫多,变化太快的时代,我们需要制造谈资,让客户自发地传播。紫牛的比喻讲的就是这个道理——我们要做与众不同的产品,引起注意和讨论。

45:11

🎨 创新源于拥抱变化

变化中包含着张力,这是必须的。创新就是一次又一次地失败和调整,直到成功。重要的是要调整思维,拥抱变化和失败,而不是等待完美。

50:13

😤 我们都能创造奇迹

所谓的“天才”并不真实存在。每个人都有创造力,都能产生影响。重要的是相信自己,不要轻易放弃,FACE自己的恐惧。我们需要有好奇心,勇于尝试。

55:15

🎉 致力于创造有意义的东西

这是一次启发人心的演讲。主讲人鼓励我们不要轻易放弃,要尽全力追求梦想,创造有意义的东西。机会就在眼前,去把握吧!

Keywords

💡连接

视频强调我们现在生活在一个“连接经济”中。这个词指人与人之间的联系。视频认为公司应该建立客户群,让客户主动接受公司的信息和建议。公司不应该去管理客户,而要领导客户。例如,视频提到了Fax机的例子。

💡艺术

视频认为创新和领导力就是一种艺术。这里的“艺术”意味着人的创造力和独特性。视频反对单纯的仿效和重复。譬如杜尚的小便池就是一种颠覆性的艺术。领导者应该有创造力,而不是单纯执行命令。

💡变化

视频认为我们的工作为的是制造变化。领导者应勇于接受变化带来的张力。视频还提到,变化的兄弟就是紧张感。没有紧张感就不会有变化。

💡族群

这里的“族群”指的是一群有共同文化、理念、目标的人组成的圈子。比如说,足球迷就是一个族群。视频认为公司应创造并引导这样的族群。

💡飞得更高

这个词在视频中被反复使用。它暗示人不应该满足现状,应该积极进取,接受变化和领导力所带来的不确定性。就像伊卡洛的神话被篡改了一样,人不应该害怕飞得更高。

💡主动

视频提倡主动出击的精神。不要被动接受环境,而要积极寻找机会引领客户和市场。视频中举了一些品牌的例子,这些品牌都是从边缘小众市场切入的,后来获得了主流成功。

💡尝试和错误

视频认为创新就是不断尝试和错误的过程。错误是必不可少的。重要的是要不断调整,就像飞行员调整飞机航线一样。

💡跳入未知

这个词出现在视频的最后,指的是领导者应有的精神。应勇于面对未知数和不确定性,只有这样才能打开新的局面。视频结尾处举了好几个例子,说明领导者不应等到一切准备就绪才行动。

💡扬眉吐气

这个词在视频中被直接翻译为“fly too high”。它意味着人应该积极进取,接受变化和领导力所带来的不确定性。就像“飞得更高”一样,它暗示人不应该害怕飞得更高。

💡没完没了

这个词组出现在视频第一部分,指的是工业化社会为了获利,会不断要求人工作更多、生产更多。视频认为这种没完没了的要求损害了人与人之间的联系。

Highlights

Cows are boring even in Finland cows are boring. Seem one cow five cows ten cows they're all the same.

The idea that you would go to someone and say tell me what to do and give me money, brand-new. In Helsinki in 1700 the unemployment rate was zero because there were no jobs.

Making change happen is our job and change has an ugly brother his name is tension.

There is no such thing as a genius if Einstein is a genius and I'm a genius and you're a genius too everybody is capable of this.

Leaders don't know what's coming next. I'm here to tell you Finland needs no more managers we don't have a manager shortage we need leaders here people yes and you are in this room and that is what this is actually to talk about.

Marketing today is this people like us do things like this we gotta figure out who the people like us are are they people I want to be like and we have to figure out what do things like this means.

Almost nobody gets a suzuki tattoo this is not an accident this was done on purpose.

I'm thirsty it's that simple I'm not gonna take what's on offer I'm gonna figure out how to make something better.

We live in a culture where this is a real sign who else's risk are you supposed to play at exactly that what we need to do as leaders is bring grit to our job the grit to say no we're not going to do that the grit to say no that's not good enough.

Your problem is you don't have enough bad ideas you're waiting for perfect and it's getting in the way of you being extraordinary.

The internet gives you a microphone everyone can use it right every one of you is blogging everyday of course sharing what you know spreading the ideas earning our trust connecting with people.

The guy who invented the ship also invented the shipwreck it's up to you to decide to get on the boat or not.

Someone here is gonna change everything someone right there and someone right there maybe more than that it's just about choosing to understand that it is always too soon.

My friend Celine gave me the line that I like to finish with which is simple everybody here is already successful there's no doubt about it that's not the question the question is will you choose to matter.

Our willingness to say here I made this is universal it's universal there's no border around Finland that says we can't do this yes you can do this if you care if you care enough.

Transcripts

thank die

thank you you're awesome what an

extraordinarily non finished welcome

thank you that was fabulous so something

else that they don't have a lot in

Finland is Golf which is a fine thing

because Golf is a really lousy spectator

sport we can acknowledge that there are

two things that make golf such a bad

spectator sport the first one is it

nothing good ever happens and the second

one is that in golf if something good

does happen you're not allowed to wildly

applaud so if you could help me out here

give me the worst measly astrak-- Ulf

applause you can muster go ahead

that was terrible thank you can you

double it double it again and one more

time fabulous thank you that thank you

that ladies and gentlemen is what we do

for a living now that what we do for a

living now we cannot possibly cause

interest to occur but what we can do is

find small threads of interest and

amplify it what we can do is find the

disconnected and connect them that is

our mission as marketers as people who

care now but before we can unfold and

unpack all that we need to learn to

ricci what's going on around us because

when the world changes sometimes we

become blind so let me tell you what I

mean by that here's a bat

I grew up maybe you did with bats and

dinosaurs when I was five years old and

if you take a picture of a bat it turns

out turn him upside down he turns into a

total badass here here are three bats

getting ready for bed except actually

they're at a cocktail party

and my expectation is that from now on

you will never look at bats quite the

same way and so my job today is to help

you learn to see to see the world

differently in a way that makes it so

you can't unsee it because we're living

in a revolutionary time this can be very

expensive to get wrong on my desk back

in New York I keep this box as a

reminder of how expensive it is to not

know how to see in this box is something

I made it turns out in 1991 and 92 I had

something you don't did not have then

access to the World Wide Web

there was no I had access the internet

there was no World Wide Web then I saw

it and I said I know what I'll do I'll

make a book about this internet thing

and so I got a publisher they gave me

$60,000 I hired five people I spent all

the money I made a book inside the box

is the t-shirt I made for the Salesforce

to promote the book that book went on to

sell 1848 copies it was a total failure

no one bought the book during that same

period of time

two guys in California named David and

Jerry saw what I saw they had fewer

resources than I had they didn't make a

book about the Internet they built a

website called Yahoo and at one point my

half would have been worth 80 billion

dollars and all I got was this lousy

t-shirt and the reason is simple because

they saw what was possible I had a

cloudy vision cuz I saw what I knew how

to do they had a blank slate and they

said what should we do I said what do I

already know how to make I didn't see

and the reason I didn't see the reason

you don't see the reason our companies

don't see is because we've been blinded

by success does anyone know who this is

right Yuri Gagarin first man in space

what a heroic story basically they rap

the guy that Soviets rapped the guy in

tinfoil shot him into the orbit he came

back alive it was a miracle but the

astonishing thing about Yuri Gagarin is

he grew up here in a mud hut with no

electricity no running water and no

lights in 125 year span human beings

went from living underground in a Hut to

circling the Earth that'll spoil you for

industrialism Henry Ford made us all

rich

Henry Ford pioneered and perfected

productivity and scientific management

Henry Ford went to the work as a Detroit

and he said men if you're used to making

50 cents a day I will pay you $5.00 a

day to come work for me how could he

possibly pull that off how could he

afford to give people a 10 X raise in

one day the answer is simple the

assembly line do your job faster than

you did it yesterday so we took the idea

the assembly line and we spread it

everywhere we possibly could in every

industry the idea was do what you did

yesterday do it faster do it cheaper go

go go

and so to defend the factory we created

policies and ways of being and

gatekeepers and we made the factories

ever bigger Henry Ford had Ford

shepherds that raised Ford sheep to be

turned into Ford wool to make Ford

fabric so that they could be put into

Ford cars because the bigger in the

factory the more money you make the more

you control you have Henry Ford said you

can have any color car you want as long

as it's black he didn't say that because

he liked black he said it because black

paint dries four hours faster than any

other color and if you can make a car

four hours faster you can make a car a

little cheaper and so the system but the

system was built on mass how many people

can we get to all buy the same thing I'm

slightly ashamed to say that the two

most popular products in American

refrigerators were American cheese we

basically named the worst possible

flavor of cheese after my country and

Heinz ketchup both products made an

enormous quantity both products marketed

everyone that's what industrialists need

sell it to everyone and that led to this

whole idea of marketing you know this is

Fancy Feast gourmet cat food a very

popular product in the u.s. let's be

clear cat food is not for cats because

if it was it would come in Mouse flavor

cat food is for the people who buy it

that we tell a story to people that

makes them happy to serve it to their

cat so I'm going to talk about marketing

today consumer marketing like this not

cat marketing and business to business

marketing which if you do a Google

search means you have to shake the hands

of a lot of men wearing suits

apparently it b2b marketing we spend a

lot of time shaking heads but the story

is still the same and the story revolves

around industrialism polishing off the

edges figuring out how to do it again

and again make it more reliable make it

a system do it the way you always do it

so here's the question delivered with as

much pathos as my finish will allow me

to

when did they industrialize your job

when did they turn what you do from a

craft into an assembly line process

because we've been doing it for a really

long time it turns out what Henry Ford

understood is that mass production makes

productivity happen but you know what

happens once you get mass production

working that's right you need mass

distribution because you need everyone

to be able to buy what you make mass

distribution requires mass merchants

stores and distributors that sell it in

bulk and you know what mass merchants

require from us mass marketing that's

why we invented it to keep the factory

happy how can we reach everyone how can

we get everyone to buy what we make let

me tell you the answer

babies whenever possible run ads with

babies in them no matter what you're

selling it works and if babies don't

work wrap the baby

in saran wrap it even works with

triplets but sometimes babies aren't the

answer so when advertisers realizes you

should use doctors fake doctors real

doctors celebrity doctors doctors of any

kind doctors doctors doctors it doesn't

matter whether you have unfortunate

juxtapositions now and then what matters

is this the person you work for the

shareholders you work for the people

around you keep saying the same

four-letter word again and again and

that four-letter word is more get me

more market share get me more customers

get me more shelf space we've got a

factory it knows how to do its job it

knows how to make insurance policies it

knows how to make electronic devices it

knows how to make whatever it is we make

it doesn't matter what people want we

want them to want what we have so you

marketer take this money and go get me

more which leads to this average

products for average people except maybe

pop-tarts but the rest of these products

are deliberately built to appeal to the

masses because you know what mass is by

definition average if you're gonna

advertise something to everyone you

better make something everyone wants to

buy if you're going to market someone to

everyone the good thinking goes better

market something everyone wants to buy

and this worked beautifully for 70 years

and I'm here with like a whole string of

bad news ready problem number one this

picture is fuzzy I had a bad cold when I

took it but here's the deal the blue box

in the middle center that brand manager

spent a hundred million u.s. dollars

interrupting me and my country mates a

hundred million dollars on coupons and

shoving allowances and TV ads and

magazine ads and radio ads why because

that brand manager figured that after

seeing all those ads I'd go buy the

product and once I started taking that

you leave her I keep taking that pay me

leave her and she turned back her 100

million dollars well you know what I did

to those 100 million dollars with the

ads the same thing everyone else did I

ignored them and the reason is simple I

don't have a pain reliever problem I saw

my pain reliever problem 20 years ago by

buying the generic or the yellow box or

the cheap one well this is your

challenge you are busy trying to sell

something that solves a problem people

don't think they have and if you're

showing up trying to sell something that

people don't think they need they're not

going to listen to you that's a

challenge number two if any of you have

been listening to all this nonsense and

noise and everything else about digital

marketing what you've been told is that

consumers now have the attention span of

a goldfish and then what you have to do

is in less than eight seconds

get your ban or point across get your

video point across noise and noise and

noise and noise here's the thing your

customers aren't goldfish and the idea

that we need to make ever more noise in

front of ever more people isn't working

next problem was the picture I took at

the Holiday Inn last night no I didn't

take this last night I think this I took

this at a Hyatt I don't know it's dark

it's three o'clock in the morning in a

hotel room that's what it looks like all

hotel rooms look like this at three

o'clock in the morning they're supposed

to be dark which makes perfect sense

except that hotels have been telling us

for all these years that they're all

offering us a dark quiet room and when

the Internet doesn't exist it's no big

deal you go to the brand you know but

now we've got this thing called sort by

price you put in your neighborhood sort

by price here's 20 hotels they're all

the same take the cheap one that

sentence they're all the same take the

cheap one is a real threat to you and

the work you do so I'm gonna drink this

water hopefully there's nothing bad in

it so this mindset then we have to find

some poor Schmo and assault him over and

over

over again until one day he buys from us

is now officially broken that people

aren't listening they are choosing not

to listen they have a remote control and

they are not afraid to use it ladies and

gentlemen we have branded ourselves to

death and we have no one to blame but us

we ran too many ads we took too much

attention we made too many promises and

then we invented the internet and gave

everyone a remote control and they are

using it more bad news in New York City

on Fifth Avenue at 20th Street I can

stand in one spot and in that spot I am

less than 350 feet away from six

different stores where I could buy yoga

pants the dreaded yoga pant shortage is

finally over

and the thing is whatever you make the

same thing is true that just down the

street is a camera store that will sell

me more than 600 different kinds of

cameras and right next door to that is a

place where there's thousands of cell

phones to choose from and if I go online

this is how many financial instruments

and insurance companies that's just the

beginning of the alphabet the fact is

too many choices an infinite number of

replaceable choices which leads to a

piece of news that's good news and bad

news all rolled into one

Finland is now the center of the

universe it is the center of the

universe because instead of being way up

north

far away from everywhere it's one click

away from anything that it used to be

that all you had to do was be the best

in Helsinki because people couldn't

travel very far but then bit by bit the

range that we could reach out to keeps

getting bigger and bigger and bigger

and now for anybody anywhere if they

want you they'll find you and if you're

the best in the world they'll buy from

you so that's the good news and the bad

news the good news is everyone is a

click away the bad news is everyone is a

click away so you've got to make the

decision about whether you're worth

reaching whether you're worth contacting

whether you're worth buying from so I

just gave you a whole skew of bad news

with some little good news thrown in and

you can say this isn't fair who thought

this up I worked really hard to get to

where I am right now and here you are

giving me all of this bad news who

designed this stuff you're talking about

this future is not one where I read the

manual for and I will agree with you

that if you want to you can look at it

in a very

negative way but now 1/4 of the way

through I am done with the bad news we

can take one more deep breath

because from here on in it's all good

news you ready here we go some people

say the answer to this question is big

data track more people get more

information understand where everyone is

at all times track and track and track

here's the problem with big data big

data is in the rearview mirror big data

tells me what people did yesterday I am

way more interested in customer

leadership not customer management

customers don't want to be managed they

want to be led and we can't lead by

sneaking around looking at everyone's

data we're gonna leave it by doing

something braver than that and it begins

by understanding right here right now we

are having a revolution so let me

explain what I mean by revolutions we

had the Industrial Revolution no one was

alive for that then in the 50s we had

the TV mass media revolution but right

now we got another one this is a vinyl

record I don't know if you've ever seen

one of these but I show it to you as an

example of what I mean in 1972 the

record industry was perfect you couldn't

help but make money if you were in the

record business in 1972 couple reasons

if I had a record and I liked it a lot

I'd played enough to wear it out I'd

have to buy another one

or I'd loan it to Bruce that I wouldn't

have it anymore I'd have to buy another

one where would I get another record I

know there were buildings called record

stores filled with things called records

I would drive there and I'd buy hundreds

of different items or dozens because the

industry was present in that building

not only that on my way there I would

turn on the radio in the car cars had

radios and what the radio did was do

nothing but promote the product I was

gonna go buy and there was MTV and

Rolling Stone magazine you get the idea

was perfect we all know what happened in

less than five years went from perfect

to impossible every record ever recorded

available to every human with a

smartphone anywhere on earth anytime

they want for free more music available

to more people than ever before in

history but the music industry

is toast gone same thing happened to

travel agents same thing happened to

brokers of all kind st. go down the list

the Internet destroys the perfect and

then it enables things that are

impossible to occur

that's what revolutions do they turn

things upside down so the question is

not is this happening clearly this is

happening if you're a radiologist you

should be really nervous because a

couple years ago they figured out

radiologists don't have to stand next to

the x-ray machine so they would send

your x-ray digitally to somewhere

somewhere who would for less read it and

now you should be doubly nervous because

it turns out if a computer

sees your x-ray it can read it more

accurately than a human bad time to be

radiologist in fact just about

everything we did is going to be done

differently what a chance of a lifetime

what an opportunity to reinvent to make

a difference so how do you do that first

idea is this there are two ways to get

married right the first way to get

married is to go on tinder and swipe

right over and over and over again

proposing marriage to every single

person you swipe this is a stupid way to

get married the other way to get married

is to go on a date if it goes well go on

another date with that person then on

the third date you meet their parents

they meet your parents you get engaged

right you wait till the seventh date

before you tell them you're out on

parole

this method of dating it worked for me

maybe it worked for you it's a smart way

to get married so why aren't you dating

your prospects permission marketing is

this idea of connecting to people who

want to be connected to marketing to

people who want to be marketed to

delivering anticipated personal and

relevant messages to people who want to

get them next big idea for the first

time in history at scale we can treat

different people differently treating

different people differently is an

extraordinary

Lynch that has never existed you grew up

knowing what the bell curve was you went

to school you studied stats normal

distribution you know why they call it

the normal distribution because with 92

percent significance people are normal

couple standard deviations and weirdness

out there you can ignore the weird

people sell to the normal people average

stuff for average people it's the only

smart solution except the curve is

melting bit by bit

day by day if you give people a chance

they take a chance if you give them a

choice they make a choice there are now

more weird people than normal people

because the only ones who are listening

to you are the ones who care the only

ones who are listening to you are the

ones who know they have a problem it's

the weird people that are gonna raise

their hand that are gonna pay the money

that are gonna talk about you that are

going to show up so instead of worry

about the middle where they can't stand

you it's at the edges where we get a

chance to make a difference you don't

get to tell people what they're

interested in you don't get to change

people's narrative if someone thinks

this dress is the wrong color it's the

wrong color and all the yelling you're

gonna do isn't going to change what they

say so look at this list of brands every

one of which is about 10 years old every

one of which is building something worth

billions of dollars and every one of

which is for weird people now one of

these brands set out to say everybody

this is for you not one of them all of

them started at the edges and it's at

the edges where we're going to earn the

privilege of having people want to talk

to us this is hard news to hear in an

engineering centric culture where the

whole mindset has been how do we do it

right not how do we do it interesting it

turns out that doing it interesting is

what makes the weird people show up you

cannot any longer say you can choose

anyone and where anyone because the fact

is there's another anyone that's a

little cheaper than you there's

another anyone that's only one click

away what we must do instead is talk to

people differently because they hear us

differently one size fits all is gone

forever

the next myth we have to undo is the

idea that we are Haring all following

the leader that what we are supposed to

do is do what we are told to fit in that

one of the things that is feared feared

in New Haven Connecticut and feared in

Scandinavia feared almost everywhere is

someone coming up to you and saying you

know what you're not as good as you

think you are then we don't want to hear

that so we fit in so we don't bring our

you Brits to the table so we don't raise

our hand so we keep our voice low we are

afraid of being called uppity of

standing out too much but we live in a

new economy now in a connection economy

and in a connection economy only you

Burris is rewarded only people who say

over here because connection is where

value is not now not industrialization

here's a map of the London subway

where's the valuable stations it's

obvious where all the lines cross here's

a map of the Internet where are the

valuable stations it's obvious where all

the lines cross where all the lines

crosses where value is created Matt

Ridley famously said no one on earth

knows how to make a computer mouse there

is nobody who understands plastics and

hardware and software and supply chain

and manufacturing and import-export who

can make a mouse we must do it as a team

and it's when teams work together that

we create value so this new economy this

connection economy what's it based on

here are some basic principles the first

thing is coordination you're all here

today none of you were in this room a

week ago none of you will be here next

week value was created by coordinating

our efforts

number two is trust there's someone

sitting behind you or in front of you

and you trust them enough to talk to

them you trust them enough to be in the

room

you don't even know them but you know

that their fellow travelers the next

idea is permission which we just talked

about the privilege of delivering

messages to people who want to get them

and the fourth element of this economy

is sharing ideas all of us are smarter

than any of us so if you think about

what you do all day how many of these

four elements are at the heart of what

you do because the institutions that are

growing and the organizations that are

profiting are right in the center of

that but here's the surprising part the

surprising part is these four principles

are based on two words two concepts two

principles generosity and art generosity

because no one wants to connect to a

selfish person no one wants to connect

to an organization that's just taking an

art art is what we call it when a human

being does something that connects us

when a human being does something that

might not work when a human being says

here I made this art begs for connection

and that's what we seek out not the

reliable sameness of perfection

six-sigma

but the art of knowing someone touched

it so before I started ranting you may

have thought what marketing meant is

things like lights and clicks and how

many people are following you in hype no

actually marketing is more alike what

does it cost and what's the store and

actually marketing is what your support

and your use actually marketing is now

what you make it is as far from

advertising as it can be what marketing

is is what is this thing what is the

experience of this service what are the

side effects it leads behind what does

it mean to be associated with this let

me crystallize this in the simplest way

I can here's the question the first

person with a fax machine what exactly

did he do with it I'll let you think

about that for a second

you can't use a fax machine by yourself

built into the fax machine is the engine

of the marketing of the fax machine as

soon as you got one you know what you

did you told everyone else you knew to

go get one so your fax machine would

work better right that that's built into

Twitter and Facebook and everything else

that's based on community Bob Metcalfe

he's not shy coined Metcalfe's law and

Metcalf law says the value of any

network is the square of the power of

the people on the network so we are now

in the business of building networks not

in the business of building widgets

because widgets are cheap and easy to

make networks last a long time and

they're hard to build next big idea my

wife has transportation narcolepsy which

is a fictional disease

she got shortly after we got married

this disease causes her to fall asleep

on any moving vehicle unless there's a

good movie on the plane that's how I

know it's fictional anyway 15 years ago

we plant planted trip to France and we

missed a flight and we missed a another

flight in a connection and it ended up

taking about 17 hours and for 17 hours

my kids have been making a ruckus and

for 17 hours my wife has been asleep so

we're driving through this pasture in

France it's a beautiful sunny day and

it's you know cows and all that other

stuff and I noticed in the backseat it's

finally quiet and I go the kids are

asleep and then I look at the rear-view

mirror they're not asleep they're

staring out the window at this perfect

specimen of a cow for about three

seconds and then they went back to

making a raucous you know why because

cows are boring even in Finland cows are

boring seem one cow five cows ten cows

they're all the same we don't need to

see more cows but what if it had been a

purple cow that was a special effect

I'll do it slowly what if it had been a

purple cow if it had been a purple cow

tell you what would have happened I

would have pulled over

my wife would have woken up what's going

on shoot he got on the phone call people

back home told me she was looking in a

purple cow I would have taken pictures

to prove that I'd seen a purple cow and

my kids my kids would have ignored me as

usual

open the door run across the street

jumped over the fence and rub the cat so

that when they went to show-and-tell in

two weeks they could tell people they'd

seen and touched a purple cow you know a

purple cow is only one thing remarkable

and remarkable means worth making a

remark about it is not up to you it's up

to us about whether we're gonna remark

about what you made and if we remark

about what you made you know what

happens the spam filters all go away the

remote controls don't matter the word

spreads the network builds you gain

trust and connection so how much time

you're spending making something worth

talking about as opposed to meeting spec

you have been to this meeting where the

sales guy says whoa we just need to

lower our price because if we're the

cheapest we'll be able to grow

fortunately the CFO speaks up and she

says don't do that that's a race to the

bottom and the problem with a race to

the bottom is we might win worse we

might come in second that doesn't help

so some wise guy says all right let's

raise the price a few bucks because if

we raise the price a few bucks our

margins will go up but that a marketing

says can't do that our customers aren't

stupid they're not gonna pay extra for

the same thing the only option is to be

the only one when you are the only one

people will cross the street people will

wait in line people will proudly talk

about what they bought from you the

price isn't the point but how can you

possibly be the only and only one the

answer is we must go back to understand

how the legend of Icarus the myth of

Icarus got under our skin you may have

heard it Daedalus and Icarus banished to

an island

Daedalus makes a bunch of wings out of

feathers he finds on the island he fixes

them to Icarus is back and he says my

son

fly away but don't fly too high because

the Sun will melt the wax and you will

die

Icarus disobeys his father flies too

high he dies what is this myth about it

is about obeying your father it is about

doing what you are told is about not

getting uppity it's about the opposite

of hubris the astonishing thing about

the story is they changed it in 1850 if

you look in the library and look in the

old books that's not what the myth used

to say what it used to say is all of

what I just told you plus the following

sentence more important my son do not

fly too low because if you fly too low

the mist and the waves will weigh down

your wings and you will surely perish

they took that part out and the reason

they took it out is because they want us

to obey they want us to fit in they want

us to do what we're told because that's

what makes the industrial economy work

we live in a culture where this is a

real sign who else's risk are you

supposed to play at exactly that what we

need to do as leaders is bring grit to

our job the grit to say no we're not

going to do that the grit to say no

that's not good enough

the grit to be willing to fall and

skinned our knee and get up and do it

again that is the hard part of our job

bunch of scientists averaged a bunch of

JPEGs and they said this is what the

average person in each country looks

like what they didn't say is this

average isn't beautiful average is

merely average we don't need average we

need beautiful we need alive bubbling

unpredictable growing real viral

something worth discussing

the Japanese have a wonderful term

commie Wazza common Wazza means godlike

myth like the way that gods would do it

ironically enough what it actually means

is fully human fully present that this

cheetah was running to the jungle he's

not saying

I wonder if I left the oven on and I

don't know if I'm prepared for my

meeting on Tuesday

now he's full cheetah fully present when

George Nakashima designed new kinds of

furniture that changed the way some

people thought he didn't have a focus

group he just showed up full Nakashima

totally present Frank Lloyd Wright the

most famous architect of all time

designed this building in 15 minutes on

the back of a paper bag and then he went

to the client he said here I will build

this for you if you wish he didn't say

let's have a bunch of meetings and I can

figure out what your needs are and we

can average out the house and maybe

we'll come to some compromises Frank

Lloyd Wright was fully present he said

here if you wish I will make this for

you so if you're afraid of flying please

don't look at this these are 747s coming

in for landing in London and what you'll

see is they're dangerously and

dramatically off course so they fly back

to Paris and start over actually that's

not what happens what happens is they

adjust then every plane you have ever

been on has been off course from the

moment it took off and the pilot adjusts

the whole way the pilot adjusts and I'm

telling you today the cost of adjusting

is lower than it has ever been before

that what we can do now this side wins

what we can do now is put things into

the world and adjust encounter people

and adjust that that is what is being

demanded of us so if you visit Kenya one

phrase you might hear is the word Sawa

Bana and Sawa Bana means I see you it

means I know you are here I know who you

are I respect you I am willing to engage

with you is there anything our customers

want more than saw Obama to be seen to

be known to be people if we are willing

to extend ourselves this way we get the

chance

for enrollment enrollment means yes I

want to go on this journey with you

enrollment means I will follow your lead

enrollment means you're not doing

marketing to me it means you're doing it

with me I was at a restaurant in Indiana

they had this sign on the menu it was so

unique I had to take a picture of it can

you imagine a typical institution saying

something like this saying you're human

we are humans let us deal with it so why

is this so hard

something's gone on they made it so hard

for us to be human to stand out to be

creative to have a new idea well here's

the deal Mary Shelley wrote a book

called Frankenstein it was a seminal

work in the history of science fiction

horror stories I don't want to talk

about Frankenstein I want to talk about

Mary Shelley's husband who was a hack

named Paris Shelley he was a hack poet

and he wrote an essay about poetry how

it's reserved for the genius that if the

muse shows up you can write poetry and

if it doesn't you're out of luck don't

bother working hard at it

don't bother being a workingman poet

it's not gonna happen if it you don't

have it you don't have it he invented

writer's block writer's block did not

exist before Percy Shelley wrote about

it there's no such thing as writer's

block writer's block is an invention

where we say I don't have the right idea

I can't be creative it's somebody else's

job to lead I don't know what to say

I don't have a question we made all that

stuff up all writer's block is is bad

habits plus an inability to dance with

our fear the bad habit of waiting for

the right answer the bad habit of asking

what kind of pencil do you use the bad

habit of saying I'm not in the right

emotional moment right and instead we

want the fear to go away

the fear is not going to go away but we

can learn to dance with it first with

meson plus that's what a chef calls it

when they lay out all the ingredients

all chopped and prepared before the

orders come in then when we understand

that it's our job

to be creative it's our job to speak a

truth it's our job to lead

we can organize to do it the Finns are

really good at doing their work and now

this is their work the next thing is

that anchors are often associated with

something thrown overboard that sinks us

but we can anchor up we can promise

ourselves and the people around us you

will get something big from me tomorrow

at noon not at 12:05 but at noon we can

say to our team we will brainstorm our

way out of this and we're not leaving

til we're done because we are each

capable of doing it there is no such

thing as a genius if Einstein is a

genius and I'm a genius and you're a

genius too everybody is capable of this

but that's the last time I'm gonna

reassure you because reassurance doesn't

work you will probably fail you will

probably be ridiculed you will probably

bring things into the world that don't

work you will probably bring more things

into the world that don't work that's

just true the same way if you run a

marathon you will get tired and anyone

who reassures you oh no just run for 26

miles you won't get tired they're lying

well the same thing is true of our

desire to make a difference so if you

say to me I'd like to do this but I

don't have enough good ideas I'm gonna

say back to you then you need more bad

ideas because if you show me your list

of bad ideas

I'm betting some good ones will have

snuck in that are a problem your problem

is you don't have enough bad ideas

you're waiting for perfect and it's

getting in the way of you being

extraordinary we used to live in an

economy based on scarcity there's still

too much scarcity scarce respect scarce

water scarce resources I'm not talking

about that but in terms of choices we've

now entered an economy based on

abundance an unlimited number of people

to follow an unlimited number of people

to connect with and if you're walking

around with a scarcity mindset we're

gonna ignore you if you show up and say

I don't have that much in my box and if

I give it to you I won't have it anymore

we're gonna ignore you but if you show

up and say I don't have that much in

this box but if I give it to you we'll

both have it

that's a homerun because then the ideas

spread which leads to this next big idea

invented by Charlton Heston 5000 years

ago

the idea of tribes a tribe is a group of

people connected by a culture and idea a

costume a leader a goal these tribes are

everywhere around us but they're only

used to be three in our lives a

spiritual tribe but if you're from New

Jersey a work tribe and a community

tribe but now you've got the Red Hat

ladies getting together in five hundred

cities around the world over lunch

having some martinis and getting up a

tea

you got the Red Hat guys who pay fifteen

thousand dollars to go to Hawaii to

compete in the Ironman Triathlon a race

they know they're going to lose so why

do they go they don't have water in

Finland they don't have bicycles they go

because the other Red Hat guys are there

and that's worth it or these Red Hat

guys they train all year round in

Portland for the big day the training is

what makes them satisfied or these fans

in their white hats or these fans with

their special greetings

the fact is for 50 years people have

been part of a tribe that now has its

own language not because you're getting

paid to do it but because it's part of

who they are it's something they want to

do alright I know you're not a

competitive group but let's time you

doing this go ahead

okay stop it took this side of the room

six seconds took you guys about eight

seconds you guys are killing it here is

the question how did you know which

rhythm to clap you guys are having fast

cadence you guys have to slow cadence

but you figured it out one group I won't

say in which country took 29 seconds to

do this I was sweating bullets but every

group I've ever asked to do this

experiment has pulled it off

I made no eye contact I didn't say

everybody follow me

and yet you figured it out in less than

10 seconds how it turns out we like

doing what other people are doing

that's why humanity works that's why

culture works look around is anyone in a

prom dress

anyone in a tuxedo how did you know what

to wear today was there a memo right

some people wish there was a memo but

you spend time thinking I wonder what

people will be wearing today that's what

I'm gonna wear we like doing what other

people are doing not all people just our

people we want to be in sync with our

tribe so here's the question whose job

is it to tell everybody how to be in

sync yours it's your job to connect

people who want to be connected to

invent a culture on purpose to challenge

people to go to the next level to

communicate and commit and be clear

about how you do it that is the job of

the future that is what people want they

want to be seen so abana

they want to be connected this is our

culture this is our economy you don't

have to invent these people the Beatles

did not invent teenagers they just

showed up to lead them Bob Marley did

not invent the Rastafarians he just

showed up to lead them so if you came

for a marketing talk I'm about to give

you a marketing talk at last one slide

here we go

marketing today

is this people like us do things like

this we gotta figure out who the people

like us are are they people I want to be

like and we have to figure out what do

things like this means people like us do

things like this and we get to invent

the product and we get to invent the

culture and we get to invent the

movement and we get to invent or lead

the tribe so how does this work

commercially here you go

almost nobody gets a suzuki tattoo

this is not an accident this was done on

purpose

they made a motorcycle that made a

movement that made a tribe that allowed

people who wanted to express something

to express it is a Harley the most

efficient way to get from here to there

no is it the best way for a certain

group of you'll say this is who I am

of course or consider a walkathon which

non-profits in the u.s. run all the time

walkathon don't raise that much money

but that's okay because I look to my

left and I look to my right and I say

these are people like me and then I

become a dedicated volunteer and then I

give more money people like us do things

like this but in the face of this if

you're being honest you're saying

yourself I could never do this I'm not

in charge I don't have a budget I don't

have the authority my boss won't let me

well I want to tell you a tragic story

with an interesting ending in the United

States until recently four million dogs

and cats were killed every year by the

SPCA and the Humane Society these

institutions collected stray dogs and

cats and killed them usually within 24

hours four million a year my friend

Nathan Winograd went to work at the San

Francisco SPCA he saw this happening he

could not abide it he went to the City

Council they said we're not going to

change the law so he went to the people

of San Francisco and asked for help not

all the people just the weird ones not

all the weird ones

just a subset people who could be

enrolled in this journey

he earned permission to talk to them in

less than 100 days

Nathan Winograd had enough money but

more important enough volunteers that

not one healthy dog or cat has been

killed in San Francisco since that day

and you say well that's easy it's San

Francisco well he left there and he went

to Tompkins County New York where again

he had no budget and no authority and he

did it again and then he went to Raleigh

Durham North Carolina

with no budget no authority and he did

it again anyone to Reno Nevada and he

did it again one person started a

movement that it spread around the world

no fancy factory not with hundreds of

employees because one person was able to

model behavior and say to the weird

people follow me but of course you went

to school and at school they said uh-uh

do what you're told

quick little experiment please raise

your right hand as high as you can raise

it higher he what's that about the

instructions were really clear but

everyone held back they always do why I

hold back because you learned from a

young age that your teacher and your

coach and your parents and your tiger

mom and your boss are all gonna ask you

for more they're gonna keep asking him

for more industrialists always ask for

more so you better hold a little bit

back right you pissed the sight you

better hold a little bit back because

that's the bargain of industrialism you

know who doesn't old anything back

artists don't hold anything back when

Beckett was writing Waiting for Godot he

didn't say oh I've got some good lines

I'm gonna save them for the next play

write that when we go to school we are

taught to fit in when we go to school we

are pushed to be normal the reason they

want us to fit in is so they can ignore

us because that's what industrialists

wanted replaceable cogs managers just

want us to do what we did yesterday

leaders don't know what's coming next

I'm here to tell you Finland needs no

more managers we don't have a manager

shortage we need leaders here people yes

and you are in this room and that is

what this is actually to talk about it's

not to talk about marketing because

marketing and leadership are now

intricately related therefore a million

years the way humans fed ourselves was

by hunting only 10,000 years ago was

farming invented that's how new it is

and only 300 years ago did we invent

jobs the idea that you would go to

someone and say tell me what to do and

give me money

brand-new in Helsinki in 1700 the

unemployment rate was zero because there

were no jobs and I'm betting we're going

really fast to a new place where the

stuff we think of jobs is gonna go away

again and the good ones are gonna become

art so give me a couple minutes to

explain what I mean by art yes nerds

descending a staircase art Pablo Picasso

art Jackson Pollock art these are

paintings but they are art but to

understand the distinction realized that

Jackson Pollock had a brother you never

heard of him Charles Pollock he was a

painter not an artist he copied Thomas

Hart Benton his teacher over and over

again no one needed a copy what we

needed was art art has nothing to do

with painting Joseph boys in Germany

made art with felt William Shakespeare

in England made art with words but to

put a really fine point on it in 1917

Marcel Duchamp put this upside down

urinal in an art exhibit and he caused a

riot this was art the second person to

install a urinal in an art museum was a

plumber and that's the decision do you

want to sign up for plumbing in November

I went to China

right outside Shenzhen where they make

all the smart phones now I visited a

village called Dauphin in Dauphin they

make all the oil paintings one-third of

all the oil paintings in the world

painted over and over and over again as

fast as they can you can buy the Mona

Lisa in Dauphin for $29 but it's not the

Mona Lisa it's not worth $29 it's a copy

why would anyone buy it it's not worth

it that this idea of

merely copying that's not what we do if

I asked you at the end of your best day

at work last month what was your best

day about your best work what's it for I

hope we can agree that what you actually

do for a living is make change happen

you change people's minds you change

processes you change designs that making

change happen is our job and change has

an ugly brother his name is tension the

tension of it might not work the tension

if I might get in trouble the tension of

I might be wrong you can't have change

without tension and this works all over

the world this is a friend of mine a

woman named Lucy Lucy has an acre and a

half in the fertile valley of Kenya her

neighbors on every side have an acre and

a half an acre half of land you can

barely make a living on an acre and a

half of land you're a subsistence farmer

one crop and people are gonna go hungry

if it goes wrong Lucy doesn't use farm

saved seed she buys for 30 bucks hybrid

seed from Western seed and as a result

she can grow so much more corn she can

sell for $3,000 she used that money to

buy two cows from Djibouti Colima on

credit which made her enough money to

start a tree farm which made her enough

money to start a taxi company and Lucy

has under her bed

1 million Kenyan shillings in a cigar

box and has paid for all nine of her

kids to go to private school and on her

left and on her right her neighbors are

subsistence farmers hey Lucy I say

what's this about she says I'm thirsty

it's that simple I'm thirsty I'm not

gonna take what's on offer I'm gonna

figure out how to make something better

people say to me after one of my rants

all right I got my notebook out I'm

ready to write down the bullet points

give me the map how do I go from here to

there I can't give you a map I can't

even give you a fictional map because if

I gave you a fictional map

you'd be a plumber but that's not gonna

work because we need you to make art

instead again hard to do because this is

a real book people pay money to

learn how to raise invisible sheep

without raised making any mistakes that

in Finland like many places competence

is prized confidence is overrated we no

longer have a competence shortage if I

can write down what I need you to do

there's certainly someone somewhere in

the world who's cheaper than you and so

the internet comes along you've seen the

Free Hugs video I went viral it's funny

this guy hates the Free Hugs video

because he worked really hard to pay his

dues these guys don't care they're still

happy to sell free hugs all day long

so the same thing happens to everybody

who makes a commodity the bottled water

guys they've told us it's all the same

so give me the close one or the cheap

one I'm not gonna pay extra I mean they

tried this guy give him credit but it

didn't work

no folks the answer is simple its

kryptonite

the reason Superman works the reason

Superman it's interesting is because it

might not work because kryptonite might

show up because it's not perfect because

it's real as Kurt Vonnegut said we got

to go right to the edge grow wings on

the way down it's the only way we're

gonna be able to learn to fly yes if you

want to sing sing if you want to dance

dance the internet gives you a

microphone everyone can use it right

every one of you is blogging everyday of

course sharing what you know spreading

the ideas earning our trust connecting

with people you're all innovating but

you work for people say I'd love to

innovate but what we do is so important

failure is not an option but if they say

that you must say back then neither is

success because all innovation is is

failing again and again and again until

you figure out how it works that's all

we've got it's all we can do an easy way

to remember it the guy who invented the

ship also invented the shipwreck it's up

to you to decide to get on the boat or

not so the last foreign phrase of the

day is salt immortality I think it might

batteries you guys it's also more tali

the leap into the void what does it feel

like in that moment where we're between

here and there when the Ueberroth is at

its maximum when we're not sure one way

it feels is I better not do that because

it's just a little too soon let me let

someone else go first you know what it's

always too soon when Gutenberg launched

the printing press 93% of the people in

Europe didn't know how to read this is a

stupid time to launch the book not only

that 15% of the people needed reading

glasses in order to read and they hadn't

been invented yet and there were no

bookstores he should have waited for the

Kindle or when Karl Benz launched the

car it was against the law to drive in

Germany he needed a letter from the king

there were no roads a real impediment

there

no gas stations and there were no

all-night drive-through liquor stores he

should have waited so there's a big

difference between being ready and

prepared all of you are prepared because

that's what Finn's are but none of you

are ready it's impossible to be ready

because to be ready means to be sure and

when you look on the Internet

you know Google a video of for riding a

bike all the videos show you what it

looks like to ride a bike which is

nothing but people falling off the bike

because we can't possibly be interested

if people can successfully ride a bike

instead we just talk about all the bad

things that are gonna happen we have a

voice in the back of our head that says

don't do that you'll fail an alligator

will eat you you will fall off a cliff a

shark will land on your house do not fly

too close to the Sun here's the thing

Helsinki every three years is a

conference of physicists called the

Solveig conference this is the photo

from 1927 you may recognize there's

Marie Curie Albert Einstein Niels Bohr

it said that Heisenberg was there but

it's uncertain the key thing about this

picture is there are 29 people in it and

17 of them won the Nobel Prize in

Physics and almost all of them wanted

after the photo was taken you didn't get

invited to solve a because you won the

Nobel Prize you won the Nobel Prize

because you got invited to solve a so

here you are again at the Nordic

Business Forum someone here is gonna

change everything someone right there

and someone right there maybe more than

that it's just about choosing to

understand that it is always too soon

that more you Burris is better than less

hubris that the resistance that voice in

our head isn't the point

that fear isn't the opposite of

creativity creativity is the opposite of

fear then we don't have to act like

sheep if we don't want to so you may

remember the great movie singing in the

rain and in the epic scene Gene Kelly is

singing and

thing up a storm with his whole heart

but until this moment you probably

didn't realize he had an umbrella the

whole time but it's not called singing

with an umbrella

it's called singing in the rain the rain

is the point the uncertainty is the

point the vulnerability is the point

that what I am begging you to understand

is our willingness to say here I made

this is universal it's universal there's

no border around Finland that says we

can't do this yes you can do this if you

care if you care enough the fact is some

people you give them a mile they will

take an inch but that doesn't have to be

you it doesn't have to be us what we

have now is the privilege it is a

privilege to bring a different kind of

passion to our work a passion of

connecting and of doing it because we

can and because we want to there are

people out there disconnected people

lonely people people who are

disrespected people who need you and

need something and they are saying to

you as clearly as they can please we

need you to lead us

my friend Celine gave me the line that I

like to finish with which is simple

everybody here is already successful

there's no doubt about it that's not the

question the question is will you choose

to matter I hope you will thank you very

much

[Applause]