KR Connect – Blog of Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide, Saatchi & Saatchi

A Nod to Nollywood

2013-05-22T18:39:00.000-05:00

As Bollywood celebrates its 100th birthday and enjoys status as the largest film producer in the world, the second biggest film industry is one you’ve probably never even heard of. It’s not American, Chinese, British, or French – though chances are you’re more likely to have watched a movie made in one of those countries. And though we’ve got terrific filmmakers, New Zealand has a long way to go if it’s going to match the output of this small nation.

Nigeria’s Nollywood is going gangbusters, producing a whopping 2,500 movies a year for viewers across Africa, hence putting it in second place. Generally, the average Nigerian film costs about $15,000 to make. When you compare that with big Hollywood budgets (Django Unchained, which I rapped about recently, had a production budget of $100 million), you’ll understand why Nigerian’s are making films with what they’ve got. They film use affordable digital equipment and time on set lasts no more than 2 weeks. Final cuts bypass cinema, go straight to DVD, and the quick turnaround allows for movie-makers to create films based on local, topical issues and melodrama (“think Bollywood via Tyler Perry” – Time), which is very popular with viewers.

In 2003, Saatchi & Saatchi produced the film Critical Assignment for Guinness Africa as part of a campaign featuring the “African James Bond”, Michael Power, and at that time the Nigerian film industry was still pretty young. At 15 years old, it’s still very much a teenager, but there is truth that youth can teach us. With passion, the focus is more on doing than planning. It’s about getting ideas out there and circulating in the market. Failing fast, learning fast, fixing fast. And just making things happen.

Worst Job in the World

2013-05-21T15:00:00.000-05:00

Image Source: sites.csn.edu

Recently CareerCast released a list of the worst jobs in the United States in 2013. Since then, Lapham Quarterly released a matrix of the 13 worst jobs of the last 2,000 years. The matrix looks at jobs in regard to how difficult, tedious, disgusting, and treacherous they were/are. Some of the jobs in the list include:

Banquet Attendant (50AD), responsible for cleaning up guests’ vomit and holding chamber pots for them to urinate into.

Viking Egg Collector (900AD), responsible for climbing down cliffs to steal eggs from seabirds, using ropes made of stinging nettle.

Food Tester (1520AD), it’s the gallows for you if a Royal consumed tainted food.

Leech Gatherer (1835AD).

Subway Pusher (2010AD), responsible for pushing Toyko’s rush hour subway commuters into packed trains.

Merchant Banker (2013AD), oops… I made this up…

After looking at these jobs, being a newspaper journalist (ranked the top worst job in CareerCast list) doesn’t look too bad.

Hackers vs Programmers

2013-05-20T22:40:00.000-05:00

Image Source: tangooscarmik3.deviantart.com

I’ve often said that at Saatchi & Saatchi we prefer Outlaws to Sheriffs, Pirates to the Navy and Hackers to Programmers.

The Saatchi & Saatchi Creative Quorum in Singapore - five executive creative directors from the Asia Pacific who drive new creative thinking across the region - defined this for us.

A hacker beats the system.
A programmer maintains the system.

A hacker is trying to get in.
A programmer is trying to stop things getting in.

A hacker does things because he believes in them.
A programmer does what he is supposed to.

A hacker changes the way things are.
A programmer tries to keep the status quo.

A hacker is agile.
A programmer is a small cog in a big slow machine.

A hacker has many points of attack.
A programmer has one job.

A hacker has to be fast.
A programmer doesn’t.

A hacker is self-reliant.
A programmer relies on others.

A hacker finds paths that don’t exist.
A programmer guards the old ones that already do.

A hacker is about interesting.
A programmer is about being perfect.

A Song In My Heart

2013-05-16T21:54:00.000-05:00

Image Source: news.sciencemag.org

When Lovemarks was created, one of the key elements that I could not leave out of the equation was Sensuality. The senses of sight, sound, touch, taste and smell have such an effect on our emotions that to leave them out would be simply unthinkable. Sound in the form of music has its roots in poetry, and in my opinion, the best songs always tell the best stories.

It is true that we don’t need music to live. It’s not like food - it’s not intrinsic to our survival – but it seems to have been helpful in human evolution. It’s also very good for the soul.

There’s a terrific story in Science of a neuroscientist who just had to study the effect of music on our brains after she was compelled to pull over while driving after hearing Johannes Brahms's "Hungarian Dance No. 5". Her name is Valorie Salimpoor, and with other researchers from McGill University in Montreal, what she has discovered is that when we have an emotional response to a song, we also have a direct intellectual one too.

The intellectual reward we get from music is pattern recognition. When music develops in a way that is slightly novel, but still in line with our brains predictions, we tend to like it a lot. Salimpoor describes it as something of an “intellectual conquest”. This, potentially, tapped in a brain mechanism that was vital for our evolutionary process and is related to our “ability to recognize patterns and generalize from experience, to predict what’s likely to happen in the future — in short, the ability to imagine.”

This explains why music is such a vital ingredient in film and in television advertising. Music creates heart. Music is a direct route to both the brain and the heart.

A Winner’s Mentality

2013-05-15T16:55:00.000-05:00

Image Source: inc.com

I’ve been interested in ‘winning’ for a long time. Thirteen years ago I co-wrote a book that looked at how the world’s top sports teams nurtured Peak Performance so that they could maintain their winnings streaks.

If you haven’t noticed already, I love sport and believe that it has many lessons to teach us about how to be our best. It has it all. Highs and lows. Community, tenacity, commitment. The crucial importance of taking action when the right moment strikes; and what to do in the face of failure.

So when I came across this article from blogger Geoffrey James on getting yourself in the mental state to win, I thought it was on the money.

Here are some out takes:

See the moments coming: Be prepared when it counts. Don’t run into the day blindly.

Adopt a winner’s physiology: How you look affects how you feel. Stand up tall. Look people in the eye.

Visualize the winning outcome: Lots of runners imagine themselves crossing the finish line. It helps them get from where they are to where they want to be.

Mentally rehearse what you’ll say and do: Now that you’ve seen yourself past the finish line, what are the steps you need to take to get there?

Disconnect from goals and results: Be in the moment.

Take action: Make things happen!

The Showing

2013-05-14T17:12:00.002-05:00

Being judged can be a nerve-wracking experience. More so if it’s for something you really care about. Is it good enough? Will you make the cut? How will you compare to others in your peer group? It’s bad enough to give you the shakes! Saatchi & Saatchi Fallon Tokyo has created a short film that exaggerates this anxiety to promote the first Tokyo Art Directors Club Portfolio Night on May 22. The Showing plays on Japan’s much-loved horror film genre and depicts a young creative talent as she prepares to show her portfolio to a creative director. Warning - there are a few jumps on the way!

Portfolio Night happens simultaneously in a number of cities around the world, and is an opportunity for young creatives to show their work to senior creative directors from multiple agencies in a kind of "speed dating" environment. I know that people are getting braver at letting their creativity be judged thanks to portfolio websites like Behance and the internet at large, but face-to-face feedback is a unique experience I would encourage anyone to expose themselves to. Don’t be nervous. It’s a great opportunity.

Is Business Beyond Education?

2013-05-13T19:58:00.001-05:00

Image Source: isaac.uk.com

The Wall Street Journal sounded the death-knoll for business schools back in 1985. Applications were dropping. Mass closures were on the cards. The same headlines have appeared periodically since. Eight years later the New York Times headlined with “Business Schools Hit Hard Times Amid Doubt Over Value of MBA”. Last year it was Forbes asking “Is the MBA Obsolete?” If you scan the latest stories on business sites and in magazines, it seems to be in fashion to give the impression that innovation and talent trumps education. But is it true?

What is true is that the nature of business has changed. Lines of communication have evolved. Globalisation has opened up new markets and competition is fierce. Innovation is now a global catch-cry and anyone with a half-baked idea is trying to sell it. Yet we are still short of quality business managers.

In reality, it isn’t a competition between natural talent and formal education. We need both. What is important is that business schools adapt their style of teaching. They must ensure our next generation of leaders are learning techniques relevant to today. In America alone, 10,000 baby boomers retire every day. These are the people who have been our business leaders for the past 30 years and we are struggling to replace them.

Business schools know this. They also know the demands on modern managers are unique in the information age. Yale rewrote its curriculum back in 2006 and continues to regularly review it. Wharton rolled out a whole new plan last year. We are seeing a shift to customized courses tailored for 21st century enterprise. There is a greater focus on trouble-shooting, problem solving and communication skills, as I see from my own position on the Lancaster MBA programme where I’m part of Peter Lenney’s and Chris Saunders’ Mindful Manager initiative.

Business isn’t just about brilliant product, it’s about people (ideally, both brilliant). Success will come from ensuring that young people who have chosen business as their career have the right knowledge, skills and attitudes to lead.

Design of the Year

2013-05-09T20:04:00.000-05:00

Image Source: gov.uk

The Designs of the Year awards is bestowed by the London Design Museum and described as the ‘Oscars of the design world’. Entries for this year’s award included Thomas Heatherwick’s fantastic Olympic Cauldron, the Raspberry Pi Computer, The Shard, and a collection by Louis Vuitton. The list is eclectic, but what is even more incredible is who walked away with the big prize on the night. GOV.UK, a new single platform government website bagged the top award.

When you visit the site, you may be shocked. It’s not dressed in a designer outfit like one would expect, but it works effectively in helping people find the information that they need. It changes people’s lives by getting to the point. Driver’s licence? Passport? You’ll find it here. Housing benefits. Here too. It’s convenient, it helps everyone save money. It’s a sweet deal that seems to be getting a lot of hits.

Early on the team at GOV.UK established 10 principles to help them make the right design decisions. It’s a list that works for more than design. You can apply it to your business and most of them can change your life.

Start with needs
Do less
Design with data
Do the hard work to make it simple
Iterate. Then iterate again
Build for inclusion
Understand context
Build digital services, not websites
Be consistent, not uniform
Make things open: it makes things better

Role Play

2013-05-08T21:51:00.000-05:00

Image Source: conferences.ted.com

TED has just announced their speaker roster for TED Global in Edinburgh June 10-14 – and not a CEO in sight. Check out the job titles of the new millennium.

Anti-guerrilla creative
Women’s rights activist
Systems biologist
Autonomous systems visionary
Drone ecologist
Airborne logistics activist
Musical alchemist
Circadian neuroscientist
False memories scholar
Science-help psychologist
Rating agency reformer
Gentleman thief
Innovation economist
Bees scholar
Wild sex biologist

Accidental theologist
Urbanist
Biomaterials researcher
Regenerative neurologist
Spinal cord researcher
Biomedical engineer
Democracy thinker
Arab sexuality expert
Cloudspotter
Mathemagician
Privacy economist
Electromusician
Plutocracy chronicler
Anti-corruption activist
Open-source engineer

The Big Small Screen

2013-05-07T22:58:00.000-05:00

Image Source: filmoria.co.uk

The HBO series Game of Thrones was the most illegally downloaded programme in 2012. Twenty-four hours after the first episode of its third season aired, 1 million people downloaded illegal copies from file-sharing sites. Usually, TV networks are up in arms about piracy, but HBO seems to be more concerned that viewers aren’t going to get great quality when they download illegal episodes. If you’re a real fan, eventually you’ll get sick of poor visuals and invest money to get a great experience. You buy the DVD set. You’ll “Like” them on Facebook. It becomes the topic of water cooler chatter.

Controlling what people do is always going to be challenge, especially if the model itself is changing. People are watching TV on other screens and they are getting rid of their television sets. Five million US households don’t own a television set anymore (this up from 2 million in 2007), but rather than kill the industry, the growth in the number of ‘ZeroTV’ households has played a part in the increasing popularity of programming.

This is the golden age of television. There is Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad, The Wire, Girls and Mad Men for starters. There is variety in theme, depth in story and character, and tons of cultural tie-ins. With mobile devices, people watch TV anywhere. With streaming websites, they can watch their favorite programme whenever they want. You don’t even need to a broadcasting company to bring out full season shows. Netflix has House of Cards and Arrested Development exclusively online for our viewing pleasure, which means more choice and better accessibility for the viewer – and that looks like progress to me.

Organic Bhutan

2013-05-06T22:46:00.000-05:00

Image Source: facebook.com

When Bhutan announced that it was going to be the world’s first 100% organic nation, many people went “??” Where is Bhutan? (It’s a landlocked area between China and India). Then - Is this possible?

It’s not the kind of statement you’d expect from the 162th largest economy in the world whose currency is known as the ngultrum, but it does take the concept of ‘making the world a better place for everyone’ to a whole new level.

Agriculture is the main source of Bhutan’s income and the goal is to have all their produce completely free of GMOs, pesticides, herbicides, etc. Bhutan is going to be known for something, and that something is going to be ‘real food’. They are going to shift nation-produced commodities like corn and rice up the Love/Respect Axis and infuse it with Respect AND Love. Respect, by doing things as nature intended, and Love, by taking care of its people in the process. When you consider that their whole sustainable development philosophy is based on the idea of Gross National Happiness, it’s going to be exciting to see if they can make it happen.

Here are five outtakes:

Reach for the Stars: Great brands start with a dream – they are Purpose-inspired. They pulse with Spirit.

Be a Creative Leader: Having creative solutions, being creative, leading creative ideas, being a creative leader, this is the performance factor to build a reputation around.

Create Love: Reason leads to conclusions; emotion leads to action.

Use the Three Secrets: Mystery, Sensuality, Intimacy

Make It Happen: Relentless execution is the killer app.

Creativity Is Where Everything Starts

2013-05-02T21:33:00.000-05:00

Image Source: forbes.com / wired.com

Mary Quant did it for me. Jeff Bezos had McDonald’s. For Steve Jobs, it was Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari and American food chain Chuck E. Cheese, who gave him a start in his career.

Now Bushnell has co-authored a book about finding the right creative minds for your company. Though Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Hire, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent, is titled after Jobs (publishing needs marketing after all), it is less about him and more about finding the right creative minds for your company.

Bushnell tells us to focus on who a person is rather than what they can do. Passion and intensity should take weight over qualifications. Training can fill gaps in skill, but a weak spark is likely to die out fast. If you want to spend your time fanning it into a flame, you’ll be wasting time and energy best placed elsewhere. Also, hire people for their hobbies. “Show me someone who doesn’t have a hobby,” Bushnell says. “And I’ll show you someone who is not very creative.”

In the book Bushnell writes about a conversation he had with Jobs where they discussed the importance of creativity in business. “Without creativity your company will not succeed…That concept may not sound surprising, but what is surprising is how few companies realize it, or actually do anything about it. Creativity is every company’s first driver. It’s where everything starts, where energy and forward motion originate. Without that first charge of creativity, nothing else can take place.”

Tomorrow's going to be a better day

2013-05-01T00:15:00.000-05:00

Image Source: youtube.com

Billy Bragg's a brilliant songwriter. And a great guy.

Here's a cut from his new "Tooth and Nail" album.

“To the misanthropic, misbegotten merchants of gloom
Who look into their crystal balls and prophesise our doom,
Let the death knell chime, it’s the end of time
Let the cynics put their blinkers on and toast our decline

Don’t become demoralised by this chorus of complaint
It’s a sure sign that the old world is terminally quaint
Tomorrow’s going to be a better day
No matter what the siren voices say
Tomorrow’s going to be a better day
We’re going to make it that way."

Count me in Billy.

KR

Not a Drop to Drink

2013-04-30T22:24:00.000-05:00

Image Source: winetowater.org / getgoodgoods.myshopify.com / springwise.com / farmageddon.eu / vimeo.com

Over 780 million people around the world do not have access to clean water or sanitation - critical to reducing water borne illness, reducing infection; and feeding crops and livestock. This results in approximately 3.4 million deaths annually; the majority of which are caused by fecal matter, and could be reduced through the simple act of washing hands with soap and clean water.

It’s no quick fix however, but fortunately there are people and organisations out there that are coming up with creative solutions to raise awareness and combat this issue:

Wine to Water is an organisation set up by former bartender Doc Hendley, encouraging bartenders around the world to pledge 100% their tips from a shifts work to the charity devoted to fighting the epidemic.

Who Gives a Crap is an Australian social enterprise that donates 50% of the profits from its toilet paper sales to WaterAid, who work improve sanitation in the developing world.

University of Engineering and Technology created a billboard in Peru that turns humidity into drinkable water.

I recently mentioned the campaign Farmageddon, which saw online Farmarama farmers help real-life farms through donations to the United Nations FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization).

F/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi created this TVC for S.O.S. Mata Atlântica, a Brazilian environmental charity, encouraging people to break the taboo of peeing in the shower to each save over 4000 liters of drinkable water a year.

The Can Kicks Back

2013-04-29T23:32:00.000-05:00

Source: US National Debt Clock

Late in 2012 I was in a documentary made by filmmaker Scott Galloway called Overdraft. The film presents a broad explanation of America's calamitous $16.7 trillion federal debt problem and the choices Americans have to make to fix it. We’ve since had the “fiscal cliff” and now we have “sequestration”. Debate rages over solutions.

The government should turn to an organization called The Can Kicks Back, a Millennial-led campaign focused on educating and activating this generation on debt and deficit issues. They are concerned about their future lives. Since launching in November 2012 they have built a network of 100+ chapters in 38 states and are in the process of pushing forward with a Bill in Congress.

To connect with Millennials they have been reaching out to them in ways that are not typical to campaigns around issues like the debt, with Gangnam Style and Harlem Shake videos and an edgy campaign called Seal the Deal. I take my hat off to Ryan Schoenike and his team of The Can Kicks Back for their imaginative, ideas-driven communications to get everyone, Millennials to Boomers, students to politicians, involved in winding back the debt before it crushes us.

The America we are delivering to young people is not sustainable and it is our responsibility as “wiser heads” to urge politicians to bring out-of-control spending into some intelligent pattern. Austerity does not seem to be working in the countries that are trying it, and in fact it is looking counter-productive as a singular strategy. Stimulus on the other hand, just looks like throwing even more money we don’t have at the problem. There are various sensible prescriptions for addressing the debt without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as it were. One manifestation of sequestration – punishing air travelers by laying off air traffic controllers – was thankfully overturned by the Senate today. It was heading to be a metaphor for how not to attack the debt issue. We need velocity, not delay.

What is needed is a selfless approach to the future that is not corrupted by vested interests as the current system. Maybe we should turn to the young people we are saddling with the debt problem for the solutions. The folk at The Can Kicks Back look like a good place to start.

Flown to Distraction

2013-04-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

Image Source: buzzbaiting.com

Travel is inherently noisy. It’s a natural by-product of life and movement. Sometimes it’s welcome and expected, and sometimes you just crave quiet. The solution could be as simple as good pair of headphones, or asking the train driver to get someone to tone down their conversation by announcing it over the sound system!

The next time you sit in an airplane, pay attention to how noisy the aircraft is. The engine, the air-conditioning, the rumble as you take off. Then think that there are actually people who are working to reduce the amount of noise produced by aircrafts. After reading an article in the New York Times on the “Technology for a Quieter America” report, I am surprised there is actually an initiative to create a “Quieter America”, which includes the amount of sound inflicted on travellers in airplane cabins.

As a rule, the further distance you travel, the less noise you’ll experience. The higher up in class you go, the further you are from the engine – or if you’re in coach, head to the back of the plane. Richard Fitzgerald is the ‘whispering coach’ for Virgin Atlantic's Upper Class. He trains crew to speak within cabins so that passengers are not disturbed during their inflight snooze. Which is great; if you bought a bed in the sky, you should be able to sleep in it. If you’re more partial to trains, Italy's high-speed Frecciarossa could possibly be the quietest in Europe.

Hemingway, Rimbaud, and Satre were on to something when they made the iconic Parisian cafe Les Deux Magots their place of work. Many people still work at cafes - not just because of easy access to coffee and Wi-Fi - because the subtle cacophony of voices creates the right kind of ambience to stimulate creative thinking. And if you can’t make your way to a café that produces just the right amount of noise, in typical 21st century technophile fashion, there is even an app that produces the right level of background noise to get those creative juices flowing.

Tear Down The Walls

2013-04-25T20:22:00.000-05:00

Image Source: thelaconnection.blogspot.com

We need more elastic environments. Not just in urban cities, but in business. An elastic environment is a place that can be used for multiple purposes by different kinds of people. It could be a retail store in the morning and a theatre space when the sun goes down. Or a house where everything is for sale – like FIKA in Tokyo. STORY in New York is a concept store that isn’t afraid to change its character, and The Gourmet Tea in São Paulo is basically a colourful wall that transforms into a side street shop during opening hours.

The concept of elastic environments embodies our culture of constant change. It symbolizes our potential to be free and open to new ideas. Even something as permanent as brick and mortar can work with us, rather than restrain us.

Here are some ideas of how to bring the spirit of elastic environments to your work:

Creativity needs space. Change your working environment so that it allows dialogue and the exchange of ideas.

Mix it up. Expand your creative suite to include the internet kid, graphic designer, blogger, psychologist, retailer. Even the data scientist!

Keep your door open. Invite people to send their ideas at any time. One of them may change the way your business does things tomorrow.

Take small actions. Embrace opportunity when it strikes. As soon as the lights went out at the 2013 Super Bowl, Tide sent out a tweet that generated plenty of buzz.

Let’s Get Physical

2013-04-24T05:00:00.000-05:00

Image Source: knoxville.com

Guess what’s making a comeback? Physical objects.

You spent the last decade digitizing your life and suddenly paper and plastic are back on the radar. Some bands are even selling limited edition cassette tapes of new albums. Cassette tapes! Who would have thought we would ever hear that word again. Savvy companies are capitalizing on the trend by offering to produce material copies of digital files. One of them, Postagram, allows you to send physical postcards printed from digital photos.

Why the move back to the material world? People miss the romance and sensory appeal of objects. Tactical objects hold memories, and for many, these things have personalities of their own. The smell of books, the design on the sleeve of a record, are now considered “romantic”, “nostalgic”, not old and musty. Digital is too easy to replicate, too easy to copy. You can send an electronic file to many but a hand illustration edition to few. There’s an emotional void that digital has created and it’s an opportunity for brands to create amazing connections with their consumers.

Party with Purpose

2013-04-23T18:58:00.002-05:00

With Kweku Mandela

With Michael Jones

Everyone knows that advertising people are party animals. Well, maybe that was back in the Mad Men era. These days a 6pm cocktail event is usually about making the world a better place, and so it was last Thursday night on the 16th floor of Saatchi & Saatchi at 375 Hudson Street. Hosted by the New Zealand global talent network Kea and the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), the event was about “Growing Global Leaders”. AUT VC Derek McCormack announced an intern program giving students work and study experience in the USA. Hyperfactory co-founder Derek Handley talked about the persistence of vision in an entrepreneurial start-up company, his new book “Heart to Start” which is a roadmap for aspiring innovators, and his involvement in The B Team, a philanthropic group he has co-founded with Richard Branson. For my part I talked about winning with inspiration, edge, courage and speed.

One of the special people at the event was ‘The Iceman’ Michael Jones, one of the best rugby players to ever wear the #7 jersey. I knew Michael when he was a young All Black and have intersected with his life and career at various times since. Michael is a Samoan New Zealander and carries with him all the dignity, humility and gentle humor that such a combination creates. He still lives in the same Auckland community in which he was born and contributes to young people’s leadership and development. He is also a warrior and a chief, a man of mana and bearing. He spoke of his dream as a young child of becoming an All Black; and gave a message that leadership is delivered through service to others. There was a lively question-and-discussion session after which Kea global chairman Phil Veal issued apologies to everyone I managed to provoke and offend, especially the Australians. Signature of a great dialogue.

As always with a bunch of Kiwis the connections were fast and furious and the chatter loud and long. And being Saatchi & Saatchi, the eclectic nature and geography of the audience reflected the international nature of our network. A special guest was Kweku Mandela, grandson of the great Nelson Mandela, who was in New York for the Mandela Foundation and the launch of a new film project The Power of Words, in association with the Tribeca Film Festival which is underway in New York. The project is a new year-round initiative that engages five filmmakers to offer modern interpretations of Nelson Mandela’s inspirational words.

The Future Belongs To The 90s

2013-04-22T23:42:00.000-05:00

Image Source: mindfulstew.wordpress.com

Before the millennium, people used to wonder what amazing change would happen in the future. We thought we would be living in a Mad Max world, or flying around in aero-dynamic cars and having our brains attached to super computers. We anticipated a VUCA world. One that was volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. What we didn’t expect is how vibrant, unreal, crazy and astounding our experience of life could be.

Time is now measured in an instant. 15 minutes is too long. To ask an investor to wait 5 years before seeing a profit is incredulous. Facebook, once the poster child for the digital age, is now seen by kids as being too archaic for their taste. They’re going the way of magazines. Too slow. Too permanent. They want something instant. Something that creates a feeling of urgency with a short shelf-life. They want excitement.

Now that it’s happening, talking about the future feels a bit retro.

Douglas Rushkoff, one of the first people to grasp the concept of viral media and social currency, has just released a book Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now. He uses words like narrative collapse (when we have no time to tell a linear story), digiphrenia (when technology and media enables us to be in more than one place) to describe what he calls presentism, which is essentially what I have been referring to as the Age of Now.

In the Age of Now, execution is everything, velocity is everything. It’s "all kinetic energy, no potential energy. No hard drive. All RAM," says Rushkoff. It requires a different approach to how we understand change. Long-term projections are dead. This scares people who are uncomfortable with being accountable and like sitting in a lot of meetings and hiding behind piles of paperwork and research. Stop living for the future. Get some courage. Start doing things for the Now.

Six Keys To Success

2013-04-18T19:37:00.003-05:00

Image Source: livingforsport.skysports.com

Following the success of the British Olympics team at the London 2012 games, which was their best performance since Antwerp 1920, the British Athletics Commission is trying to encourage UK youngsters with inspiration and the tools to succeed in school and in life through sportspeople.

The new initiative is based on six valuable skills in sport that are just as important in life. Jessica Ennis, who won gold in the heptathlon event in London last year, features as the lead spokesperson for the campaign, and appears in a number of clips explaining how she has succeeded in sport using these six keys to success:

Mental toughness

Hunger to achieve

People skills

Sports and life knowledge

Breaking barriers

Planning for success

As she explains in these videos, the lessons she has learned are very much applicable to life. Take for instance, Ennis’ determination in succeeding in her chosen sport despite criticism from officials who said that she was too small to compete in events that traditionally require taller competitors. In sport, as in life, we face a number of naysayers, but it is important to stick to your guns even though others may cast doubt over your thoughts, ideas or actions.

Another good example from Ennis’ career is her ability to plan for success through setting goals, as well as her ability to plan for failure, which helps her cope in times when she does stumble and fall.

These six keys to success are absolutely applicable to us all, not just children, no matter what we’re passionate about in life.

Buying Serenity

2013-04-17T00:00:00.000-05:00

Image Source: kohler.com / philips.com / simplynoise.com

In this always-on world it can be hard to find time to relax. While spas and retreats can be a great way to take a couple of hours to unwind, they’re not always accessible. Nothing beats an idea, and seeing a hole in the market, a number of companies have developed products they believe will help with unwinding and finding peace at home. A few examples:

The Philips Wake-Up Light. The sound of your morning alarm can be a pretty unpleasant way to wake up, so Philips developed a lamp that gradually wakes you up over a 30 minute period by using a soft rising light. The lamp is based on ideas of circadian rhythm where the light from the sun naturally and slowly wakes your body up.

Kolher Wireless shower speaker - Kolher have a range of products aiming to make your bathroom a more pleasant and peaceful place to be, including the showerhead that includes a detachable wireless speaker so you can listen to music while you get ready in the morning.

Simple Noise is a colour noise generator available online or as an app. The idea being that colour noise, such as white noise, helps to block out unwanted background noise, and also soothes your mind when stressed or as you’re trying to fall asleep.

Too far-fetched for your taste? Have a soak in the tub.

Customer Focus Extremis

2013-04-16T19:02:00.000-05:00

Image Source: achievement.org

The just-published shareholder letter from Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, is an object lesson in being purpose-inspired. For context, he attaches, as he does every year, his first shareholders’ letter from 1997 in which he writes “we believe that a fundamental measure of our success will be the shareholder value we create over the long term...we will focus relentlessly on our customers; [we will] obsess over customers; our focus is on offering our customers compelling value.”

Fast forward to 2013 and Bezos quotes an outside observer: “Amazon, as far as I can tell, is a charitable organization being run by elements of the investment community for the benefit of consumers.” Bezos counters that “long-term thinking squares the circle. Proactively delighting customers earns trust, which earns more business from those customers, even in new business arenas. Take a long-term view, and the interests of customers and shareholders align. The success of Amazon these past 16 years would come as no surprise to anyone who subscribes to the idea that you take the best care of the customer and everything else falls into place.”

In a parallel universe, I became CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi 16 years ago in 1997, and that year we wrote a purpose statement that is as implacable as the Amazon ethos: “To be revered as a hot house for world-changing creative ideas that transform our clients’ businesses, brands and reputations.” If you get the dream right, if you get the language right, you can sail through the vicissitudes of daily business and focus on the long term. Who know what’s going to happen in 100 days? But if you know where you’re headed in a thousand days or in ten thousand, you’re not going to get knocked off your game.

Health In The Arts

2013-04-15T19:46:00.003-05:00

Image Source: demotix.com

For years people have been touting the benefits of the arts on a person’s health and well-being, but now a study has the statistics to back it up. A study by Ontario-based Hill Strategies shows that those involved in cultural activities scored better on 85% of eight health-indicators. The study also showed that 60% of people who visited an art gallery reported good health compared to 47% of those who did not attend, and 64% of theater goers were more likely to have strong life satisfaction versus 56% among those not attending. It appears ‘many arts goers have better health, higher volunteer rates, and stronger satisfaction with life.’

I recently wrote about the power of art; and love to steal into a gallery in between appointments on my travels. Now I know arts and culture have got body and spirit covered, not just the mind.

To Do List 2.0

2013-04-11T19:41:00.000-05:00

Image Source: experiencelife.com

We’ve probably all experienced the ‘Zeigarnik effect’, the persisting nagging feeling you get when you leave a task half-finished to move onto a new task. It was assumed that the only way to overcome this feeling was to return to the task and complete your goal. However, a study showed that simply by writing a specific plan about how to fulfil the goal later the nagging feeling can be eliminated.

Productivity guru David Allen’s Get Things Done manual provides some helpful tips on how to achieve this successfully. He recommends taking your simple to do list and rewriting it to create specific actions; so ‘write blog post’ becomes ‘research and write blog post on the merits of the to-do list’. This helps change an item into something you have to do, into something you have to physically do. You don’t need a fancy app or software for this either, just a pen and paper. All this helps you get the things you have to get done, so you can do the things you want to do.

Winning to me is about action, leaping from getting thing done to making things happen.