The Mental Game
So much of what determines success is the mental game. Having the confidence and self-encouragement to get the job done, under whatever circumstances present themselves. It’s the same in business, sports, relationships….it’s all the same set of mental tools. I recently heard of a woman who picked up tennis as a 3.0/3.5-level player and won the state championship two years later, through primarily focusing on mental exercises and, to a lesser extent, on-court practice. Last week, I played a league tennis match against a focused opponent of lesser skill. In both sets, I was leading early (2-0 in the first, 4-1 in the second), but he managed to claw his way back in. I ultimately lost in a tie-breaker (6-3, 5-7, 10-7) and played decently, but couldn’t help but think it was the mental game that dictated my outcome (or lack thereof). I immediately thought of this Nike Golf commercial, with Early Woods’ narration. Tiger has incredible raw physical skill, but so do each of the other top 100 PGA golfers. What really separates Tiger from the pack is his mental game. Mike Donald lost the 1990 US Open to Hale Irwin on the 19th hole of a playoff when Irwin sank a miraculous 70-foot putt. Donald virtually disappeared from professional golf soon after, while Irwin became the dominant senior tour player. The mental game has as much, if not more, to do with winning and losing a match, a negotiation, a sale as the raw physical circumstances.
$2 bill taped to Bear Stearns HQ entrance
Just plain wrong….
SXSW - Recap from Austin
Woah! Seven days in Austin for South by Southwest were all I could handle (in fact, more than I could handle as I escaped for one night to Dallas). I signed up for SXSW without knowing much about it, but with the general impression that it was a fun event and unique in the professional world. Both these assumptions proved spot on. By the second day, I was referring to SXSW as Burning Man for Business. In fact, there is significant overlap in attendance and I found myself discussing Burning Man several times over the week. The format of SXSW is very similar to Burning Man, with sessions and panels organized throughout the four days of the conference (and many people skipping the sessions altogether). While some of the sessions were entertaining and educational, the real meat of the conference happened outside the convention center at the parties, in the bars and throughout downtown Austin. In the evenings, tech stalwarts like Google, Apple, Adobe and a few upstarts in a Super Bowl ad-like move, throw parties at local bars where booze flows freely (as in gratis) into the wee hours. This scenario creates an extremely social ethos, not to mention makes for late nights and late mornings, all making SXSW a giant party for the industry. If you weren’t there, this might sound like a giant boondoggle, but interestingly, I found that more valuable networking and business actually happened that at your average conference. In an industry that is relatively young, where founders and execs in their early 40s represent the high end of the range, we’d all rather do business in fun, social environments than staid office-like conference halls. This proved out over the course of the week as I networked and connected with many dozen industry professionals from around the country. I also found these relationships more authentic and more likely to lead to friendship since the formality and forced interaction are lifted. I did manage to attend a few valuable sessions, my favorite of which was given by Jason Fried on Lessons Learned at 37 Signals. His message was overwhelmingly simple and the lessons he conveyed were mostly common sense. Sean Ammirati has a nice review of the session on ReadWriteWeb. Another session that scored high marks was The Worst Website Ever delivered by Merlin Mann which you can watch here on Viddler. Overall, SXSW was nothing short of awesome, and I’ll definitely be back in future years.
NPR is impressive….and cool
It’s always fun and enlightening to meet with companies that really have there sh*t together and are on the ball, particularly when they’re not necessarily the companies you expect. Such is the case with NPR, who I met with yesterday here in DC. As a non-profit with a strong core mission of
"creating a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures"
they put many for-profit media companies to shame with their innovation and fresh approach to media. I was totally impressed by NPR’s innovative approach to media distribution - they are the uncontested leader in the podcast medium with 11M downloads per month and are way ahead of the game in mobile content distribution relative to others. Why are they able to get so much right as a non-profit, when others who allegedly have more incentive to innovate and produce profits, are slower to the plate? Maybe it has to do with a commitment to their core mission. I bet that a strong mission to which all employees subscribe is a more powerful form of motivation than any financial incentive, particularly when financial incentives are clustered at the top. Sergey and Larry have been quoted saying that their Google Foundation will pursue for-profit initiatives, which they believe are more efficient at innovating and producing desired results. I think that, for the most part, such is the belief in Silicon Valley, where missions are really masks for the real incentives, green. I’m not saying entrepreneurs aren’t passionate about building great products too (I fall into this camp at the moment because I’m certainly not working to save the world), but the prime motivation is different than when you’re building a great product to make a real difference in the world. They should check out NPR as an example of a non-profit model that outperforms its peers and achieves its goals - and I expect rewards its employees fairly well.
Doritos plugging into world of user generated content
Doritos plopped themselves in the center of user generated mania recently with a campaign to name the next flavor of chips. There were several different flavors in circulation, but the one I picked up, code-named X-13D, had a char-broiled meaty flavor. The process of ID-ing the specific source consumed approximately 15-20 minutes and most of the bag of chips. In the end, my friends and I agreed it was the Whopper, in all its flame-broiled glory. For someone who is, for the most part, a vegetarian, this realization was mixed with some confusion and despair. Having read Fast Food Nation though, I remained confident that the flavor was manufactured from 100% inorganic chemicals. The truth be told, we wouldn’t have finished as much of the bag were it not for the challenge of ID-ing the flavor. I commend Doritos for this campaign though. They’ve designed a rich website, with lots of interactivity. In addition to selecting and naming the new flavor, they are empowering users to create the audio track for the video ad. As a product line, Doritos hasn’t done much since the revolutionary Cool Ranch flavor appeared in 1992. I take that back…Baked Doritos was a good idea, but they borrowed that one from Lays, and it didn’t seem to catch anyway. It seems Whopper didn’t make it to the final bracket of the Dorito challenge. The two finalists are wild white nacho and smokey cheddar BBQ. While I love BBQ, I’m pulling for wild white nacho in this match-up.
Following up on Westin….White Tea and Heavenly Cribs
After writing the article on the Heavenly Shower, I connected with a friend who works on the Westin brand for Starwood. He read my article and shared the following perspective:
you have no idea the life the "brand culture" has taken
on.we have our own scent (white tea) - memory being the strongest of
recalls and emotional ties, every time you set foot in a Westin they are pumping
the scent through the building.the color, font size, lack of caps - all meant to evoke the brand
"feel"… the point being to make an emotional connection.Westin Workout rooms powered by Reebok, working out in the privacy
of your own room equipped with a treadmill and pilates DVD.The Westin Unwind hour…an evening ritual that changes for each
Westin location.The Westin Breathe initiative… every Westin is smoke free, rooms
and public spaces.The Westin Heavenly dog bed… because even your pooch needs a
heavenly experienceThe Westin Crib… same as above but for your
child!It’s endless…all Starwood brands have taken this initiative to
have their own brand speak, look, feel, smell all to create that "other place"
that Starbucks has so successfully created. A home away from home unique to
each brand and each brand touching a demographic.
Westin’s heavenly shower is…heavenly
I stayed at a Westin in Savannah two weeks ago and fell in love with the Heavenly Shower that I found in my bathroom. Its the first time I had seen their double shower-head and thought it was a brilliant idea. From a business perspective, it’s a simple inexpensive thing to add, but one that probably pays off many times by making the customer feel good. Westin has extended their "Heavenly" branded products, which began with the plush Heavenly Bed a few years ago, to all sorts of luxury branded items that make staying in Westins a somewhat unique experience and give Starwood a great opportunity to sell products for home consumption. If a customer purchases a feather bed or shower head for their home, that surely increases the probability of them staying in a Westin on their next trip. I think this is one of the most innovative and well-executed brand extensions in recent memory. And I’ve seen several imitators - Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton and others - following suit. Other Starwood brands like The W are also taking pointers, selling W-branded products. To the Westin marketing team: Well Done!!
I’m a product manager….who is experiencing serious jetlag
So a few hours after landing back in NYC from Australia on Sunday, I was asked to shift focus somewhat from business development to product management, with a primary focus on development and integration of WikiAnswers. I’m excited. I’ve been indirectly invested in product development over the past few months anyway and for the moment, it’s where I feel I can add the most value.
I’m not one to normally experience much jetlag, but I’ve been dragging all week. The 16-hour time difference between NYC and East Australia is kicking my butt. I’m hoping I’ll get back to normal over the weekend. Someone told me jetlag gets much worse after 30. Damn, I’m getting old.
Consumer electronic packaging….time to rethink it
Why are most gadgets and electronics still packaged in armored plastic that requires scissors, pliers and hacksaws to open? Every time I pick up a new toy (it’s somewhat frequently), I encounter the same frustrating predicament, negotiating the item out of its plastic home. Typically, it goes something like this: I begin by attempting a dissection of the top and bottom plastic pieces by pealing apart the edge where they are connected. When this fails (and it always fails) I grab a sturdy pair of scissors and cut a strategic slice through the hard plastic that will hopefully give me access to the item. Now comes the fun part. Once the cut is made, I usually try to pull apart the top and bottom enough to reach my hand in and grab the item. A fair amount of time, one of two frustrating things happens. Either (a) there’s not enough room to squeeze the item out and I end up breaking off some small but critical piece or (b) I cut my hand or finger on the sharp plastic edge left over from the incision and subsequent tear. I know everyone out there has experienced the same damn thing time and again. With all the cool technology we’re developing today, I gotta believe that clear plastic packaging that is easy to open can’t be that hard.
Steve Jobs unveils iPhone at MacWorld today
Steve Jobs and Apple unveiled the iPhone today at their MacWorld conference in San Francisco. I find it funny that Apple chooses to schedule MacWorld at the exact same time as CES (the largest consumer electronics conference) in Vegas, as if to say, "we don’t fit in with you other commoners….we deserve our own show." For better or worse, they’re right. Engadget covered Jobs’ keynote speech in almost real-time complete with play-by-play commentary and color. I’m still inspired by Jobs’ ability to design the most cutting-edge projects and effectively market them in a fun and exciting way. The pomp and circumstance with which he presents something new is phenomenal. Eric Schmidt and Jerry Yang on stage with him for the presentation? If you don’t believe in Apple, surely you believe in Google or Yahoo. There are few leaders as gifted as Steve Jobs and as long as he is at the helm of Apple, expect great things.