There is a Sufi saying that goes something like this: “Because you understand 1 you think you understand 2, because 1 and 1 make 2. But what you don’t understand is that in order to really understand 2 you must understand the and.”

In her fabulous book, Leadership and the New Science, Margaret Wheatley, illustrates the ‘and.’ Under a photo of the Aurora Borealis she writes: “When the solar wind enters earth’s atmosphere, its charged particles stream to the magnetic poles. As the particles interact with nitrogen and oxygen, they become visible as colored light. These aurora demonstrate that space is not empty.”

What are the bonds between us? What is the magic ‘and’ that happens when a person and a person (or a person and a product) connect? We change each other. What most marketing fails to recognize is that both parties are changed and continue to change through the duration of the relationship. Dynamic, 21st century marketing must seek to understand the ‘and,’ and find ways to illuminate it so it may be incorporated and accounted for.

Last night, my husband and I attended the 40th Anniversary party of Appalshop here in the city. Appalshop is an Appalachian heritage, arts and education center located in my home state of Kentucky. I have been a fan of Appalshop and their creative product since I was a kid, so being with them on their trip to NYC was a delight. It inspired me to write a bit about my own Appalachian heritage. I hope you enjoy. Take a minute to check them out. I always find something supremely real when I do.

My grandparents on my mother’s side are from Appalachia. Both were born in Eastern Kentucky right before the onset of the Great Depression. But, it didn’t matter much there. Unlike other areas of the country, being poor wasn’t so much a shock to them. It was just the way life was.

My grandfather, Watson Craft, was the youngest of sixteen–from one mother. Not all of those babies lived, but most of them did. Once I asked him how she handled so many children and he told me she set aside a couple hours a day for them. She’d sit in a rocking chair on the porch and any child who felt he or she needed to be held and coddled could climb up in her lap.

In the darkest days of the Depression, he said, his mother put a giant cast iron kettle over a fire in the front yard. Continue Reading »

“When Nations grow Old,

The Arts grow Cold

And Commerce settles on every tree.” ­

–William Blake

I was thinking the other day about how I once saw marketing chops as something to be proud of. Sure, it’s good to be good at what you do and I am content to be a marketer, as I believe it is my path. But, to be proud of being capable of selling things to people…as a concept, in the abstract. Hmmmm.

My imagination had run to China, and the concern I’ve heard voiced by friends and in the media that America is a nation in decline and China’s really where it’s at (or it may turn out to be Brazil). My position is…Who cares? Maybe not being a so-called “Super Power” will turn out to be a blessing for America. Not that’s its a competition…But, I digress.

Anyway. I was thinking about how just a few years ago several smart marketers I worked with picked up and moved to places like China and India looking for opportunities to wield their marketing expertise in places where the demand for sophisticated marketing was growing with the demand for goods. The rising middle class in China deserves better ads! That was the idea. We need to be more like America, where the marketers have figured out the ins and outs of seducing a savvy audience suddenly holding the power of purchase in their hands.

At the time, I thought about my own skills: so honed, so refined. And I considered doing the same thing. Wouldn’t it be fun to teach another culture how to mine for insights and convert those insights into sales pitches?

Looking back I am struck by how naïve I was and how much my opinion on the matter has changed.

America’s position as the most sophisticated marketing environment in the world might be exciting from the inside of the marketing industry, but it is a large, LARGE, part of what’s wrong with this culture and what’s starting to be wrong with those cultures striving to achieve the same.

We’re surrounded by advertising on all 6 sides: up, down, side, side, front, back. We absorb it without trying.

What to do about it? Continue Reading »

It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants.
The question is, what are we busy about?
–Thoreau

Take a look at the busy-ness in your business. If it’s a waste of time, stop doing it. NOW. We have precious little energy in this life and it is wasted justifying the existence of so much that matters so little. Do yourself and those around you a favor: take a look at something that is making you excessively busy and find a way to eliminate half the work.

I’m doing that now. This post is done.

A week ago I went to Washington, DC to host a consumer workshop for a smart phone maker. To clear my mind before the event, I decided to take a walk through the city. Having lived in DC for a few years in the 90s, I mentally plotted my route to take me past a statue of Ghandi I remembered near Dupont Circle.

I wasn’t exactly sure of the location, but I set out in the general direction hoping my subconscious memory would be strong enough to guide me there. The closer I got to the approximate location, the stronger my desire to see him. My walk had turned into a pilgrimage.

Without a single wrong turn, I found my way to the statue and spent a few minutes studying it. The statue is just slightly larger than life, which seems appropriate. His familiar bronze frame is close enough to life-size to be relatable and just over-size enough to feel grand. It had the impact I’d come looking for–I was moved.

Just as I was about to leave the statue I noticed an inscription at its base. In simple letters without dates, explanation, or attribution (not necessary), it said, “My life is my message.” Indeed.