Howard Schultz - Starbucks CEO and Chairman

Customers don’t always know what they want. The decline in coffee-drinking was due to the fact that most of the coffee people bought was stale and they weren’t enjoying it. Once they tasted ours and experienced what we call “the third place”.. a gathering place between home and work where they were treated with respect.. they found we were filling a need they didn’t know they had.

– Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO

My take: There is much written on why it’s important to listen to your customers. However, in an effort to shield ourselves from any innovative responsiblity, but too often do what our customers tell us to do. Sometimes that works OK, but that’s not the point. You don’t listen to your customers so they can directly tell you what’s best for them. You listen to your customers so you get to know them, so they reveal their needs and challenges to you; needs and challenges that they probably won’t clarify for you verbatim, but that will become clear in your interactions over time all the same. Then, you get the privilege of coming up with something that really resonates with them. And it will work because you’ve taken the time to get to know them so well.

That’s how innovation and leadership work together, and that’s what your customers really want.

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Is Apple losing its stranglehold on the title of “posterchild of innovation?” Ted Mininni poses some questions and comments in response to a recent Brandweek article claiming the innovation couch doesn’t have too much room to spare.

I’m No Apple Junkie

Let me make this clear upfront: I’m not an Apple junkie. Sure, I own my share of iPhones and iPods (I’m really digging the new Nano), but I’ve never done the Mac thing. In fact, I’m actually looking forward to updating my Vaio to Windows 7 over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

With that said, I don’t think Apple has anything to worry about right now. If there’s one thing they’ve done time and time again, it’s produce a game-changer once the competition caught up with them. The iPod was a game-changer. Once other mp3 players started moving into the market, Apple told us it made more sense to do it all with our phone. Once web browsing started picking up steam, Apple told us the real power was in the Apps. You get the picture.

Innovation = Apple

What’s really impressive here is that we repetively think of this one company when we think of “innovation.” The real accolade is in thinking of where innovation would be without Apple. They are the default bar-raisers, and for that we should all be thankful.

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Reading Steve’s post titled “When seeking Investors“ at his Start Up Blog got the juices flowing the morning.

His point is that any pitch that starts with this is “the next . . . ” never pans out. Why is that?

• Because the first will always trump the next.
• Because no one is looking for a tweaked version of something, but rather something altogether new.
• Because history has never been kind to the “also rans.”

The Zune is a cool product, but it’s just Microsoft’s attempt at an iPod. The Blackberry Storm is cool, too, but it’s no iPhone.

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For Christmas, my wife got me a personalized Kansas City Chiefs coffee mug. Granted, it takes a lot more than a coffee mug to lick the wounds of any Chiefs fan, but that’s not the point here. 

Prior to that day, I really hadn’t been drinking much coffee. I get my morning pick me up from energy drinks like Spark, so I only drank coffee on occassion for the taste. 

However, since getting this cool mug, my coffee consumption has gone through the roof. I realized just the other day that the mug has made me want to drink more coffee.

It amazes me, when I step back for a second, that something like a personalized mug with my favorite team on it could affect my consumption so much. But it does. 

There have to be ways you can tailor a product specifically for a customer, or at least a group. Look at what some people do just for the camo version of anything. 

What personal flair can you add to your offers? What have you seen work in the past?

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This weekend I’ll be playing acoustic guitar at a chapel service for the AdvoCare Success School. Used to, I played all the time and had plenty of gigs. But, as things often go, the last two years has seen my playing frequency reduced significantly for myriad reasons. 

As I’m preparing for this Sunday, I’m noticing just how rusty I am. When you play guitar, it’s imperative that you keep your callouses tough and your fingers nimble. While knowing the chords and music theory behind playing might be like riding a bike, actually pulling it off at a high level requires keeping up with it over time. 

I haven’t been doing that, and it’s showing in my playing. 

I realized yesterday that my main shortcoming is I haven’t been doodling enough. When my chops were up to spec, I always had the guitar out, picking it up at any spare moment, doodling licks and riffs out for no apparent reason. But my hands were on the fretboard, and it kept me in shape. 

Did you know the main riff of Guns n’ Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine was a product of Slash’s doodling? He originally thought the line was a joke. 

The concept of doodling is one that can’t be overlooked, regardless of what it is we’re doodling on. As marketers and small business owners, we too must keep up our chops. Prevent rustiness. Remain agile and nimble. 

The challenge is keeping a proper attitude toward doodling. Something about being on the job makes us think we can’t doodle. We don’t have time for that. We’ve got to stay on top of the important stuff. 

However, the fact is we are all called to be innovative, and innovative thinking is ten times more likely to be produced via doodling than it is brainstorming in the boardroom. 

Google gets it. That’s why they allow employees to spend up to 20 percent on their own pet projects. It’s that kind of engaged, pioneering innovation, or doodling, that leads to big things for the company. 

Personally, I started blogging out of personal interests. However, what I’ve learned over the past two years via blogging and all that entails has offered huge benefits for my employers and clients. I’m experienced in areas that my job descriptions never would have allowed. Only my own doodling taught me what I needed to know. 

So, how can you doodle? Here are some ideas:

1. Pick out something that you really want to learn once a month, and dive into it. Maybe it’s Photoshop, or Squidoo, or Google AdWords. The key is picking just one thing, then just going crazy with it for a month. It’s amazing what you’ll learn. 
2. As Ryan reminds us, be stoic. Spend your time doing rather than planning and thinking and analyzing. So many of us read about interesting stuff, but don’t really know how to make it happen until we get hands-on with it. 
3. Do some pro-bono work for friends and family in your spare time. Just marketing a different product or service is a great catalyst for getting you out of a rut. 
4. If you’re really passionate and interested in what you do, don’t hesitate to do it outside of the office (it actually might be a better idea if you don’t, just in case your boss doesn’t appreciate doodling as much as you). Find an hour a night to just explore and doodle. It’ll add up. 

With the marketing blur whizzing past us at breakneck speeds, it’s imperative we find ways to keep up. Keep up your chops, explore new areas and doodle. 

What are ways you keep your marketing and communication chops up to speed? 

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Ever wonder why the best ideas start on a napkin? I think I know part of the reason, and it’s over at Drew McLellan’s Marketing Minute. 

A big thanks to Drew for allowing me to “grab the mic.” Drew’s was one of the first blogs I became a fan of when I entered the blogosphere. Be sure to subscribe to his blog; you won’t regret it.

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Brett’s note: The Vault is a look back at some of the more profound posts on MarketingInProgress.com. This one was originally posted on Sept. 5, 2007. 

Progress vs. Inertia

Does a day go by at your office that you’re not reminded of the system, or process, or procedure, or protocol? Yes, they’re all important, but they also have one thing in common:

Their very nature is to create ruts and habits.

Say what you will, but ruts and habits don’t often produce new ideas. Tom says it much more eloquently in his post than I can. Especially these quotes:

 ”The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia.” – Elbert Hubbard

“My point is simply this: the main enemy of ideas is not fear of change, but love of the way things are right now. Discomfort be damned.”

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The closer you get to something, the harder it is to clearly see it. Likewise, the further you get from something, the harder it is to clearly see it.

Try it with your computer screen to make this simple point come to life. Put your face about an inch from the screen. Is it as easy to read as it is when you’re sitting back at the chair at your desk? Of course not. You lose focus, and the white light actually hurts your eyes. If you do it for too long, you’ll get a headache.

Now, get up, and walk to the opposite side of the room from the screen. Can you read it? Of course not, and the further away you get, the more the page and words mush together into a sea of gray.

When you’re really into a project, be it work, family or whatever, you’re going to get so close to it, so hands-on, that your clarity on the situation is going to be obstructed. Stay there too long and it really affects your performance.

The analogy sparks two reactions for gaining perspective when you’re knee deep into a project:

1. Take a step back. It’s rare in today’s business world for the strategically gifted to spend most of their time on producing strategies. Most of us, even at the senior level, are expected to produce the strategies AND oversee the execution. This is how you get too close to a situation, and why you must force yourself to take a step back.

   Plan for regular check-ups on your projects that answer these questions: a) What can be done to improve the execution of this project? b) Is the work I’m doing producing the results needed as defined by the original strategy? c) Is the original strategy still relevant, or has something happened that calls for a new strategy? d) If I keep doing what I’m doing, am I going to be pleased with the results?Keep these moments pretty regular and disciplined. Schedule them in Outlook. Write the questions out and fill in the answers. Most importantly, do something with your answers.

2. Get someone else to step in. Ultimately, being as close as you are to a situation will form certain biases and opinions that you can’t shake regardless of what steps you take. That’s why you need someone to step in and help clarify things with a fresh perspective. These are the consultants and counselors that have expertise in what you’re doing and can give qualified feedback in a relatively short amount of time. These are also mentors and colleagues that you can depend on to shoot straight with you. This is not always friends and family, as they might hold much needed info back because they don’t want to hurt your feelings.

   These folks are the ones at the opposite end of the room who only see gray when they look at your screen. They need you to invite them to come sit down at your desk, take a look, get a little history from you and then be left alone for a little while so they can muster up their take on things. Their fresh take on things.

   The key here is not so much what they give you, but how you receive what they give. You must be convinced that you need a fresh perspective and that it’s very possible, even probable, that you could be doing some things better.

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Does a day go by at your office that you’re not reminded of the system, or process, or procedure, or protocol? Yes, they’re all important, but they also have one thing in common:

Their very nature is to create ruts and habits.

Say what you will, but ruts and habits don’t often produce new ideas. Tom says it much more eloquently in his post than I can. Especially these quotes:

 ”The reason men oppose progress is not that they hate progress, but that they love inertia.” – Elbert Hubbard

“My point is simply this: the main enemy of ideas is not fear of change, but love of the way things are right now. Discomfort be damned.”

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