The art of the sound bite isn’t a modern concept—it’s as old as human communications. Previously known as one liners, le mot juste or dozens of other terms over the years it involves just a few words that encompass and transmit a specific point or idea.
Will Rogers was a master le mot juste. More than a half a Century ago, he commented on the state of politics and his words are as literally accurate today as when he said them.
“We could certainly slow the aging process down if it had to work its way through Congress.”
“I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.”
“If we ever pass out as a great nation we ought to put on our tombstone, ‘America died from a delusion that she has moral leadership.”
And one more special one to sum up the entire political arena at all levels from local to international.
“If you ever injected truth into politics you’d have no politics.”
With innovative MAP it’s the ‘M’ that asks ‘why not’ instead of ‘why’. It’s the ‘A’ that looks for ramifications such as the fun factor (see yesterday’s post) and it’s the ‘P’ that looks at who benefits and how.
Together they work to find the most creative ways to address markets and processes.
But the environmental and societal problems today means MAP needs also to ask “who is hurt and how?”
When potential harm is detected MAP needs to ask “is it worth it” and “how can we avoid or mitigate it?”
And that’s when—hopefully—the ethical parts of your MAP have their say.
I have gas pains, you have gas pains and so we rant.
Rants don’t alleviate gas pain, but they do relieve pressure.
We rant about crude prices and the mean oil producing countries that are more concerned with their own internal economy than with being nice and increasing production.
We rant about the oil companies and accuse them of manipulating prices.
‘The alkylate shortage has become the most important driver of summer gas prices, said Doug Leggate, an analyst at Citigroup Global Markets. “Supply of [alkylate] will set the price of summer gasoline – not inventory levels.”
What’s alkylate I hear (most) of you ask.
“…a little-known and expensive gasoline additive that some in the industry are calling “liquid gold.” It has become a must-have ingredient since refiners stopped using MTBE two years ago…”
Where does it come from?
“Oil companies deny they are purposely limiting production of alkylate, which like gasoline, jet fuel, and asphalt is a byproduct of the refining process. But only recently have some started studying how they can boost output… “
Of course the effort is recent, planning ahead, AKA, strategic thinking, goes against accepted business practice.
Should the oil companies have seen this coming?
Be sure to check out another other Fun Friday post at Talk Stock Trading
In our health-conscious world we’re constantly told “you are what you eat,” although judging by the constant stories in the media it hasn’t sunk in for many of us.
The sentiment applies to other things, too, as Aristotle pointed out more than 2000 years ago.
Just think, he had all those brilliant ideas without benefit computer, i-Pod, TV, etc. Not to mention mastering the art of the sound bite perfectly.
To whom do you listen to when you want to innovate? Early adaptors? Hard-core users? Core market segment?
If you do you may miss out.
Last year I wrote two posts on the error of assumptions in innovation (here and here) focusing on a diverse set of examples.
In all cases the products succeeded because they were fun (Nintendo and Shimano)—they even captured unexpected markets (Toyota’s Scion and Honda’s Element).
Fun as an innovation tool is vastly underrated.
The problem is that experts are people with excessive knowledge and/or rabid interest in the subject, so why in the world would you assume that the general public will respond as they do.
Shimano revitalized the bicycle industry by building an automatic transmission that made riding fun for people of all ages.
“The company was shocked to realize its efforts at making newer, more high-performance bikes weren’t winning over new riders. We come to find out these people not only don’t want high performance, they don’t even care about it.”
Nintendo scored big with games that are fun for the rest of us and will likely score even bigger with the new Wii Fit.
Do you sometimes get the impression that, like the garage of “olden” times, the college dorm room is where most startups start? That founders are dominantly twenty-somethings, many who skipped or quit college, who got some friends together and grabbed the brass ring?
Even more hilariously, do you believe that startups are a by-product of the Internet, as has been frequently explained over the last 15 years to me by younger, more nimble minds?
You may if you go by the media, since even old media focuses obsessively on young entrepreneurs doing wild things on the Net from their dorm rooms.
Not so.
“…a new study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and researchers at Duke and Harvard universities reveals most U.S.-born technology and engineering company founders are middle-aged, well-educated, and hold degrees from a wide assortment of universities.”
I found this information at Dobbs Code Talk where Jon Erickson’s great post highlights key points in the study (note that the focus is US-born founders of engineering and tech companies), the first two being that
twice as many U.S.-born tech entrepreneurs start ventures in their 50s as do those in their early 20s.
elite, highly ranked schools are over-represented in the ranks of these founders, and Ivy-League graduates achieve the greatest business success; however, 92 percent of U.S.-born founders graduate from other universities.
According to Vivek Wadhwa, the study’s lead researcher and a Wertheim fellow with the Harvard Law School and executive in residence at Duke University,
“While education clearly is an advantage for tech founders in the United States, experience also is a key factor.”
Click on over to read more and for a link to the actual report, you’ll find both interesting reading.
What’s all the fuss about leader as opposed to manager?
I keep wondering why there is so much discussion about “leader” vs. “manager.” The head of a company has to be a leader, because people need to follow someone or something in order to be productive and effective. Without a model to follow, people fall into chaos. That includes everyone from your children to heads of major corporations to the companies themselves.
Every person within a company also has to be a manager—from the top down. Without management of processes and outcomes, there is chaos.
So what’s the big deal?
The big deal is that we’ve been taught that you can
compartmentalize those two functions; and
you don’t have to be both to run a company.
Wrong! There have been so many books written on this subject that it is almost absurd to talk about it, but even my own research for my book, The Alpha Factor, which was focused upon how to create total dominance in the marketplace, had to recognize the importance of the leader/manager. The key is in understanding how and where to lead and what to manage. And aren’t those the key definers of leaders vs. managers?
I think that it’s the “how,” “where,” and “what” that make a total leader.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Will Rogers was a master le mot juste. More than a half a Century ago, he commented on the state of politics and his words are as literally accurate today as when he said them.
Innovation, like leadership, is grounded in 
I have gas pains, you have gas pains and so we rant.
The sentiment applies to other things, too, as Aristotle pointed out more than 2000 years ago.
Fun as an innovation tool is vastly underrated.
Do you sometimes get the impression that, like the garage of “olden” times, the college dorm room is where most startups start? That founders are dominantly twenty-somethings, many who skipped or quit college, who got some friends together and grabbed the brass ring?
For the next few months (longer I hope) Wes Ball, founder of 
