Archive for March, 2010
What Happened to Gum?
Mar 26th
Not too long ago, I remember paying $.25 for a 5-stick pack of Wrigley’s Doublemint.
Gum manufacturer’s eventually raised their prices to $.30 per pack, which I was totally cool with (rising price of sugar, printing, distribution, inflation, etc.).
But $3.49? Really?
The cheapest pack you can find in the check-out lane at most grocery stores is $1.19, which by my calculations should get you about four packs of the good ol’ fashioned stuff. Today you’re lucky if you get ten “half sticks” in a pack for that price.
So What Happened?
Advertising agencies have become extremely good at targeting their buyers and building hypnotic brands around even the most mundane commodities (gum).
- Flashy packaging.
- “Exciting” new flavors.
- Commercials of super-models whirling down frosty glaciers amidst exploding volcanic islands and plunging into icy cold pools.
They are all created to make you want need this gum, and they work.
The logo, the name of the brand, the name of the flavor (“Dragonfruit Freeze,” “Cobalt,” or “Inferno”), and the packaging are all carefully coordinated to make us feel a certain way. To make us feel like we’re not just buying gum, but that we’re buying an experience, a lifestyle, a statement about who we are.
But in the end, it’s still just gum. It still has the same basic ingredients and lasts the same amount of time when you chew it.
Gum Isn’t The Problem
The issue goes far beyond that. We’ve seen it happen with flat-screen LCD/plasma/LED TVs. We’ve seen it happen with shoes and bags and computers and cars and cell phones.
Have we, as consumers, become completely incapable of drawing boundaries? There comes a point when we have to ask ourselves, “Is this product really worth what I’m about to pay, or am I falling for the same old song and dance again?”
What was the last thing you purchased that you really wanted, but didn’t really need? What made you make the purchase?
Vision and Teams
Mar 5th
The reason entrepreneurs are often referred to as “dreamers” and “visionaries” is because of their ability to see the end product in their minds before it actually happens. These are the people that make things happen; the ones that find a problem, envision ways to create solutions, and create teams of talented people to do the work.
Our primary purpose as entrepreneurs is to transfer resources out of an area of low yield and place them into an area of higher yield.
“Visionless” Tasks
As the leaders of companies and organizations, it is our job to engage and enable ALL of our team members to do their best work ALL the time. That sounds like a tall order (because it is), but it’s the way organizations succeed.
When you shift away from this model, you end up paying people to do something they don’t know how to do, or worse – something they aren’t passionate about. In other words, you waste your money, and their time and energy.
The best leaders are the ones that can not only envision where they want to go and how to get there, but can explain it to their teams so well that EVERYONE can see exactly what they need to do to on an individual basis.
Employees that can’t see the big picture only focus on the small tasks that are assigned to them. No higher-level thought goes into their work. They aren’t actively engaged in looking for a new, better, or faster way to reach the goal. They just do what they’re told and move onto next item on the checklist.
Yesterday, I wrote about the value of self-starters to an organization, but without a clear vision from the leader self-starters are useless. Without a clear vision to work from, self-starters may actually push an organization in a completely different direction.
If you own a business or lead a team:
- Do you have a vision of where you want your organization to be tomorrow/next month/next year?
- Do your team members know what that vision is?
If you’re working for a “visionary”:
- Do you know what the vision of the organization is?
- Do you know what you need to do to get there?