Gabor George Burt

In company of visionary friends: Kris Carr (Part 2)

This series brings to you the most thought-provoking excerpts from my chat sessions with visionary personalities, as recorded for the Slingshot Living radio show. The conversations reveal valuable wisdom, playful anecdotes and useful advice on how to continuously overstep perceived boundaries for success in your business and your personal life.

This segment features another excerpt from my inspirational chat with Kris Carr, New York Times best-selling author and wellness warrior. 

Gabor: In my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life, I talk about the exhilaration and the necessity of re-imagining whatever it is we do—and I think that duality is so important. Firstly to harness that creativity is both exciting and fun, but it’s also become necessary because we live in such an uncertain, unpredictable time that we can’t just continue to attack problems and situations the same way as we did in the past. So I’m curious what particular boundaries do you like to re-imagine for yourself, or challenge others to re-imagine.

Kris: That’s really wonderful. I know that in the beginning, for me I had to re-imagine health and cancer and create a world where I fit in. For the most part people get a diagnosis and they go down the traditional medicine route. But I did not have that opportunity because there was cure and no treatment—no chemo, no radiation, no surgery, no nothing—and when it was diagnosed it was Stage IV. So I had to re-imagine a world where I fit in. Re-imagine wellness to include someone like me and realize that health is not the absence of disease—it’s the presence of vitality. Once I got hold of that everything changed and then I was no longer crippled or disabled or stuck in the fear or mindset that would keep me from taking action and making a green juice.

I invite you to listen to the entire inspiring chat with Kris here.

When consumers take extreme measures

As a sequel to previous posts detailing what can happen when consumers change the utility of an offering for themselves, I promised one more, outragous example. Well, here it is.

The story is about Larry Walters, a California truck driver. One day in 1982, Larry had a free afternoon, and he decided to create some excitement for himself. He rigged forty-five weather balloons to his lawn chair, packed a lunch, grabbed a BB gun, planted himself in the chair, and ceremoniously released the supporting ropes. He estimated that he would rise about thirty feet (10 meters) and gently levitate over his garden for a couple of hours. Instead, he quickly ascended to the incredible height of sixteen thousand feet (approximately 5,000 meters). 

After a while he got cold and scared, shot some of the balloons in order to descend, drifted over the Los Angeles airport (interfering with air traffic), and crashed into power lines as he came down (knocking out power to some parts of the city). In this case, I think Larry acted not out of desperation but perhaps boredom or curiosity. He clearly was not satisfied with the more banal and conventional use of a lawn chair, and he took it upon himself to transform it into a cockpit.  What extreme uses might your consumers dream up for your offerings?  And what insights would they generate about your relationship with your consumers?

More on this very theme awaits you at the Slingshot website and in my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

Turning customers into fans

How do you get a naked burglar out of an air conditioning vent? A bit more generally, how do you capture the hearts and attention of consumers? This later question is central to the concept of consumer infatuation, which I discuss in Slingshot. Several companies quickly come to mind that have spawned devoted fans, such as Harley-Davidson, Apple or Virgin. But how about a company that sells an industrial product? Could it also unleash a passionate affiliation by consumers? Here is one such example. 

You may not know that a can of WD-40 is found in 83% of American households. Even more impressively, WD-40 has an ardent following. The company of the same name stokes the love for its multi-use product by inviting customers to share stories of their most unique product applications. It celebrated Y2K by running a campaign to collect 2,000 uses for WD-40 during which it received 300,000 submissions, including preventing snow from sticking to a snow shovel, removing gum from hair and even firemen using it to dislodge a naked burglar trapped in an air conditioning vent! 

The company has a 100,000+ member strong fan club whose members continue to share their diverse experiences and tips. Here you can take a peek at the official list of 2,000 uses for WD-40. Surely there’s one that will infatuate you.  

[Image courtesy of WD-40.]

 

When consumers take matters into their own hands

Following up on my post from last week, here is just one humorous example of what can happen when consumers take extreme measures and change the utility of an offering for themselves. 

In 1994, seventy-three-year-old Alvin Straight drove his ’66 John Deere lawnmower 250 miles (400 km) from Lauren, Iowa, to Mount Zion, Wisconsin, to see his ailing brother. He made this choice because his eyesight was too poor to qualify for a driver’s license, and he was too proud to hitchhike. Going along at five miles per hour (8 km/h), he met numerous interesting people along the way. His journey was a national sensation and the subject of a major 1999 movie by David Lynch, entitled Straight Story.

To be sure, through his radical act, Alvin Straight was not expressing his satisfaction with John Deere mowers per se, but rather his frustration with the general lack of transportation options for his particular predicament. In desperation, he created an entire new utility for the mower.

Such unexpected bursts of consumer ingenuity may unveil completely new strategic horizons for companies. Should John Deere consider getting into the business of personal transport? Does Alvin represent a previously overlooked, sizable consumer group? Is a transition to this kind of business application possible or feasible? Asking such questions is what stimulates exploration beyond existing market boundaries, allowing companies to drive markets and achieve continuous relevance. 

Can you think of similarly unusual applications of products? Stay tuned, as I have a gem of one for you in an upcoming post! In the meantime more on this very theme awaits you at the Slingshot website and in my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

[Original illustration © 2012 Slingshot.] 

When the honeymoon ends

What happens when consumers start to express dissatisfaction and their comments go unanswered? There are a couple of possibilities. 

One, if they have the opportunity, consumers will eventually turn away from the offering altogether. For example, in the case of the in-flight entertainment system, more and more passengers are bringing their own mobile music, game, and movie players onboard, thereby opting out of using the built-in systems altogether. But even if consumers don’t fully turn away or are not yet in a position to do so, they become more and more reluctant users—so they voice their displeasure more and more and their affinity for the offering less and less, continuously turning from fans into disgruntled critics. Which is what may happen with me unless iTunes finds a way to address what I perceive to be its weaknesses, or if a new carry-on bag catches my eye that is just as cool as my Samsonite but much more user friendly.

The other possibility, which is much more rare, intriguing and unpredictable, is that consumers will take matters into their own hands and change the utility of an offering for themselves. Next week, I’ll share some related examples. In the meantime, more on this very theme awaits you at the Slingshot website and in my book, Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life.

In company of visionary friends: Kevin Roberts

This series brings to you the most thought-provoking excerpts from my chat sessions with visionary personalities, as recorded for the Slingshot Living radio show. The conversations reveal valuable wisdom, playful anecdotes and useful advice on how to continuously overstep perceived boundaries for success in your business and your personal life.  

This segment features an excerpt from my chat with with Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide at Saatchi & Saatchi.

Gabor: In Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life I put forth the notion of infatuation—that emotional connections are fleeting or temporary and they need to be stoked or rekindled. This presents a great opportunity for ongoing refinement and development of your product or offering—and that’s what I see successful companies doing. So I am curious of your thoughts on infatuation.

Kevin: Until I read Slingshot, I hadn’t really come across the idea of infatuation anywhere—except in some work that we’ve done—so I was very heartened to see you talking about it. One of the things that Saatchi & Saatchi believes in—we have six core beliefs—and one of them is in PIEs and PICs. PIEs are Permanently Infatuated Employees and PICs are Permanently Infatuated Clients. So it’s part of our belief set. And we believe that to create Lovermarks the people that work for you have to believe that your company is a Lovemark—and that you can never take love for granted—you have to permanently, continuously infatuate, excite, stimulate and inspire. Because command and control is dead. It’s all now about inspiration. And infatuation is that amazing heady mixture of happiness and joy that you feel and you’ve got to just keep giving people reasons to fall in like and love with you every day. 

You can listen to my entire chat with Kevin here.

 

Pinching pennies vs. winning hearts

Although the airline industry is brimming with opportunities to infatuate and enrich the lives of travelers, for the most part it has left this tantalizing opportunity unexplored. Let’s take a peek at recent happenings at American Airlines to see the fallacy of focusing solely on slashing costs instead. 

Via the Bloomberg BusinessWeek Management Blog:

The idea that American is going to cut its way to profitability is ridiculous. A survey by the International Air Transport Assn. (the industry’s trade group) shows that people are trying to avoid flying because the experience is so poor and many of the airlines’ best customers have gone, when they can, to flying privately. The problem with American Airlines, as with the U.S. industry—and in fact many businesses—is not that its costs are too high but that its revenues are too low. Making the flying experience worse by fighting with the people who deliver that service doesn’t seem like a sensible prescription for success.

[Image via A.G. Photographe.]

Re-Imagining boundaries for the Greater Good

When the stakes are especially high—as in the case of worldwide sustainable economic growth and stability—then continuously re-imagining boundaries is a must. And that was the focus of the Global Impact Economic Forum in Washington DC on April 27-28.  I  had the opportunity to attend this first ever, invitation-only event which was hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and brought together global leaders in developmental capital, sustainability, social entrepreneurship and innovation. Trailblazers such as Sir Richard Branson, General Wesley Clark and Jigar Shah were participants. The goal of the event was to create alignment on how best to affect positive change around the world at the intersection of government, philanthropy, and business. This of course speaks right to the heart of Slingshot: Re-imagining boundaries, combining existing, but traditionally separate components in a way that they create exceptional value. 

Check out the interesting remarks from the event by Hillary Clinton at the US State Department’s Global Economic Forum’s website. 

[Image via Huffington Post.]

 

In company of visionary friends: Kris Carr

This series brings to you the most thought-provoking excerpts from my chat sessions with visionary personalities, as recorded for the Slingshot Living radio show. The conversations reveal valuable wisdom, playful anecdotes and useful advice on how to continuously overstep perceived boundaries for success in your business and your personal life. This segment features an excerpt from my chat with with Kris Carr, New York Times best-selling author and wellness warrior.

Gabor: A major theme of your inspirational journey is this idea of championing empowerment over illness. How can you transfer this insight and self confidence to others who have not gone through such a transformative experience?

Kris: That’s a really great question! I think each and every one of us has a goal, has a dream, has a vision. Even if you don’t know what the vision is, it’s there. The best way to find it or reinforce it is to get quiet and to get still and do the fearless inventory and get clear about what you want in life. And I think with that clarity comes purpose. For some people it may be helping folks to stay well, be well, feel well—that’s certainly my life’s purpose. But it doesn’t have to be big and grandiose. It could be that my life’s purpose is to have joy, spring in my step, peace in my heart and to make nice meals for my family. We all have something that we would like to go deeper into and I think it’s impossible to suck the juice out of this life if you feel disempowered. For me part of that journey first and foremost was to heal that piece and go forward.

You can listen to my entire chat with Kris here. 

We can’t get no satisfaction

Dovetailing on my previous post, while there is no such thing as a perfectly and continuously satisfied consumer, there is such a thing as an infatuated consumer. As with personal relationships, infatuation occurs when consumers first come into contact with a product or a service that deeply resonates with them. Consequently, they become temporarily blinded by any shortcomings or possible defects and are in a trance of positive affiliation. Think of the first time you came into contact with a product or service that became one of your all-time favorite purchases. Remember how elated you felt and how that sense of complete elation gradually wore off with time?

Let me give you an illustration. A few years ago, airlines introduced individualized in-seat entertainment systems in economy-class cabins on intercontinental flights. Each passenger was presented with his own television screen in the seatback in front of him, along with a hand-held remote that allowed him to choose from dozens of movies, television shows, games, or musical selections. This was huge. It gave passengers control of how they would spend their time in the air. It instantaneously lifted the tedium of extended flying. Not surprisingly, the entertainment system caused a wave of excitement among passengers, who fully embraced its capabilities. But this elation did not last indefinitely. After a while, critical chatter then outright complaints started to creep into the cabin about the system, and then these complaints became more and more frequent. Why can’t the system be activated more quickly? Why can’t the movie and musical selections be changed more frequently? Why aren’t the screens brighter and easier to see?

Think about the progression here. In the beginning, passengers welcomed the innovation of an individualized entertainment system with childlike gratitude and giddiness. But as its novelty began to wear off, they started to notice and voice its apparent shortcomings and how it could be made even better. They were no longer satisfied just with having their own systems; they demanded it be perfected further.

[Image from Slingshot: Re-Imagine Your Business, Re-Imagine Your Life]