Paul Isakson

Things Left Unshared

Last weekend I went through a bunch of my notes over the past year and dropped a few of the thoughts that were there into these slides. These were all things that I meant to write a post about but never got around to writing.

The purpose for doing this was two-fold. First, now that I'm wanting to get back to writing more often, I'm hoping that this will give me some fodder and inspiration. Secondly, I'm playing with developing a more consistent slide look/feel for things on here and this is what I'm liking the most of what I've tried so far.

If anything in here piques your curiosity or spurs a thought you want to chat about, drop me a note in the comments. Same goes for any thoughts on slide look/feel.

Also, four or five of the notes/thoughts in here were spurred by Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation, by Steven Johnson. I read it last winter shortly after it came out. It's a pretty good read to understand the types of environments that spur new thinking. Another one is a take on a fun quote by Linus Pauling.

IDEO's Business Model Visualization Tool, Explained by Tom Hulme

Just a quick one this morning... Neil kindly shared this video of Tom Hulme explaining IDEO's Business Visualization Model and I wanted to pass it on as it's a good explanation of the same tool Colin walked us through as part of his presentation at Planning-ness. If you weren't in Colin's session or at Planning-ness, it's a nice bit of content to add context to his slides.

Passion: A Modern Brand's Most Important Ingredient

A few weeks ago, I finished reading Onward by Howard Schultz. Rodale was kind enough to send me a copy for review and I'm glad they did. I highly recommend picking it up as a case study for insight into what it takes to build and then re-energize a modern brand.

In the book, Schultz openly shares several lessons about leadership, management and marketing in general that I believe are critical to building a successful brand in today's complex business environment. He also shares the stories behind some of their more recent innovations, which was fun to hear.

There are far too many things in the book that stand out to get it all down in one post. So, I'll just share a couple for now.

One of the things that I keep going back to being a key part of what makes Starbucks great is their mission statement (pictured above). This is a fantastic example of a purpose-based mission that aims to be about something bigger than profit.

A modern brand has to have something like this at its core if it is going to connect with people on a human level. That is true both inside and outside the company. If your only aim is money, it leaves everyone feeling pretty hollow eventually.

The biggest thing that struck me the most throughout the entire book though was Howard's clear and abundant passion for the brand. It is because of his passion that Starbucks is what it is. It's because of his passion that he's back at Starbucks. And it's because of his passion and his firm beliefs about what the company stands for that he's able to inspire others within the organization to deliver great experiences.

As I've continued to think about this, I believe this is truly what's behind any great brand and definitely what's behind great marketing and advertising. When you work with people who are passionate about the brand they work on or the work that they're doing, it's infectious and inspiring. Collaborating with them is fun and it usually ends up being work you're proud to be a part of.

Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. Nothing sucks the life out of you like working with people who are only in their job to get the paycheck. No matter how hard you try, it's often impossible to get them to try anything different or new because there's no reward in it for them. There is only risk.

Anyway, there may be more to come from this, but overall, I enjoyed the book and do recommend it if you're at all interested in what I've shared above.