The science of success

"An effective vision begins and end with value creation. Which is the only reason any business should exist." - Charles G. Koch.

"The science of success", is one of the best books I have read in a while.

I had high expectations from "Doing what matters" by James Kilts but unfortunately my expectations may have been way too high?

Examples and Inspiration from unusual sources

I had a recent conversation where I recounted episodes and incidences that drive my ideas and philosophies. One in particular I was fascinated even as I shared was a course I took years during my engineering days, and I mean YEARS ago. It was a computer aided engineering graphics class that introduced me to B-Spline and Bézier curves. It is sometimes funny how things stick and others falls off, even some of the most important and sometimes some of the most mundane things!

The concept I was trying to communicate during my conversation involved planning. Planning for the long and the short term. I was not having much luck putting my ideas across using real life examples from my very own career in a manner that my audience was able to understand so I resorted to the examples from the world I left behind. The world of numerical analysis and engineering, the world of B-Spline and Bézier curves. A B-Spline curve is a combination of individual splines that enforce localized control to ensure the direction and trajectory. Bézier curves on the other hand are vectors with global control on the direction and trajectory.

Its like saying I want to be the CEO of a company by 2020, would be akin to charting out the direction and growth trajectory based off a Bézier curve. On the flip side having a goal to head about a business unit by 2010, then a region by 2015 and a company by 2020 would be the similar to planning the direction and trajectory of a B-Spline curve.

The interesting element is the idea of the next move? The search for the next move needs to align with ones current position, while still enabling progress to the short and long term goal. Similar to the nearest neighbor algorithm. I am a strong believer in the fact that people are made up of the ideas they have and each has to find her or her inspiration. I just look back into my past for my philosophies.

I will be writing about a gauge I used in engineering to measure surface roughness soon for another example or strange sources of my inspiration.

Brand 2.0: Every Brand Is A Beta

It is often difficult for us marketers to realize that the task is never done! It is merely phases that are completed. Each of us initiates a phase and hands it off to our successors to complete the next phase. With proper strategy, skills and support the brand continues to grow and move in the intended direction but there is certainly no guarantee of that either. The Mediapost article this morning - Brand 2.0: Every Brand Is A Beta is an interesting acknowledgment of the concept. Although the focus of the article is the impact of interactive marketing on brands the idea is clear.

The top line from the article is:

• It is a chaotic world! DON'T TRY to control it, adapt with it.
• Think beyond silos, change is about blurring lines and thinking across multiple levels, disciplines and touch points.
• Conversations cannot be one way, that is broadcast. Brands are about a dialog that needs to be managed carefully.

The ideas in the article are not new and or different but like most things the cases presented just help reinforce the concepts. We all need to hear the same idea at least 15 times before we internalize them, so here we go again.