I discovered this video the other morning because a friend read it on a blog, then shared it (thank you @MillerCan). As someone who spends a fair amount of time focused on helping clients develop marketing strategies, this particularly resonated. It also reinforces, once again, my ongoing love affair with the Internet and the amazing content that is created, consumed and shared – on a daily basis by so many smart people.
Two Simple Questions That Can Change Your Life
Daniel Pink, author of New York Times bestseller, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, published a new book in 2010. It’s not new, but it’s new to me – and it’s called Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. This video made me buy it (note to book authors everywhere, book trailers help sell books).
Thinking: I Like It
The thing I liked most about trailer (other than it motivated me to buy) was that it also made me think. And I like thinking. See for yourself.
Two questions that can change your life from Daniel Pink on Vimeo.
In case you’re not a fan of video, here’s the essence of what Pink shared, in the video and the overall premise of his book – and it’s all about what motivates people. Motivates them to do, go, buy, try, be, avoid, strive.
Just One Sentence
It’s so simple – and all boils down to a couple of sentences. Pink explains that by talking about Clare Booth Luce and something she once said to President John F. Kennedy. “A great man is a sentence,” she said. She was worried that Kennedy was trying to do too many things – and that his sentence lacked simplicity and focus. And she was right. When you narrow your focus and figure out what your sentence is, it can make a dramatic difference in your life–in a myriad of ways.
And when it comes to marketing strategy for business, it’s all about that sentence. It really is that simple. The brand story for your business should boil down to just a sentence. Sometimes that’s referred to as the “elevator pitch,” sometimes it gets all fancied up and glorified as a “mission statement” and in all too many instances it’s something that many businesses fail at in no small measure.
What about you? What’s the sentence that best encapsulates your business? Is there a chance that your business is trying to do too many things for too many people?
Pink challenges: “Think about your sentence – and use it to navigate your life.” He also says that if you keep asking that question, on a regular basis, it’s an excellent strategy to help keep you on track. We think it’s a pretty smart strategy for businesses, too.
Pink believes that you need to be asking an additional question – and it’s also a simple one: “Was I better today than yesterday?”
If you ask yourself those questions, the odds are good that your personal life, your work life, your business, whether you own your own business or work for someone else, will be better. And more simplified. And more successful. These questions allow you to boil it all down and focus. The end result is that those answers can help position you to achieve whatever it is you seek – happiness, simplicity, direction, clarity, focus, success, profitability … the list goes on.
What’s Your Sentence?
So, as we’re moving into the last quarter of the year and focused on plans and strategic goals for the coming year, we challenge you to ask yourselves those two simple questions. Write down your answers. Then ask them again on a regular basis. Oh, and buy the book. You’ll probably be glad you did. I know that I’m really looking forward to reading it.
P.S. In case you’re wondering, when it comes to V3, our sentence is simple: We help our clients sell more stuff. I can’t wait to hear what your sentence is.
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”