GREATEST HITS MAY 2013

TWELVE FROM THE LAST 12

MONTHS

WHAT IS IT?

• A library of 200 books• A blog• A series of printed books• A pair of apps• One-page summaries• One-sentence summaries• Training programmes and

speeches• A fertile source of new

ideas

THE BIG THEMES

TO SELL IS HUMANDan Pink

Selling is no longer solely the domain of

salespeople, because we are all trying to move

each other in some way or another.

TO SELL IS HUMANDan Pink

We are all in sales now - trying to ‘move’ the other’s point of view

We spend 40% of our time ‘Non-sales selling’. The forces behind it are:

Entrepreneurship Elasticity (flexible skills) Ed-Med (the two fastest-growing industries)

The rules now are: Attunement: being in harmony with people Buoyancy: a resilient outlook Clarity: making sense of murky problems and

solving them

BAD PHARMABen Goldacre

Drug companies mislead doctors and harm

patients, so a complete overhaul of the industry is

needed.

BAD PHARMABen Goldacre

Informed decisions can only be made with good evidence, but trials are biased, results distorted, and data buried.

Missing data is vital because it adds to understanding, so it is a scandal that so much is withheld.

To generate a ‘positive’ result in a trial, a drug only has to be better than a worthless placebo.

Systematic reviews find every trial on a topic and score them neutrally to give a truly accurate view.

Randomised trials should be used when it is unclear which treatment is better, but they are almost never conducted.

ANTIFRAGILE Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Antifragile things get stronger when subjected

to stress and tension, whereas fragile things break and robust ones simply stay the same.

ANTIFRAGILE Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Procrustean bed: retrofitting causes Fragilistas: cause fragility by thinking they

understand Barbell strategy: safe and speculative

extremes Ludic fallacy: mistake experiments with real

world Turkeys and inverse turkeys Green lumber fallacy: unnecessary knowledge Extremistan: impact of a single observation Iatrogenics: harm done by the healer Agency problem: manager is not true owner Black swan errors: what you know now may

not be all there is

BUSINESS STRATEGY

BUSINESS IS BEAUTIFULDanet et al.

Businesses can be thoroughly distinctive and commercially successful if

they pursue principles rather than just money.

BUSINESS IS BEAUTIFULDanet et al.

Business doesn’t have to be cold and unforgiving.

Businesses are made up of people who come together to achieve more than individuals can on their own.

The five hallmarks of beautiful businesses are:

1. Integrity: a clear sense of purpose2. Curiosity: they don’t stand still3. Elegance: they are pleasurably simple4. Craft: apply consideration to every last detail5. Prosperity: all this leads to a strong sense of value creation

There are 20 sub-facets and case histories to illustrate this thesis.

TELL THE TRUTHUnerman & Salem Baskin

In an age of information overload, the most

effective way for a brand to stand out is to tell the

truth.

TELL THE TRUTH Unerman & Salem Baskin

Content: Acknowledge reality Deliver real change to services and company

structure Take consumers on the brand truth journey Enlist third-party advocates

Context: Be close Find a Truth Turning Point Use point-of-action media Leverage routine

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

CONTAGIOUSJonah Berger

Your product or idea is more likely to catch on if

you give it social currency, make it useful and emotional, and wrap

it in an engaging narrative.

CONTAGIOUSJonah Berger

You can increase the chances of your idea catching on by following six steps:

Social currency: we share things that make us look goodTriggers: top of mind leads to tip of tongueEmotion: when we care, we sharePublic: if it’s built to show, it’s built to growPractical value: it has to be news you can useStories: things built into narratives are more engaging

CONSUMER.OLOGYPhilip Graves

Your research findings could well be misleading

you, so it pays to examine every aspect of the

techniques used to gather it before relying on it.

CONSUMER.OLOGYPhilip Graves

Artificially deconstructing the consumer experience is misleading.

Most research questions should be avoided because they:

1. Inadvertently tell people what to think2. Change what people think3. Lead the witness4. Can accidentally sell5. Can persuade people to like something (when

they don’t really) The way to avoid this is to look at what they

actually do, not what they say they will. Failing that, they should not know the focus of

the study, and should be quizzed as close to the purchase moment as possible.

CREATIVITY

CREATIVE MISCHIEFDave Trott

If you want to be creative, you have to be curious

and contrary.

CREATIVE MISCHIEFDave Trott

Here’s the world’s simplest binary brief:

WHO should buy it? Trialists or current users? You can’t have both. If it’s current users, explain why they should buy more.

WHY should they buy it? Product or brand? Rational or emotional?

WHAT should they buy it instead of? Brand share or market growth? All product use is good if you are brand leader.

IMAGINEJonah Lehrer

Ideas come from sheer persistence, but only

when we relax, so if you work hard enough on

something, and focus on not being focused, there

will eventually be an unconcealing.

IMAGINEJonah Lehrer

Muses, higher powers and creative ‘types’ are myths

Creativity is not a ‘gift’ that only some possess – it’s a catch-all for distinct thought processes that we can all learn to use more effectively.

It’s only after we’ve stopped searching for an answer that it arrives.

Breakthroughs follow a ‘stumped phase’. Trying to force insights can often prevent them–

ideas arrive when the mind is distracted or relaxed.

Focus on not being focused. Ideas occur best in ‘third places’ – neither the

home nor the office.

INSANELY SIMPLEKen Segall

Work as hard as you can to make everything as

simple as it can possibly be.

INSANELY SIMPLEKen Segall

Think brutal Think small: small groups get more done Think minimal: just communicate one thing Think motion: momentum is crucial to projects Think iconic: essence in a conceptual image Think phrasal: use short simple words Think casual: no big company thinking and

process Think human: be true to your feelings Think sceptic: expect negative first reactions of Think war: extreme times call for extreme

measures

MOTIVATION

MASTERYRobert Greene

Everyone has the potential to master

something if they identify their true calling, serve

their apprenticeship patiently, and put in

enough effort.

MASTERYRobert Greene

Mastery of a subject or skill is achieved through three stages:

Apprenticeship: deep observation, skills acquisition, experimentation

Creative active: moving from passive to active, advancing through trial and error

Mastery, which includes a mentor dynamic with a back-and-forth exchange of ideas and experience

After 20,000 hours of practice, an instinctive ‘Fingertip Feel’ level is reached.

THE ICARUS DECEPTIONSeth Godin

It’s better to be sorry than safe, so ditch the old

rules. Move out of your comfort zone, and start

treating your work as art.

THE ICARUS DECEPTIONSeth Godin

Icarus was also told not to fly too low, and most of us aim too low in life.

The economy now rewards art over conservatism.

The assets that matter now are trust, remarkability, permission, leadership, stories that spread, and humanity.

Reverse Descartes: You are. So think. Learn something new with no apparent

benefit, then ‘ship’ it to get a reaction. Learn and carry on.

It’s better to be sorry than safe.

HOW TO USE

• Be inquisitive• Make the time• Understand the lines of

argument• Take a view• Inform your work• Enjoy the debate• Ask Kevin to speak or train

KEVIN DUNCAN

More detail at:www.greatesthitsblog.com

Ask Kevin to speak or train:07979 808770

kevinduncan@expertadvice.co.uk

Twitter: @kevinduncan