All Marketers...

Lying in court

Duncan from the UK writes:


I am from Brighton in the UK and read your blog on a regular basis. Last night I saw the concluding episode of the Michael Peterson ‘Death on the Staircase’ trial in the US (Durham). This morning I read your ‘Liar’s Blog’ and it got me thinking. It seems to me that the prosecution told stories that matched the worldview of the jury. The defence however seemed to focus on the facts. Who won? The story tellers! Even the prosecutions own witnesses told stories. The defence pretty much refuted everything the prosecution came up with. It’s not just marketers and politicians who are liars. I understand that stories are acceptable for marketing ?? we all expect that. But should it work in court too? Why can’t a judge assess whether a lawyer is ‘marketing’ to the jury? It seems that the media are driving lawyers toward a marketing approach to justice. To focus purely on facts is to risk losing the case. All a lawyer has to do is understand the prevailing worldview of the jury (even select a jury with the appropriate worldview) and then tell the right story. Frightening!

July 3, 2005

The Mediocre Emergency

Let’s say you work at eBay.

Your site goes down. How many people will drop what they are doing and figure out how to get it back up and running?

Everyone from PR to server guys will be on the case.

Or let’s say you work at Aetna. A fire rips through a warehouse and destroys a million policy records.

How many people, from the CEO to the actuaries will get on the stick and make something happen?

Now, imagine you work at GM. I know, it’s hard, but imagine.

For years, you’ve been designing, making and marketing stuff in a mediocre way. No one dropped what they were doing to fix the problem. It’s not an emergency.

Of course, it is an emergency. It’s a bigger emergency than the things you can buy insurance against, because it’s endemic, hard to measure and ultimately fatal.

Have a nice long weekend if it’s a long weekend where you live. And when you get back to work, figure out where the mediocre emergency lies and stamp it out. Even better, start today. After all, it’s an emergency.

July 1, 2005