Two things we say to kids
Overhead recently:
To a 10-year-old on his way to a baseball game, “Come home with a win.”
To a 9-year-old at the supermarket, “I don’t think you’ll like that.”
It’s pretty clear what lessons are being taught.
Rethinking categories of media
It is found or it arrives.
It is hosted many places or it has a single home.
It earns and delivers on permission, or it’s spam.
It changes over time or it’s static.
It’s the work of an individual or the production of a community.
It’s valuable because of network effects, or in spite of them.
It produces energy and momentum, or it absorbs it.
It’s scarce or it’s widely available.
It thrives on the long tail or only works if it’s a hit.
It dances with the early adopters or soothes the feelings of the late majority.
It’s truly live, or it benefits from time shifting.
It launches itself or it waits to be pressed.
It enhances productivity, or it reduces it.
It is a catalyst for cultural change, or it feeds on cultural change.
It energizes and inspires, or it trolls with snark and irony.
People share it because it benefits them, or someone has to hustle to make it spread.
It goes stale very quickly, or it becomes more relevant over time.
It’s worth talking about, or it’s not.
Generation C
We’ve been naming generations for a long time. Demographers use it to begin a conversation about the changes around us. While a birth range doesn’t guarantee an outlook, the demographics and cultural shifts that a group shares tell us a lot about how they might see the world. And the name is a shortcut to remind us that not everyone sees the world the way we do.
- Baby boomers
- Gen X
- Gen Y
- Gen Z
- Millenials
The last four are pretty unimaginative if you ask me, but I also know that a baby boomer is probably thinking of the world differently than a millennial is right now. These are inexact labels, but helpful nonetheless.
So what to call the next generation?
My co-authors Bruce Clark and Paige NeJame have coined the term “Generation C.” It’s so well-suited, I believe it’s going to stick.
C is for Covid, C is for Carbon, C is for Climate.
The combination of years of school spent at home, in a mask, combined with the significant revolution (economic, political and social) that our industrialism has led us to means that this generation will be different than the ones before. Every decision and investment and interaction is going to be filtered through the lens of carbon and remediation and resilience.
And yet, if we combine this with the c of connection, of a cohort of people who are finding solace and possibility in community, there’s a chance for all of us. It will take compassion as well. Generation C didn’t ask for any of this, but I’m hopeful that they’re up for leading the change.
Not impossible
Some folks build their work on the frontier of impossible. Breakthrough coding, an astonishing new magic trick, a concerto that takes your breath away.
It’s so remarkable that we’re tempted to believe that this is our job as well. Not every once in a while, but daily. To do what has never been done before, creating emotions that are scarce indeed.
But the scarcity of this sort of work might be the proof we need to realize that it’s not for us to create, at least not today.
Today, we get the chance to lead, to connect and to do work we’re proud of. Work we can describe before we begin, and work we’re confident is worth doing.
That might be enough.
The worst
The worst golfer in town came in last in the club tournament.
Actually, that’s not true. The worst golfer didn’t even enter.
Well, that’s not true either. The worst golfer doesn’t even play.
Convenience and boredom
The last fifty years have seen a worldwide effort to maximize one and eliminate the other.
Marketers and technologists work overtime to create convenience. We’ve gone from hunting and growing our food to pressing three buttons on a phone to get it…
And the cost of that convenience is high. We give up privacy, control and satisfaction to get it, in every corner of our lives.
At the same time, the market has figured out that we simply don’t like to be bored. And so there’s more stimulation, more options and more noise than ever before.
The problem is that boredom is a partner with satisfaction and joy. It’s hard to overstimulate ourselves into those feelings.
When the gauge is broken
When your watch stops, it’s unlikely that you believe that time is now standing still. It’s obviously the watch that’s broken, not time.
But when a metric on our culture or a complex machine is functioning poorly, it’s easy to get confused. Is this work actually unpopular, or is the bestseller list not an accurate reporter of what people care about? Is the pump actually overheating, or is the temperature probe broken?
The more complex the system, the more likely we are to believe a broken gauge, even if it’s only right twice a day.
If you’re not satisfied with what you think is happening, it might be worth recalibrating.
An opportunity for significant organizations
Our new project, The Carbon Almanac, is now inviting supporting partners to join us. We are all volunteers and we’re focused on offering institutions a chance to amplify the conversation about climate change. (Partner organizations don’t have to be large, simply committed to help).
Supportive groups like Linkedin, Kone NL, Automattic, McCann Worldgroup, Porchlight Books, Seagate, Amazon, The New York Public Library, The Optimist magazine, Cleantech Open and Change Inc. are already on board. They’re contributing in different ways, agreeing to pre-order or distribute copies of our new book this June.
Foundational partners get a link on this blog, and all partners appear on our home page and have access to our teaching materials.
If you’d like to learn more–for your brand or corporation, or for your non-profit–please check out this simple info form.
Peer to peer, group to group, ideas spread and make an impact.
Thanks.
And maybe it’s enough
To feel sufficient, to be satisfied with what we have: Chisoku in Japanese.
Of course, by some measures, there’s never enough. We can always come up with a reason why more is better, or better is better, or new is better or different is better.
Enough becomes a choice, not a measure of science.
The essence of choice is that it belongs to each of us. And if you decide you have enough, then you do.
And with that choice comes a remarkable sort of freedom. The freedom to be still, to become aware and to stop hiding from the living that’s yet to be done.
Modern marketing and hustle
Hustle uses shortcuts and effort to bend the conventions of society to get more than the hustler’s fair share of attention. Hustle burns trust for awareness. Because it’s a shortcut, hustle might deliver in the short-run, but hustle is notably non-consensual. Few people want to be hustled.
Marketing is the work of helping people get what they’ve wanted all along. Marketing is about establishing the conditions for a small group of people to eagerly spread the word and build connection. Modern marketing changes the culture by establishing what the new norms are, and does it in a way that makes things better for those it serves.
Taking attention vs. storytelling and service. Sometimes it feels like the shortcuts and depersonalization and scale are the only option, then a great marketing project comes along and we’re reminded that in fact, we can do work we’re proud of.