Here’s a “Director’s Cut” for a post of mine born on Feb. 16, 2011 at nonboxpdx. Viva la verbosity! -ME

Want to know what your company has in common with cultural powerhouses with iconic products  like Nike, Apple, Virgin Atlantic, Legos and Porsche?

As it turns out, not much.

That was my key takeaway from the latest book trumpeting design and deep customer analysis as the way to the promiseland of sustained revenue and consistently unleashing products that people crave.

Thankfully, former Business Week Seattle bureau chief Jay Greene uses Design is How it Works, as a platform for showing the uninspired that creating a product or a company that taps into the Id of people is as simple as embracing failure and financial losses, changing organizational processes to bring Design Thinking into every discipline in a company from the C-suite through R&D and on down through the ranks,  and doing deep ethnographic and psychographic research on probable users of your product before embarking on your next build.

Sound a bit daunting?

It is. which is why IDEO’s Tim Brown notes in the book, that when people tell him of their aspirations to be like Nike or Apple, he counters “You don’t have the nerve.” That is the greatest part of Greene’s book for me. The corporate moguls and design luminaries he interviews call a spade a spade. You can’t be Nike. You aren’t Steve Jobs or Jonathan Ive. You haven’t got the discipline, the reputation or, frankly, the balls.

The headline of this post is inspired by every client or boss who has uttered phrases like “We want to be known as the Apple of the (insert industry segment here).” Or…”Our products are best-of-breed innovations and we need to create the same experience and culture Nike does to drive demand and loyalty to their products”

Never mind that the industry segment is sewage treatment technology or the product is road salt. Make it pop, sucka! How many of you design professionals can relate to John Barratt, president and CEO of Teague in Seattle:

“I can’t tell you how many how many product briefs we get saying we want a product that’s as good or better than the iPhone,” he says. “That’s a five-alarm brief for me..those folks just don’t get it. An iPhone is not a product. It’s a manifestation of a culture.”

It’s that kind of no-bullshit take on the power of design to transform a company and an economy that makes Greene’s book so endearing, refreshing, and such a swift read.
For those of you who still think you’ve got what it takes to check your egos at the door, throw caution to the wind in the face of financial pressure, and actually find out what your customers want instead of what you can give them, here’s something you should know. Good design isn’t what you think it is.

• It’s not an emotive image with pithy text and a dope beat from a band named Mooseknuckle.
• It’s not a box made of hemp fiber in the shape of condor’s nest that was — be honest – an afterthought to hold your clever “Must-have” eco product.
• It’s not even the promise of a new piece of software that reports it will solve world hunger with a user interface you’re sure is so easy even a chimp can use it.

It’s how a product works in the hands of your customers. It may be easy to use or pleasing to look at, but if it doesn’t solve a pain it’s a waste of time and money. “If there’s no pet peeve, there’s no product,” says Alex Lee, president of OXO.

Thus, the title of the book absconds with the Steve Jobs quote: “It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

Whether that’s the tried-(or trite?)and-true of form following function, an evolution of tired phrases like “out of the box thinking”or new fangled concepts like Design Thinking permeating all disciplines to foster organizational creativity — the bottom line is you need to know your customers better than they know themselves. The only way to do that is to get your hands dirty and actually engage with them where they will put your product to use. The book gives some great examples of how and where to do that in the profiles on OXO, REI, Nike and Lego.

So, for me, the book is a call to get your head out of the freaking clouds or at least out of your own building.  It’s time to stop aspiring and start perspiring. There’s plenty of work to be done learning about what your customers need to cure their pet peeves. Build those products and they will come.

And, instead of leaving you with a cheesy movie line platitude, here’s a more actionable treat from Jay  Greene himself when I swapped a note asking for him to clarify design thinking and discuss ways all companies can infuse their operations with the principles of design thinking:

“Like industrial designers, design thinkers use creativity and empathy to help them craft something that has an emotional connection with customers. They prototype concepts and collaborate with colleagues to test theories and come up with novel approaches to new products. The difference is that design thinkers apply those concepts to businesses, such as software-as-a-service, that people don’t typically think of as being design-focused. They use anthropology, sociology and psychology to study customers in order to understand their unstated and unmet needs. They prototype strategies and experiences much the same way that companies model early versions of physical products. So if you’re looking for strategies for companies to implement to create iconic products, design thinking would be a great place to start.”

Here, here!

OK…seriously…6 months since my last blog post?@?@?@? I’m surprised this thing even works anymore. Cause-based marketing keeps you hopping…that’s for sure.

But to be honest..the previous Grampa post just took a lot outta me. I looked at it every time I tried to write and didn’t have anything else nearly as relevant or heartfelt to really add after that.

That is until someone mentioned the book “The Secret.” I’d be lying if I said I read it, but I’ve gotten enough book reports from key advisers to get the central premise. You attract how you act. If you are a force for change and get white-hot pissed when people don’t follow, you attract a like-minded crew of malcontents and beehive bashers. So “The Secret” for me was to retire “Pessimism” and Evolve.

Evolved Thinking isn’t so much a measure of my evolution from troglodyte to upright warrior  to compassionate cogitator to Bubbly Brad Garrett as it is celebrating others for smelling the roses through the hot mess of sewer sludge all around us.

One thing I’ve tried to do during my busiest of moments is at least stay plugged in through Twitter, Google Buzz, Facebook and other key blogs to remain current.

Speaking of which, good God, can someone help a brother out on incorporating my Twitter feed into this blog through a sidebar! I’ve uploaded and downloaded Twitter plugins to the point of Supreme Twitdom and can’t for the life of me figure out how to make my Tweets  flow into my blog. HELP!

I hope the next 9 months of 2010 brings a little clarity and priority to my life and yours.

One point of clarity, priority and purpose so far has been my work on a new social media monitoring and content creation start-up EVolution Communications Group and two non-profits — Wish Upon A Wedding Portland and  Special Olympics Oregon. It’s been a whirlwind tour, but I remain fascinated by people who make  organizations move, raise money, cultivate legions of loyal consumers and  catalyze indefatigable volunteers or unsung (unpaid) helpers.

Whether it’s ensuing that a deserving couple gets their dying wish,  a uniquely able athlete gets the chance to compete and apply lessons to everyday life, or a corporation looking to build equity in doing the right thing and then using a content monitoring and creation practice to support it — I’m all in. Suffice it to say…I’ve found something that inspires me to get up in the morning, work harder than I ever have before, and still want to come back for more.

Where ever you are in life,  rest assured getting involved in something bigger than yourself and the day-to-day grind will sustain you and turn you from pessimist to at least a reluctant optimist.

Until then…here’s a person and a few organizations that through their big hearts, big brains or both that have blown me away.

1. Chris Brogan — An early supporter of my work at Special Olympics Oregon, Chris continues to impress me personally by wearing his heart on his sleeve. This recent post on not fitting in a box of someone else’s creation, but building one of your own reinvigorated me at just the right time.
2. Wish Upon a Wedding – Fulfilling someone’s dying wish to be together — or potentially empowering a miraculous recovery through the healing touch of love is a cause that tugs at the heartstrings. See it in action.
3. Clothes Off Our Backs — This great nonprofit gets celebrities to literally give the shirts (and pants, and dresses, et al) off their backs for a rotating list of charities each year. Purely awesome concept.
4. Mercy Corps — Anybody notice how this Portland, Oregon-based nonprofit raised bucketloads of money for relief in Haiti and hit the ground  in-country ready to help?  If you didn’t it’s because they’re not self-promoters. They’re doers. What an amazing group. Help them in anyway you can.

I’m watching, learning and will abscond with every great thing you are doing–giving you full credit, of course.

To an optimistic 2010 from here on out — from a newly invigorated,  rapidly evolving thinker and retired Cockeyed Pessimist.

Mark

The Marlboro Man Prequel (mouse up to the top of the page after clickthrough for the full obituary)

Jack Norman Evertz (March 8, 1927 – July 27, 2009)

The words “They just don’t make ‘em like that anymore” come to mind when I think about my gramps. Part redneck, part roughneck and all man in an increasingly domesticated man’s world, Grampa Jack was quick with opinions and head-shaking dismay despite his lack of a high school diploma to back him up. Common sense ruled — in the shop, around the card table, on the porch and anywhere else he chose to plant his Size 12 Tony Lama boots. A simple wisdom left permanent marks, like these gems:

Grampa Jack on Stress:
“I just never could understand why you and your dad always worried to high hell about everything. More than half the time, it never turns out that way and the rest of the time it’s not nearly as bad as you think. And if it is ever that bad you’re too damn worn out from worrying to do anything about it.”

Grampa Jack on Women:
“Nothing’s harder on a man than an angry woman.”

Grampa Jack on Manhood:
“The world doesn’t owe you anything and it will knock you on your ass every chance it gets. Your job is to keep gettin’ up.” His favorite movie was Cool Hand Luke if that tells you anything.

He laughed at the pussification of the American male and would routinely harken back to his Golden Era of the’50s and ’60s where smokin’, drinkin’ and raisin’ hell were a man’s God-given right –  and anybody who said otherwise could go straight to hell.

Some of that tenacity and toughness no doubt makes you strong on the battlefield or in the bar room, but I had the hardest time convincing Grampa Jack that his Advanced Coursework in Manhood for his only grandson was losing the battle in the boardroom. “There’s ego, politics, turf wars, and hurt feelings that come into play. You have to be nice,” I told him.

“What the hell does nice have to do with business?” he asked. “And, did you say hurt feelings?”

Never did give him any good  answers on why brains had rapidly replaced balls for dominance in the American West, except to throw another cliche at him that got him to come around half way. “You get more bees with honey, Grampa.”

Well, with him cashing in his chips at the end of July to spend the rest of eternity with my Gramma Grace (a tough cookie in her own right), here are 5 things Grampa Jack taught me that make me a better man and a better marketer.

1. If you don’t mean it, don’t say it.

2. Shut up. You just might learn something. (Still working on this one)

3. If you make a mistake, own up to it. Then work like hell to fix it.

4. If you believe in what you’re doing, don’t back down.

5. A man is only as good as his word.

T-5. Outwork your co-workers. Outsmart your enemies.

R.I.P. Gramps. You were a helluva lot smarter than you gave yourself credit for.

I’m on a desperate search for  people and information that contributes to a greater good. You are out there. Bring me something uplifting and real to share that isn’t a Twitter tip, a video of your cat, or a marketing trick to get me to buy something that we both know I don’t need.

Knock me on my ass with value. Get me to say, wow, this makes me smarter and empowers me to help others. Introduce me to people, causes and stories of gut-level inspiration.

Until then…I remain a reluctant pessimist, mystified by shitty behavior that lives at the DNA-level in some, is well-coached in others or so masked in self-absorption that it goes unrecognized. I’m confident that fear, ignorance and weakness of mind and spirit are at the root of this.

Let’s turn the tide together with ways to quell the concern, smarten up the masses and feed the soul with something that sustains. Here’s a little something to start the ball rolling.

Bob Dylan
Shelter From the Storm

Cheers, Ev. T.C.P.