The case for unbridled, uncontained, unassailable, joyful passion, in life and in business

Even though it ended after 10:30 PM, I needed a nap after watching the NCAA Men’s basketball semifinals over the weekend.  I was that stressed out and exhausted. 

As a University of Michigan Alum (and the father of a freshman daughter there), I experienced every pass, shot, rebound, and foul with a high level of anxiety, feeling it in every bone in my body.  And I know I wasn’t alone.  At the Georgia Dome and in front of TV’s across the nation, Syracuse and Michigan fans (short for fanatics, remember), were going through the same emotions.  Living and dying with every trip up the court.

The joy I felt when they won was pure and lasting.  The kind of happiness that stays with you and coats you in a veneer of pleasant invincibility that can turn pedantic tasks like taking out the garbage into lovely moments of a-little-extra-exercise.

It’s a powerful thing, passion.  Never underestimate it’s sway, in life and in business.  The numbers prove it out.  An example:

To get up for the game, I re-watched the fine 30 for 30 ESPN documentary on the Fab Five (see a piece of it here), the story of the 1992 and 1993 Michigan basketball teams that featured five extremely talented and highly-hyped freshmen who came to Ann Arbor to play together.  Their unprecedented story and unexpected success led to a huge following and massive fame for the young fivesome.

Among the amazing facts revealed, one spoke to the earning power of sports licensing: In the year prior to the Fab Five’s arrival in Ann Arbor, the sales of U of M licensed products created $2 million in revenue.  In the two years  after their explosive freshman year, the sales of U of M licensing products created over $10 million in revenue.

The country was completely captivated by the Fab Five, and by Michigan basketball.  A fan base that was already crazy in love with everything U of M became even more passionate.  They showed their love in many ways: through the rings of the cash register, by filling every stadium the Wolverines played in, painting maize and blue on their bodies, getting tattoos… embracing the U of M brand, in any way possible.

Everybody should have at least one thing to fall unapologetically in love with.  Something they’re committed to and will stand by no matter what. Something for which they feel unbridled passion that knows no bounds. 

It’s something that marketers should remind themselves of every day.  Because a couple of things happen when you inject passion into the mix.

For consumers (aka real humans), you have a relationship between a person and a brand that’s impossible to break.

And for marketers, you begin to change the equation for how you do your job.

Business is hard.  Technological change and global volatility have created a breakneck tempo, thinner margins, higher stakes, and cultures of fear.  The potential for pain is high and consistent.

But what would happen if we inserted more joy into the mix?  If we found a way to methodically work towards answers to even the toughest challenges, but did it in a way that would allow us to celebrate the journey…to recognize victories along the way?

And most important, feel passionate about what we’re doing.  Embrace our clients, not just work on their behalf.  Advocate, not just sell. 

When was the last time you painted the colors of your favorite brand onto your face?  Where on your body is the tattoo of your favorite brand?

Do you have to go that far?  Maybe not.

But you can pretend it’s there.  I worked on a brand for over 15 years that I felt passionate about every day.  My partners on that Gatorade team felt the same way as we helped it reach new heights every quarter, expanding it with double digit growth and creating marketing materials that won awards and resulted in new and powerful loyalties to the brand. 

I didn’t have a Gatorade tattoo.  But sometimes it felt like I did.

So maybe, as you head to work and envision the challenges at hand, you can picture your brand as your favorite team, tying the game with an improbable long-range three pointer and winning in overtime.  Or imagine your brand’s logo tattooed somewhere on your body or the colors painted on your face.  

So that even within the toughest challenges, you’re armed with the knowledge that you can come out of it stronger and happier than before.

The power of passion.  The Joy of Solving.  In life and in marketing.

Give it a shot.

Turning a hot dog stand into an entertainment complex

The basketball stadium at the University of Michigan was called Crisler Arena for 44 years, from the time it was built until last year.  That’s when they added more goodies for fans and players, like a $23.2 million player development center, a jumbotron, and hopefully, much better food.

Now they call it the Crisler Center.

Much more befitting for a modern-day arena.  Better suited to attract bluer-chip athletic talent.  And charge a few more bucks to get in.

Innovation can be much more than a new product or package on the shelf; in fact, it can simply be how you package your brand.  The University of Michigan knows this.

So does Anthony.

As you can see from the photo above, Anthony sells hot dogs.  But he also sells something that gives his hot dogs, and his brand, far more value.

It’s called community.  Offered up at the Anthony Hot Dog Center.  Which, of course, is a hot dog cart packaged a little differently. 

The community that Anthony has created comes from an insight:  Given the choice, people would prefer to eat with someone else instead of eating alone.

There’s nothing more powerful than a powerful insight, and Anthony had a doozy.  Revenue aside, it’s what enabled him to create a business that looks more like a Crisler Center than a Crisler Stadium.

The photo was taken on a Caribbean island, where many little kiosks and botegas vie for attention.  Anthony’s was always full.

I wonder why?

The virtues of going both ways

Manti Te’o and Charles Woodson have nothing in common.

Actually, they both had spectacular college football careers, for two of the most storied football programs (and finest universities) in the world.  So there’s that.

But Charles Woodson won a Heisman Trophy.

And Manti Te’o hasn’t.

Yet.

And I say, give it to him.

The catch is, he only plays on defense. 

It might help his case if he could run back a kick or two or line up as a receiver and catch a couple of passes for touchdowns.

Offensive players get all the glory in football because they score all the points.  When it comes time to vote for the Heisman, the most glorified award in college football, it’s extremely rare that a defensive player wins.

Well, OK, it pretty much never happens.  Charles Woodson (University of Michigan, 1997) did it, but he’s all alone.  Out of 76 Heisman winners, he was the only primarily defensive player to ever win the award. 

But he wasn’t only a defensive player.  He also ran back punts and played receiver, and scored key touchdowns from those positions.

They call it playing on both sides of the ball.

It’s extremely infrequent in today’s era of sports specialization.  It does happen at some smaller schools and in high school, where the most skilled athletes are sometimes asked to play on both sides of the ball.

Putting aside fear of injury for a second, why wouldn’t you have more people going both ways?  Theoretically, wouldn’t you want your best athletes out there all the time?  Don’t you think they could access different aspects of their physical abilities to make plays all over the field, in all different situations?

I use the same theory when it comes to using creative thinking to solve challenges.  Regardless of the type of challenge—be it strategic or executional—wouldn’t you want to put your best people on it, and put both sides of their brains on it?

You do have two sides, you know.  You may not access one as much as the other, but they’re both there ready and raring to go.

Don’t let people convince you that you’re good at only one way of thinking. You may have been told you’re more inclined to be an organizational, controlling, logical left brainer.  Or an imaginative, artistic, emotional right brainer.

I say you’re both.

Or you could be.

When it comes to working through a challenge, think all around it.  Expand your mind.  Go places you didn’t think possible or worthy.  Read inspiring (and easy) books like A Technique for Producing Ideas.  Or intellectually provocative white papers on big data.  Go to an art museum.  Read the New York Times.  Or Cosmo.  Or People. 

Play Halo.  Play the Piano.  Play Sudoku.  Go somewhere else, physically or mentally.

Be like Charles Woodson.  Make your brain go both ways.  See what glory comes to  you. 

And Manti Te’o, you’d have my vote right now if I had one.  But it sure would be easier if you could catch one little pass for a touchdown…

Why college is worth all the money

Surreal /səˈrēəl/ 

Adjective:  having the disorienting, hallucinatory quality of a dream

Taking your daughter to college orientation is bittersweet.

Taking her to orientation at the same college you attended is surreal.

Walking the grounds of my alma mater over thirty years later, everything is similar but nothing is the same.  I know I’ve walked every inch of every path but I can’t remember what it felt like back then. 

Things change.  Yesterday’s piercings are today’s tattoos, and the quaint soda shop is now a Bruegger’s Bagels.  If things didn’t change, it would be wonderfully satisfying for the alums and terribly sad for the students.

What hasn’t changed:  A community of professionals who dedicate themselves to making sure young people transition from childhood to adulthood in a way that makes them better and smarter, more interesting, more interested, and more well-rounded individuals.

College is the single best cranial training ground in the world and the world would be a better and more productive place if every one of us could go back every decade or so. 

It would be like renewing your vows as an enlightened human.

One of my favorite orientation speakers laid out the skills that the college student of 2012 will come away with:

Problem solving

Decision making

Critical thinking

Not to mention, becoming an informed citizen and lifelong learner, gaining breadth and depth of knowledge, and forming invaluable connections.

Is it any different than 10, 50, 90 years ago?

Conceptually, no.

Financially?   Yes.  Ridiculously so.  

But as insane as the costs are, I believe it’s worth it. 

Now that’s surreal.