Michael Jordan, Gene Kranz, and harnessing the power of optimism to create success

Last year at Chicago Ideas Week, I hosted a panel titled “Is this economy killing creativity or inspiring it?”  Five panelists discussed the challenges of staying fiercely creative in a less-than-encouraging economic climate.  They all agreed on one thing:

When life gives you lemons, creative people make limoncello.

It’s important to know that these weren’t all super-creative, off-the-charts right brainers.  Along with the owner of an amazing home and garden store (Sprout Home), a clothes designer, and an online entrpreneur, we also had the President of a superhot Chicago ad agency (commonground) and a senior marketing manager for a large packaged goods brand.

I was inspired by their optimism and conviction to take on the challenge of overcoming obstacles, regardless of the climate.  It reminded me of one of my favorite Michael Jordan quotes:

“If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.”

I flashed back to that panel when I read an article in yesterday’s Sunday Chicago Tribune about young adults who have graduated college and instead of facing the promise of a great future as in previous generations, are facing enormous obstacles. 

It spoke of “…a historic recalibration among expectations of every generation of Americans” and  continued, “As Europeans are being gripped by dream-crushing austerity, hopes are also being downsized here in ways not seen since the Great Depression…”

Wow.

Wowzer wow wow.  A historic recalibration?  Dream-crushing austerity?

How would that make you feel if you were sending a child to college in the Fall?  Knowing you’re about to spend thousands and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare her for…shredded dreams and crushing austerity?

Well, that would be me, and since I’ve written a post about why I believe college is still worth every penny, I can think of no better person than Apollo 13’s Mission Control Director Gene Kranz to answer the question.  One of the most memorable moments in film.

I think Mr. Kranz would agree with our panelists, and with Michael Jordan, and with anyone in this country and in this world who would argue that there’s always a creative answer for any situation, challenge, or hardship. It starts with enthusiasm and belief.  And above all, a fervent, almost blindless optimism.

And when you get around that wall, a nice cold of limoncello will be waiting on the other side.

18 month olds are deciding your digital future.

The other day, a friend of mine and her son were leaving their house but the son wouldn’t walk out the door because he had misplaced his phone.  Like you and me, he couldn’t imagine going anywhere without his iphone.

He’s four years old.

It wasn’t a working iphone; it was a deactivated phone that his mom wasn’t using anymore.   You know, the old kind that couldn't tell you how to get to Buffalo Wild Wings; you had to type it in manually.  But it worked just fine for pretend conversations. 

And his ipad works just fine too.  A real one.

That four-year-old is part of the generation-to-be-named-later that’s come after the digital natives.  He and his iphone-holding, ipad-swiping, Nook and Kindle-reading buddies, who the New York Times suggests calling touchsceen natives. Call them what you want, but call them powerful; at ages from six months to three or four years, they’re deciding their generation’s digital future.  Here’s how.

You can tsk-tsk and shake your head at the use of digital products by babies who can’t yet walk or talk, but you can’t stop their continued exploration and use of digital products.  Just try to learn from them and maybe even join them.    

And when the next uber-cool digital product comes out, you can join the latest tech adopters, and do what they do:  drool all over it.

You don't need a business plan. You need a mental plan.

Left brained people, you might want to take some Advil or Pepto-Bismol before reading the next sentence.

 “I like doing things without having complete reasoning behind it,” he says, sounding unlike just about any other businessman on the planet. “The reasoning comes later.”

Do you know who said it?  You’re right if you think it’s one of them internet entrepreneurs.  Which one?  Here’s a hint:  The community that surrounds his brand creates the ideas for every one of their products and decides on which ones get produced.  More on that in a bit.

There’s a lot that’s interesting about that statement. 

“I like doing things without having complete reasoning behind it,” he says.  Maybe not complete, but my guess is, he’s got plenty of reasoning behind it.  Being a right brainer, he’s done a lot of the pre-thinking thinking without even knowing it, collecting thoughts and ideas as he walks down the street, rides his bike, watches videos and movies, and lives his life.  He may not admit to having a complete and total plan but it’s all up there.  

“…sounding unlike just about any other businessman on the planet.”  Hmmm.  Have you been to 1871, the incredibly cool tech incubator on the 12^th floor of the Merchandise Mart?  Have you heard of that Zuckerberg guy and/or seen the Social Network?  

For every businessperson on our planet with a business plan laid out, there’s another one with a loosely formulated collection of thoughts rolling around in her head that paint a picture what the future of her business may look like. The startup folks at 1871 start with a great idea and a healthy combination of belief and passion and are constantly searching out new information.  But they’re also figuring it out as they go.


To quote my business bible, Re-Work: "Planning is Guessing."

“The reasoning comes later.” Or maybe it never comes at all. Maybe your faith in your idea leads you down an ever-changing path that you hold onto for dear life because you know there’s something phenomenal on the other side, and along the way, great things are sure to happen.. 

That’s what’s happened so far to Jake Nickell, the founder and owner of Threadless, the T-shirt company with over 2 million members, 400,000 designs submitted, and over $5 million awarded to artists who’ve designed shirts for Threadless (One of the designs is pictured above).

Oh, Jake’s made a few bucks on Threadless too.

Without having complete reasoning behind it.

So left and right brainers, collect your thoughts, roll them around in your head, and the plan will form, whether it’s completely thought through or not.  

Square pegs + round holes = Brilliant Ideas

I saw Moonrise Kingdom over the weekend.  LOVED IT. It’s a story about two intelligent, inventive, incorrigible young teenagers who fall in love, get torn apart, and ultimately wind up happy and together, told as only the wonderfully quirky Wes Anderson can tell it.

It’s a story about round pegs in square holes.  Which probably describes most creative thinkers. 

Watching Moonrise Kingdom reminded me of one of the greatest TV commercials of all time.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Of course, it was for a company owned and created by one of the most distinctive, visionary square pegs ever (See a cool version of the commercial narrated by Steve Jobs, not Richard Dreyfus).

Hopefully, you see a little of yourself in one of those dreamers.  All it takes is just a little bit of crazy to do something great and wind up happy, just like in a Wes Anderson movie.

Go see Moonrise Kingdom.  Get inspired to be the square peg.

2 reasons why the Panera Cares Cafes is great for our community and 1 reason why it’s transcendent

When I first wrote about the Panera Care's Cafe, it was a surprising new venture.  

Now it's getting less surprising and more the norm.  Which is a wonderful development.

The best thing about Panera opening Illinois’ first Panera Cares Café (and the fourth nationwide) in our community isn’t that many down-on-their-luck people in Chicago will be able to eat a good solid meal every day, and possibly have just a bit more energy or inspiration to make one more phone call and get that interview that could lead to something good.

That’s pretty great, but it’s not the best thing,

It’s not the wonderful and amazing fact that Panera is leaning on the community to do what it’s successfully done in Clayton MO, Portland OR, and Dearborn, MI:  strike a balance of providers and acceptors in shared responsibility that Panera founder Ron Shaich calls “not a hand out, but a hand up.” 

But that’s not the best thing either.

The best thing about the Panera Cares cafes is that they’re turning a profit. 

Which means that other QSR’s might look at them and say, “Hmmm.  Maybe we should be doing that too.”

Now that would be the best thing that could come out of the success of the Panera Cares Cafes.  Stop by the new one at 616 W. Diversey, come join this important community, and see if you can personally help them strike the right balance.

How a community can make you smile broadly, get tingly, maybe even shed a tear

I moderated a panel at techweek on Friday.  We had some great insights from our panelists and terrific audience Q&A.   Some great stories about the power of people to connect with each other and become massive and powerful forces for good and commerce. 

Then I heard something on the radio yesterday morning that put a massive exclamation point on it.

Bob Edwards interviewed Eric Whitacre, a musician, composer and conducter, who has written music for, and virtually led—that is, online—a choir of over 2000 people.

If you love music, watch and listen.  It’s one of those tears-of-happiness things.

The story of how the virtual choir gained momentum is wonderful inspiration for anyone with an idea waiting to explode.  The endeavor is impressive and the music is beautiful. 

But what’s most impactful is hearing how the community that formed itself through Mr. Whitacre’s virtual choir has come together.  Not just to sing together, but to support each other.  They’ve formed a community that communicates virtually; they even experienced the first death last year of one of the community members.

In Whitacre’s words, it’s their shared intent that ties them together and “takes them to a transcendent place.  It’s not just a virtual choir anymore, it’s a virtual choir army.”

It proves the simple  and lovely fact that humans will go to any lengths necessary to connect and communicate with each other and once they do, the communities they form are incredibly powerful. 

How they form isn’t hugely different from how great ideas often come to life:  a combination of pluck, luck, skill, and timing.  And shared intent.

The guiding force of a strong community is a common passion, and humans with a strong shared intent can’t be held back. 

What Ronnie woo-woo can teach us about branding

At the Cubs game the other night, there was a  vendor who used mystical powers to get people to pay five bucks for a bag of peanuts. 

I know this because in a sea of “Beer Here!” and “Hot Dogs!” cutting through the calm night’s air, this vendor barely said a word.  When she did, you could see her lips form the words “peanuts,” but almost no sound came out.

She was no younger than 70 and no taller than five feet; her ID tag read “Ho Pun.”  Her face was weathered as if she’d spent 50 summers at Wrigley Field but I’d never seen her before.

She would walk halfway down the aisle and hold up a bag of peanuts and stare at someone until the person bought a bag of peanuts in hopes of basking in her otherworldly glow, or looked away in fear of being given an underworldly curse.

I don’t think she sold a ton of peanuts, but there was a weird aura about her that made me think that she cared less about her final tally and more about her purpose.

Speaking of which, Ronnie Woo-woo was also there, walking the aisles, dancing, smiling, taking pictures.  But not woo-wooing.  Not a sound came from his mouth.

Has he woo-woo'ed so much that he's damaged his vocal chords?  Is he out of woo’s? 

Or did he find some meditative place that told him not to speak, only to radiate.  Send out positive vibes and assume they’ll return.  It certainly didn’t affect the number of people who wanted to hug and dance and take pictures with him.

There are a couple of lessons in Ho Pun and Ronnie Woo-woo’s approaches.  One,  there are many different ways to differentiate your brand, and being loud doesn’t always have to be one of them. 

And two, sometimes worrying about the end result gets in the way more than you might think.  Think about what you’re doing and how you do it, not where it’s going to end up.   And somewhere in there, smile or dance.  Or look someone in the eye with the most direct intention you can muster.  You never know what they’ll give you.