Month: January 2019

leadership dot #2411: urgency

January 21, 2019January 18, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Martin Luther King gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech over 50 years ago, and sadly, he could repeat his oration today and it would still be relevant:

…We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood; now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment…

Dr. King was only 34 years old when he delivered one of the most iconic speeches in our country’s history. I fervently hope that his legacy gives a young person today the courage necessary to become the next great orator and that all of us use our voices to champion democracy with the fierce urgency of now.

leadership dot #2410: engagement

January 20, 2019January 18, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

My new bathroom scale came with a package of temporary tattoos – and a thank you for “making the world a better place today.” The company, Greater Goods, donates a portion of my purchase to a charity to help end child trafficking and is willing to do even more if I use their tattoos to engage with their brand.

Each week, they give a prize to someone who posts their tattoo on social media. Each month, they donate $1000 to a cause nominated by a tattoo-wearer. And each year, one lucky “inked” person receives an all-expense-paid “adventure for two.” Remember, this is from wearing the temporary tattoo of a bathroom scale company.

As Greater Goods has shown, it’s no longer enough to just ask people to take a picture of themselves using your product. Engagement has become the name of the game in marketing.

leadership dot #2409: disincentivized

January 19, 2019January 18, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A large number of buyers may be incentivized to a buy a product because of the rebate but will never complete the arduous forms required to receive it. Of those who do send in the rebate, only a percentage of them will realize it is their check when it arrives in a plain, innocuous envelope in the mail. An even smaller portion of people will cash the check and claim their due.

Rebates are designed to stimulate purchases, but unlike a sale, their default rate is factored into the equation. It’s much more profitable for a store to offer 11% off everything, knowing full well that the reduction in cost won’t be realized by many buyers. The more complicated the rebate – for example, requiring people to complete a paper form, write in UPC codes and mail it –the more it is intentionally designed to discourage use.

Whether it is through a literal refund of money or a metaphorical rebate that returns value to your customer, be intentional about the kind of incentive you offer. Do you truly want to offer your clients a discount – thus reducing upfront pricing on everything or creating a package deal that automatically delivers extras – or are you just creating the illusion of a sale, hoping that they buy without any true desire to discount the price? And as a consumer, if you aren’t willing to pay full price for it, leave it behind. The system is designed for you to drop the ball somewhere in the process and pay the full rate anyway.

leadership dot #2408: 3 questions

January 18, 2019January 17, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A student in my class shared a simple three-question format that her employer uses to allow employees to give feedback to their bosses. People provide answers to these prompts:

What would you like your boss to start doing?

What would you like your boss to stop doing?

What would you like your boss to continue doing?

The format could be adapted to so many other settings: the boss to the employee, colleague to colleague, parent to child, spouse to spouse, etc. It could also have broader applications as to what task a person would like to start/stop/continue doing in their current role, what facet of vacation was resonating with the traveler or how effectively a class was being taught.

With the younger generations asking for more frequent feedback at work, this is an easy yet effective way to provide it. Don’t wait for an annual review process or require lofty forms – just answer these three questions to begin a conversation that quickly gets at the essence of desired behavior.

Thanks, Britini!

leadership dot #2407: matchmaking

January 17, 2019January 16, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

You have to look no further than dating sites to get a picture of what a niche market is. A recent article in Fast Company magazine highlighted the plethora of platforms that are targeted at small populations wishing to attract a mate. Opposites may attract, but only if the fundamentals are similar enough for a connection.

There are the big dating services like Match.com and Tinder but the real story is in the growing number of affinity brands that focus on small, targeted groups. Examples include services for those of the same race (Asian People Meet, India Match, Interracial People Meet, etc.), those of a similar age (Our Time for people over 50, Black Baby Boomers Meet, Senior People Meet, etc.), those of common political ideologies (Democratic People Meet, Republican People Meet) or those of shared religions (Love and Seek for Christians, LDS Planet for Mormons, J People Meet for Jewish people and Catholic People Meet).

In addition, other demographics can find their tribe on targeted dating sites: Divorced People Meet, Single Parents Meet, Marriage Minded People Meet, Pet People Meet, BB People Meet (for “big and beautiful” people) and Little People Meet.

Obviously, people fall into multiple categories, leaving it up to them to decide which characteristic is most important in their date and where they should initially seek.

While you may not set out to design a dating app, their model can be applied to your organization as you think about your services and messaging. Ask whether you are like Match.com that casts a wide net or whether you are more like one of these affinity brands that know their population and can target it. Consider how many meaningful ways you can split your market or audience to create pockets that have their own characteristics and needs.

Just like in dating, there is someone out there for everyone. You’ll have a better chance of matching your organization with those who love it if you don’t try to make everyone your someone.

Source: Match Point by Karen Valby in Fast Company, February 2019 p. 32-33.

leadership dot #2406: how to sled

January 16, 2019January 15, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

A colleague’s young son had to describe the process of how to do something. According to Leo, here is how to sled:

We go to the hill to sled.
Then we go home.
Then you go in sid your howse.

I think that adults follow a similar pattern too often:

I went to the conference. 2. Then I went home. 3. Then I went back to work as if nothing was learned and nothing changed as a result of the training.

I went to church. 2. Then I went home. 3. Then I went about my business and didn’t think about God or faith or religion again until next Sunday.

I went to a meeting. 2. Then I went back to my desk. 3. Then I did nothing to follow up or advance the agenda until it was time to cram for the next meeting.

And so on.

Don’t just go to the hill and then go home. What you do in between is where all the opportunity lies.

Thanks, Katie!

leadership dot #2405: captive audience

January 15, 2019January 13, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Rather than trying to figure out how to get customers to come to you, maybe the answer is to go to them instead. Chicago Public Libraries did this with their innovative program that offers story hour in laundromats throughout low-income neighborhoods in the city.

It’s the perfect setting for outreach: bored kids, parents available for large blocks of time and frequency as most do their laundry every week. The librarians bring stories and games to create awareness of the library, demonstrate modeling to the parents and build literacy skills in the children. It is a win-win-win.

The laundromat is an untapped resource for all sorts of other activities that could benefit from the confluence of kids, parents and time. Organizations could offer activities, music lessons or camps, community groups like scouting or 4H could host meetings there, companies could hold focus groups or taste testing with a captive audience or schools could conduct professional development classes like financial literacy or ESL.

The neighborhood laundromat is a hub for a lot more than just washers and dryers. Follow the library’s example and capitalize on a population just waiting for engagement.

leadership dot #2404: punt

January 14, 2019January 13, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

I wrote last week about Goose Island’s ingenious plan to offer free beer for a year to any of the “armchair kickers” who could make a 43-yard field goal – the distance that the Bears’ kicker missed in the playoff game.

They put this stunt together on the fly – and it had a major kink in it: giving away free beer in Illinois is illegal. So, they punted that plan and offered a free ticket to any NFL game instead. Not as glamorous, but still a nice prize.

No one won it.

None of the 100 participants could make the kick, although some did provide some entertaining flubs in the process. As expected, the promotion drew a crowd well beyond the participants, garnered extensive news coverage, and probably made a few people think twice about how difficult the kick really was (all without the defense rushing at you and blocking it with their hand — the NFL actually ruled the Bears kick as a block, not a miss).

In addition to silencing 100 of Cody Parkey’s critics, Goose Island also donated $20,000 to the Bears kicker’s favorite charity. Nice gesture!

All in all, the field kick promotion was timely, creative and a great way to tap into Goose Island’s target market. Follow their example and jump on spontaneous branding opportunities that occur. Even if you have to punt and make a few modifications along the way, you still score big in the end.

leadership dot #2403: surly

January 13, 2019January 11, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

If your signature beer is a dark stout, why not carry the darkness theme throughout your whole company? Surly Brewery in Minneapolis has done just that and modeled their whole organization along with a brusque theme.

No light fluffiness or pumpkin spice here: their beers have names like Overrated, Furious, Todd the Axe Man, Fiery Hell, Cynic, Sour and Dumpster Fire. Their corporate volunteerism is called “Give a Damn”. Their website is in dark colors and sassy language.

And it’s working for them. They produce over 29 million pints/year. Their city-block-sized Beer Hall and pizza gardens are overflowing. The gift store is a tourist attraction in itself.

Not all messaging or themes need to be full of unicorns and rainbows. Use Surly’s darkness as an example of how authenticity in your branding can shine the light on your products.

leadership dot #2402: dinner club

January 12, 2019January 12, 2019by leadership dots by dr. beth triplettLeave a comment

Every second Wednesday of the month, literally for five decades, my parents had dinner with another couple. For my whole life, we knew that “Dinner Club” was a sacred time not to be interrupted – as kids we were banished from the living areas and as we grew older, we knew that anything else had to be scheduled around it.

These two couples traded off cooking dinner in their homes every month, often coming up with themed menus, costumes and decorations. They carved out this time through raising multiple children each and living an hour apart, but somehow, they always managed to have that evening together.

As I reflect on the funeral of the final surviving member of the quartet today, I think about how this crazy Dinner Club of theirs modeled what a commitment to friendship looks like. It’s not just an occasional call (or now staying in touch via social media), rather it involves making the time to actually be together in person. It means setting plans on a regular basis and keeping them, despite strains on time, budget or babysitters. It means the children of your friends drive hours to attend funerals because they know what the relationship meant to their parents.

You can have many acquaintances, but it is a gift if you have a few good friends. Treasure those that are in your close circle and make it a priority to laugh together face-to-face.