Welcome Back! Allow to Re-Introduce Myself...
It was Jay-Z who said the words, “Allow me to reintroduce myself” on ‘Public Service Announcement’.
What the song is really about could be debatable, but it was a way for Jay-Z to look at his past, present, and future and talk to his fans.
I bring up Jay-Z today because I’ve been thinking about that same sort of idea lately:
Where have I come from?
What am I up to?
Where do I want to go?
Those questions drove me over to Ben Thompson’s blog Stratechery, specifically to his kickoff post about what the blog would be.
Ben’s focus has been on tech.
I find tech to be a bit of a useless moniker because what business isn’t tech at this point?
But, it did get me thinking about where to focus my attention.
At some point during the COVID lockdowns, I took a course from the Judge School of Business at Cambridge with Dr. Kumal Munir and Professor Shaz Ansari about corporate strategy.
The key thing that stuck with me was the questions that underpinned the entire class:
Why do some businesses succeed and others fail?
Is success repeatable or just luck?
Then, I took the Mini MBA in Brand Management with Mark Ritson.
Mark is a great teacher and he broke brand management down as a great job that is all about selling more stuff at a higher price.
The genius of the class is in his three questions all brand managers need to answer:
Who is the target?
What’s your position?
What brand codes are you going to use?
These questions started me thinking about the whole nature of my work and what I like to write about and think about.
Like Ben Thompson writes about in his opening blog post: the idea that context matters.
That’s why I want to make this newsletter all about context, especially the context of why businesses are winning or losing, the growth or stagnation of our ideas and economies, and what actions we can take to take control of progress, growth, and opportunity creation.
As I’m preparing for a lecture to a sports business class this week, I drew a picture to illustrate where communications comes into play when you are thinking about sports and communications.
While the drawing is simplified for the class…it brought me back to my thinking on context and the reality that 90% of what is going on is behind the scenes and below the surface.
That’s where I want to take my thinking and work…to those areas where success is won or lost:
Through strategic decisions.
Through targeting with real diligence.
Through positioning as something unique and valuable not just “I’m just like everyone else, but cheaper.”
Where will I likely point my attention to find these examples and learn?
Politics: I worked on a national campaign, several state-wide elections, and a few local elections.
Sports/Arts/Entertainment: This is where I spent a lot of time, helping open a few nightclubs, and a museum, and working with partners around the globe in sports and entertainment.
B2B Marketing: A huge amount of my time has been here including my consulting practice.
The big key:
I want to focus on the decisions and those decision points where success or failure is born.
So, let me know what’s on your mind. Let me know what people, places, or things you are curious about. And, tell me how great my drawing is!
I’m going to work out what a more consistent cadence will be…but for now, thanks for being here.
Dave