5 Tips for Disruptive Thinking (Or, How to Get a Pompous Classist Like Johnny B. Truant to Feature You on His Blog)
What Sam Rosen says in the intro to his guest post below is true… I’m really not so into accepting guest posts because this isn’t so much a “business blog” as it’s “that one asshole’s blog.” When that one asshole isn’t the person writing, it feels strange. (Drew Kime holds some incriminating info on me, which is why I ran his post recently. But hopefully those hearings will be over soon and the statute of limitations will expire.)
So the reasons I’m running today’s guest post by Sam Rosen are twofold:
1. Sam is doing this really interesting thing that I’ve never seen before — 60 speakers in 60 minutes giving their best tips on online influence — and you all will like it. (I’m planning to like it myself, actually.) It’s totally and completely free, so there’s no reason not to do it. I also don’t stand to benefit from it at all, which both irks me and makes me feel like Mother Theresa.
2. I needed a post, and it made sense to talk about Sam’s thing (because naturally, I’m in it… since I’m a whore). However, I had the choice of doing the hard work myself or saying, “Yeah, Sam, why don’t you write it because I’m going on vacation in a bit and don’t want to write it myself? Have it on my desk by 9am tomorrow. And by ‘my desk,’ I mean to tie it around a rock and throw it through my window. And by ‘window,’ I mean my email account. And by ‘rock,’ I mean virus.”
So what follows is Sam working and doing my job for me. Enjoy.
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Recently, Johnny wrote that he rarely accepts guest posts. That’s not because he’s a cold-hearted, zombie-obsessed misanthrope who prefers hilarious chickens over fellow humans. It’s because he’s a pompous classist who only associates with Ivy League professors and captains of industry.
Okay, maybe not. If I added that biographical hue to Johnny’s non-existent Wikipedia page, I’d probably have at least 42 Truantians attempt to sue me for slander, including his biggest fan, Ann Coulter.
So why did he let me do a blog post?
It’s not because he has a penchant for Jewish entrepreneurs (JOHNNY’S NOTE: It’s not JUST because I have a penchant for Jewish entrepreneurs). I think it’s because my company, ThoughtLead, is doing something slightly unusual:
We’re putting on the shortest marketing conference ever. 60 of the web’s leading thinkers and doers (including Mr. Truant himself) will speak for 60 seconds each about how to increase your digital influence. On July 6th, at 6pm ET. It’s called the Influencer Project, and it’s sponsored by big companies (like HubSpot, Rackspace, and MarketingProfs).
How’d we think of the idea…and get so many people to join in on the fun?
We Questioned the Rules (Hmm… I like the sound of that. Maybe I’ll create an online course of the same title soon. Damn you, Truant! You win this time.)
You see, not too long ago, we launched another speaker series, called The Purposeful Product (which Johnny, Dave Navarro, and Chris Brogan are actually all speaking on this week). It got rave reviews. But it fell short of the buzz we had hoped for.
That’s because it wasn’t a disruptive idea. Despite the awesome speakers and content, the overall messaging was pretty standard. And, not surprisingly, it didn’t fly like we wanted it to (kind of like Truant’s chickens).
The Influencer Project, on the other hand, is different. It’s already spreading on Twitter, and people we don’t even know are blogging about it.
“A-listers” like Brian Clark, our Third Tribe fave, as well as Guy Kawasaki, Robert Scoble, Gary Vaynerchuk, Brian Solis, and John Jantsch are all speaking.
Frankly, we’re all a bit stunned, and that’s not just because Truant mailed us one of his chickens last night with the mysterious note, “She’s yours. Good luck.”
How to Think Disruptively
Truth is, we were tired of all the “me too” product launches, conferences, e-books, and blogs, and we wanted to do something radically different, something that created a lot of hoopla in a hurry.
So we questioned the rules, just like Johnny told us to (as well as getting a JBT apple-eating tattoo on our left ankles, which our parents weren’t too psyched about).
After recovering from the trauma of “inking” our ankles with Johnny’s admittedly dashing image, we endeavored to isolate five attributes of disruptive thinking. Here they are:
1. Think in terms of memes. “Question the Rules”; “Third Tribe”; and “Shortest Marketing Conference Ever” are all “repeatable” ideas that upend convention. They take schemas (rules, tribes, conferences) in the cultural zeitgeist and give them a twist. Think about Apple’s 1984 Superbowl commercial. It was 1984. The book 1984 represented all of the suits, the corporate meanies, the stodgy, uncreative bastards. They took that and turned it on its head.
So ask yourself: “Is this meme-worthy? Is this something that could spread?” If the answer’s “no,” you might be in trouble. If it’s “yes,” then keep going.
2. Create a collective ethos. If it’s just “your thing,” who cares? But if it’s about the community, if it’s an idea driven by people coming together and rallying around a cause, then you release a different kind of energy. We’re not lone warriors. We’re intersubjectively inclined human beings who, no matter how “big” we are, want to accomplish incredible things with others.
So ask yourself: are you facilitating a collective platform, or just worried about your own product, service, or idea?
3. Get other disruptors on board. The “influencers,” the people who are already in the public eye, are usually disruptors by nature. They think in different ways. They have styles that set them apart from others. They create memes. By making it easy for them to say “yes” (read: 60-second interview, plus a collective ethos, plus a meme), you not only begin to adopt their thinking—you become their partner in crime. (JOHNNY’S NOTE: I’ve had to decline a lot of interviews lately. “60 seconds” is EXACTLY what made me do this one — they made it easy to say yes.)
So ask yourself: are you making it easy and attractive for other disruptors to join you in the cause of innovation, and maybe even the creation of a new internet shoe empire?
4. Use language—creatively and memorably. When we were inviting A-listers, we used the sentence: “60 of the web’s leading thinkers speak for 60 seconds each about how to increase your digital influence for good and profit in the next 60 days, on July 6th at 6pm ET.” That grabs attention. We intentionally created a sense of rhythm, repetition, and repeatability (you might notice that I’m kind of into alliteration; like Johnny’s zombies, it’s an unhealthy obsession) so that it would “stick” in people’s minds.
So ask yourself: is your language memorable? Do you sound like a white heterosexual middle class religiously unremarkable man living in America, or does your idea have stickiness, repeatability, “memetic” mojo?
5. Create a pattern interrupt. For a long time, everyone selling information products online was using long-form sales letters. Then, one day, Frank Kern did one big video with a huge “Add to Cart” button underneath. Many others followed suit, but he was the disruptor. For a long time, everyone was blogging, and then Twitter made you turn your “logs” (ahem) into 140 characters each. Now there are “corporate micro-blogging platforms,” but Twitter was the disruptor. What do these examples have in common? They took a pattern we were familiar with, and interrupted it.
So ask yourself: are you just following the same pattern, or are you interrupting—disrupting—it, like Tony Robbins does at his seminars when he bucks the “cheerleader” image and starts swearing?
Okay, so by now, you’re probably starting to get an idea of the “disruptive thinking” mindset. And if you’re not, it’s probably hopeless. (Just kidding. I heard that it took Johnny like 10 years to have his first good idea.)
So here’s a question I’d like you to answer in the comments: How can you be more disruptive in your own thinking, without stealing my idea (I know a lawyer, Truant)? What examples of disruptive marketing have inspired you lately?
(JOHNNY’S NOTE: And also sign up to listen to the Influencer Project. It’s free, and it’s the only project of it’s kind. Fo real, yo.)
We failed to talk about walruses
NOTE: I’m fucking audio-tarded and apparently Jordan is too, because between the two of us, we can’t get audio to stream like every normal person can. Whatever. Just click “download” above and listen to it. It’s fantastic.
When Jordan Cooper of NotAProBlog.com emailed me to tell me that he, Nathan Hangen, and Mike Cliffe-Jones were doing a game show as part of their “Beyond Blogging” project, I replied promptly and said, “Give me a call, dude! Let’s record something involving walruses!” Because Jordan is a comedian, and everyone knows that walrus humor is all the rage at the Improv right now.
So we got on the phone, but it fell apart and somehow we ended up talking little about walruses OR game shows and instead ended up chatting hilariously about some of the blog-business topics nearest and dearest to my heart: the business comes BEFORE the blog; stop analyzing and just DO SOMETHING ALREADY. I abided this because I assumed walrus humor was yet to come. But… sigh.
Still, it turned out pretty damn good even though my shitty headset (which I’ve since tossed) makes it sound like I’m walking disinterestedly around the office during the call. Which I was not doing more than 50-60% of the time in reality.
Anyway, do check out what they’re doing with the Bloggywood Squares game show. It’s fantastically walrusrific. And if you want to know more about the Beyond Blogging project? Well, then sign up for Bloggywood Squares because once they have your info, they’ll be sure to let you know and/or sell your email address to gangsters. One of the two.
What I’m doing about launch fatigue
NOTE: Charlie Gilkey, Marissa Bracke (author of the infamous “Launch Fatigue” post) and I actually did a really cool and thorough discussion of launch fatigue in our latest Jam Session, which features music by Journey. No, I’m not kidding about the Journey. It was Charlie’s fault.
What do you mean you’re not signed up for the Jam Sessions? Were you in a plane crash in the desert and have been wandering the dunes for months, forced to subsist on live scorpions and drink moisture squeezed out of your own pants? Is that what has kept you away? Either way, you should join us now that you’re back and your sun blisters have stopped festering. Studies show that Jam Sessions members are smarter, more attractive, and better at Chutes and Ladders than the general population. Truth*.
* Not truth
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If you’re in this little blogging space of ours (“part of our dysfunctional family,” as I think of it), then chances are good that you’ve heard some of the discussion over launch fatigue.
If you haven’t heard about it, the whole launch fatigue discussion started here, and you’ll want to read that post prior to reading this post, or else what I’m going to write about won’t make any sense. (Be sure to read all of the comments if you want your eyes to bleed, and if you want to feel really bad about yourself and whatever it is that you’re doing.)
After that post, the blogosphere promptly blew up like Oprah after announcing her weight loss. This post by Dave Navarro is the other post I read about it, but there were many more and a lot of backchannel discussion about it. Dave’s post made me feel a little better, but not much.
It’s a good discussion to think about, but it’s also a no-win discussion. It’s like what the WOPR said about nuclear war: The only winning move is not to play.
Except that if you “don’t play” in business, you almost never make any money. Which has its downsides.
Let’s put it this way: The message I got out of the whole “launch fatigue” discussion, which included comments, Twitter, private conversations, posts on other blogs, etc., was this: No matter what it is you’re doing, how you’re approaching your business, or how ethically and “Third Tribe-like” you think you’re being, you’re a total jerk and a large group of people absolutely think you’re a shitbag.
The title of this post is “What I’m doing about launch fatigue.” And in case you’re short on time and just want me to cut to the chase and tell you what it is I’m going to do in my business in light of the discussion (because I’m that important), here’s my answer:
Nothing.
I’m going to stick my head in the sand. I’m going to ignore further discussion. I’m not going to keep reading comments about it. I’m going to do nothing in light of concerns about launch fatigue. I trust myself and my instincts, and I personally do not think I’m a shitbag or employing generally shitbaggy tactics. So I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, and if that’s uncool with someone, so be it.
The problem for any creator is that you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t. If you sell stuff at all, some people are going to think you’re pushing too hard. If you hold yourself back from launching something because there have been a lot of launches recently, you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face and are, frankly, depriving the world of good stuff, assuming you don’t produce crap.
A lot of new people are going to see this discussion, picture a wary, angry customer base who is tired of being promoted to all of the time, and use that picture as an excuse for their own inaction. They haven’t done anything yet, so why bother to do it now? People will only get mad at them.
Well, guess what? You can’t please everyone, and that goes for everything that ever ends up having any degree of success whatsoever. So the best course of action IMO is to just do your best to not be an asshole. Do that, and most of you will be fine.
“Be reasonable.” “Be cool.” “Be respectful.” Those work as well.
In case you haven’t headed over to check out that Jam Session yet, I’ll just mention that Marissa says very clearly that her intention in talking about launch fatigue was not to convey the message “stop creating and selling products and services.” It was “stop ONLY pimping stuff and stopping with original content and connection.”
It wasn’t “don’t launch” or even “don’t launch using the same formulaic steps as everyone else.” It was “don’t be a whore.”
Really: Are you promoting a ton of stuff (your own and that of others) purely for monetary reasons, ignoring the real needs and desires of your customers? Are you promoting things you don’t totally believe will help the people who buy them? Have you stopped creating meaningful free content, stopped using Twitter to be personable, stopped participating in comment threads, forums, email from customers and prospects, and so on? Are you a non-stop pimping machine?
If you are, stop it.
If you aren’t, then file this whole discussion in your mind as background info, but then keep going.
And also, “Non-Stop Pimping Machine” would make a really good name for a RUN-DMC era old-school hip-hop group.
P.S: Here’s some miscellany. I’m tossing it in mainly because I’m at Borders and there’s some incredibly shitty cover version of the Righteous Brothers “Unchained Melody” playing on the speakers here, and continuing to type is the only way I can kind of ignore it.
About using the same old tactics and formulas: So what if you’re following a typical launch prescription? So what if your prices all end in 7? Is the product good? If it is, then I could care less if people notice that a formula is being followed. Just because something is common doesn’t mean it’s underhanded, even though people tend to imply it.
About Smurfs: They were pretty cool. But I’ll bet you couldn’t actually make gold out of them.
Tim Brownson won’t give up, despite having seen The Jam in 1979
Are you ready for some rollicking good personal development fun with life coach and generally hilarious guy Tim Brownson? If you’re not, then you may be a communist. I’m just saying.
Tim’s had some setbacks in his noble project to donate a million copies of his book to charity. But does he want to quit? You bet your ass he does, and then he wants to go play craps in Vegas with a lot of booze and many skanky ladies. But is he going to? No way.
I love it when people practice what they preach, and also when they joke about being old in a British accent. If you’re like me, you’ll want to listen to this for sure.
