What is your edge?

Stars

Seth Godin posted about the concept of edgecraft a few weeks ago which offered a compelling insight into embracing that which makes us different. Along Seth’s philosophy, Jo DeBolt from La Piana Consulting asked an intriguing question today at the ED Sessions 2.0 in Boise, Idaho.

What is your edge?  How are you remarkably excellent?

Defining our edge clearly underscores how well we understand ourselves and the space we occupy.  Trying to be remarkable in a crowd is much like trying to identify stars in the night sky.  A few are remarkable because we understand their place in relationship to other night but they also dominate their location.

 

What is your edge?

What is Your Real Story

Real stories are authentic, mind blowing, perplexing, rough, silent, obscene, sudden, painful, long, joyful, and unique.  We have our elevator story, the synopsis of ours life that is worthy of a couple floors.  What is the story we would tell nightly dinner guests during a trans-Atlantic cruise?  A story so momentous that it requires breaks.  Where plot lines simply fall off into recessed depths (or do they rise out of sight) and yet we continue, undeterred.  People want to hear these stories.  The ones without editors or a communication departments.  One hundred and forty characters may grab a headline but it is hard to change my life without telling the rest of the story.

Predicting the Future

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/89394659″>Watch as 1000 years of European borders change (timelapse map)</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user7792440″>Nick Mironenko</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

Country’s borders are not static and the influence of many cultures shape our current map.  If we cannot readily predict the future of nation states then what makes us certain we can write a plan that has such clarity and certainty?  State your future potential and then take steps to move towards the destination but prepared to adapt and retrace your steps if necessary.  Who knows how the landscape will present itself tomorrow but your presence provides the meaning.  Select adventures that are worthy of your time and expertise.

Context

BCNI found this pamphlet laying on some steps in Rome, Italy.  It had no value for my day of adventures in Rome and it was being stepped on as discarded trash.  Sometimes what we have to offer lacks its maximum potential when the location does not match the content.  Being handed a pamphlet on making a bequest to an art gallery when you are seeking just a map creates disconnect.  Getting the same document when you are planning your estate would increase its value dramatically.  Amazing content is half of the journey.  Placing it at the right trail head makes it remarkable.

Ideas that are stuck

IMG_5837I was running in Rome along the Fiume Tevere (the river dividing the city) and spied a rapid in the river’s channel.  Looking closer the wave was recirculating logs, enough plastic balls to start an amusement park, and a few assorted urban items.  The trapped pieces would be driven down underwater by the force of the rapid and then pop back-up downstream only to be drawn upstream by the hydrological force.  The cycle repeated relentlessly.

How many ideas containing little value within our enterprises circulate too often?  Discussions that find their way onto each agenda or become repeated off-topic discussion at meetings?  As long as the forces remains constant the recirculation continues.  Only if the river reaches flood stage, reduces it flow, or the channel is altered will the hydrological forces change.  Mixing up the pace and location of our deliberations leads to  new ideas.  Otherwise a static tempo ensures a continuation of the same.

The Power of Demonstration

ImageOn a recent trip to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, my son and I stumbled across an app entitled, “Touch Van Gogh.”  It was an easy to use tablet application that demonstrates the impact time and light on Van Gogh’s most famous paintings.  Iconic images we see in our mind’s eye are many shades from their parental color DNA at the time of inception.  Blues were purples, yellows were heavier, stars shown differently, and even the brown of the floor had richer hues.  Sliding the bar across the images, the before and after transformation of aging on each painting was remarkable.  The experience was such a vivid and palpable reminder of the power of demonstration.  The app oriented us to the images that were directly in front of us and provided a paradigm shift.  No words or explanations were needed.  The results were evident and I was hooked on the story and the impact of the museum’s curating and restoration consideration.  The power of a hands-on experience manifested itself by letting me join the narrative..

Remarkable Day Two Moments at Pioneer Nation

IMG_5660

Rena Tom

  • New American dream- start you own business, be your own boss, wear many hats.
  • Do you have ‘gumption’- possessing common sense and initiative.
  • Have a clear goal- numbers are typically not your goal.
  • Get in sync with your customers- are you able to communicate with them effectively?
  • Just because you can does not mean you should.
  • Think big and talk small- you are interacting with other humans.  Sometimes elevating the mundane is all that is required.
  • Edge Effect- areas of overlap provide the greatest concentration of diversity.  Where is your overlap?

Brian Clark

  • Consider a blank slate approach when approaching an opportunity- nothing to unlearn.
  • Content Marketing provides an opportunity to make an offer.
  • The person who generates business gets to write the rules.
  • Money is fuel for your journey to manifest your vision.
  • The only way to scale is with people and a vision.
  • Current business partners can come from the audience you have cultivated.
  • It is essential to continue talking to people throughout the evolution of the your journey.

Andy Hayes

  • Craft your ideal customer profile including specifics such as demographic information and classified advertisement level detail.
  • What is the story your customers can tell each other about your enterprise?
  • Seek points of intersection with ideas that matter.
  • Where did your customer start?  What are their way points?  What is their destination?
  • What is your killer headline?  What is the problem you are addressing and the solution to the problem?
  • Are you providing education or entertainment.  They are valued differently.
  • Hustle- you must leave the building and share your story to generate connections.

Kari Chapan

  • We have to do everything for the first time at some point, so act.
  • What is the biggest risk you need to take?
  • Not trusting=not believing vs Avoidance=knowing what to do but not committing to the action.
  • We still buy cookbooks even though they contain recipes to dishes we know how to make.  Duplication is not failure or a reason to avoid taking action.
  • What is your finish line?  Do you have clarity about where you are trying to go?
  • Do not fear success.  We are often the greatest force holding ourselves back.
  • What stories do we tell ourselves which creates our own headwinds?
  • Define success and then quit things that hold you back.

Willo O’Brien

  • Manage creative sustainability for yourself and your team.
  • Where do I need support?  Critical question to ask.  Fancyhands.com
  • What is your source of compassionate anger (ideas you love so much they make you angry)?
  • Optimize your process- willolovesyou.com/pioneers for a comprehensive list of specific software and application resources
  • Clear the decks by asking for support.
  • Lean into learning edges.  Where can you reset expectations? Where can you let go?  Where are you compassionate?

 

* I missed Brian Clark’s closing keynote to make my flight (flight delay= could have stayed an listened)