Manna Nosh

A good idea, like a good ghost story, is the product of an Unusual Mind. Defined by Manna Groups as the ability to discover and turn the basic and invariable meaning of something into an original idea that has value, Unusual Mind talent comprises half the reason an enterprise succeeds. The other half is comprised of the talent to successfully promote the valuable discovery.

The ability to store and recall data, a common measure of intelligence, is a highly regarded attribute. But, the ability to store and recall data is not an indicator of the ability to come up with original ideas that have value. Anyone who has “put a bunch of smart people in a room and hoped for something new” will know exactly what I’m talking about. In truth the ability to recall data is concerned entirely with what has happened in the past. Ideas that spring from the Unusual Mind are new ideas that deliver value.

The unusual mind of George Ballas had the idea that the brush action that removed dirt from a car could be used to cut grass. Prior to the Weed Eater plenty of intelligent minds had made improvements to bladed trimmers by adding motors, batteries, wheels and handles. It was George Ballas that came up with the Weed Eater and gave the intelligent something new to think about. He also did away with bladed trimmers.

Unusual minds work by regarding the messages that come thru their senses as ideas, not as facts. The difference between an idea and a fact is important. Ideas are possible representations of the world that we hold in our head. Words are ideas we can pronounce; pictures are ideas we can see; gustatory and olfactory sensations are ideas we can taste and smell and tactile stimulations are ideas we can literally feel.

Facts are representations of the world we hold in our head that we believe actually represent the world. Before the Weed Eater, the idea of cutting grass with a swirling brush could not exist in the mind of a person who represented the world solely by facts. In such a mind the desire to cut grass could only be satisfied by recalling the appropriate grass cutting fact – a blade.

Children are natural Unusual Mind practitioners because all the messages that come thru a child’s senses present themselves as ideas, not as facts. Turning the messages we encounter as young people into the facts we cling to in later life is the very definition of growing up. It is also the behavioral change that most inhibits Unusual Mind talent.

Which brings me to the following ghost story that took place, a couple of Halloweens back, between Madeline, my 4-year-old niece, and myself.

Madeline was drawing something green.

I asked, “Madeline what are you drawing?”

“A ghost” she said.

I said, (and I should have known better), “That’s nice but how do you know what ghosts look like?”

She pointed at her drawing and said, “They look like this.”

Wonderful stuff!

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Analyzing the obvious is the work of an Unusual Mind. Success is the result.

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It’s possible some business types have not undergone a case study. But from the thousands that have it’s time to ask, what has been learned? We learn what went wrong from failed businesses. We learn what went right from successful businesses.

It’s tempting to assume that success results from avoiding what has failed and duplicating what has succeeded. This is not true. Success is not the result of duplicating the past. Success results from parlaying with the future. Case studies cannot tell us about future behavior, because there is no case to study in the future.

In short, case studies have no genes. They report past performance, they cannot report future behavior.

A business manager with prolific case study knowledge should no more expect to duplicate a successful business than a sports team by like process should expect to duplicate a national champion.

Success in business, like national championships, comes from anticipating and parlaying with future behavior. This talent is the scarcest of all business resources. Managing this talent is the scarcest of all business skills.

Talent and the environment in which it is managed are the nature and nurture of all organizations and these elements while identifiable are not inheritable. No case study to date has shown how the scarcity of these two elements can be made plentiful for distribution to all who desire them.

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Basing future expectations on past events is silly. Why? Because the future is a certainty but what happens in the future is not. Everyone who has watched their favorite basketball player score 18 points in the first quarter of a game, only to wind up with a total of 23 points at the end, understands this.

In business, basing the future on the past is more than silly. It’s dangerous. The word that most exemplifies this danger is projection. There is another similar sounding word often equated with projection. That word is prediction. But projection and prediction do not refer to the same thing. In fact there is a vast difference between them. Let’s take a look.

Projection is about applying mathematical analysis to past customer behavior. That’s easy. Prediction is about parlaying with anticipated customer behavior. That’s hard.

Suppose you are in control of an established luxury car company with steady but stagnant sales. Statistical research indicates that cars above a particular price point sell in quantity X. Below the price point X+ number of cars sell. You decide to go for the X+ price point. Because of your mathematical adroitness you “know” the increased number of cars sold will make enough real profit dollars to compensate for the projected decrease in profit margin. Perhaps your company builds a less expensive car, one that keeps costs in line with the current profit margin and provides the magical X+ units sold price point. Either way the math path seems clear – offer an inexpensive luxury car and you’re on the road to good times. It won’t happen. In fact it didn’t happen – just ask Jaguar. Why? Because customers are motivated by stories not mathematics and a low price point is in direct conflict with the luxury car story.

That one was easy. What kind of remodeling needs to be done to keep up with changing environments? Hint: math can’t provide the answer.

Suppose you are the owner of a specialty picture frame store. Statistical research confirms an exponential increase in the number of pictures taken due to the existence of disposable and digital cameras. A decrease in the cost of making prints and the ubiquity of self-serve print making kiosks has [predictably] increased the number of prints made each year. Yea – it’s good times ahead! If X specialty frames were sold before the digital self serve era then X+ will be sold after. Wrong! The stuff that tickles a customers “special” gene changes when pictures are taken as commonly as breathing and printed as plainly as pushing a button.

Digital cameras and self-serve print making has changed the environment. Disposable pictures require disposable frames, (frames that are readily available for use and re-use as required), specialty they ain’t.

To be sure, there are still pictures recognized as something distinct and permanent in comparison to others. But the environment in which pictures are taken and frames are sold has changed. If you limit your offering to specialty frames, customers will go elsewhere. And they will stay there until the next environmental change.

The key to prediction is to recognize that success is determined by customer behavior not mathematics. In the case of luxury cars, that means a price that supports a luxurious story. In the case of picture frames, that means frame stores that parlay with the digital self-serve era.

Authors note: Ron White is a funny and famous comedian that does a bit on the difference between an antidote and an anecdote. “If I knew the difference between an antidote and an anecdote my camping buddy would be alive today.” The idea for this column came from White.

Confusing similar sounding words with very different meanings is funny when presented in a comedic environment. In a marketing environment, confusing similar sounding words is tragic.

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It probably isn’t possible to know exactly what people are thinking, but it is possible to know how people think. This is certainly true when it comes to the difference between convergence and functionality, as it is for most perceptual measures. The key is to realize that people feel before they think, and they construct most of their thoughts on a foundation of feelings. Let’s take a look.

Convergence is a measure of the partition(s) our minds create to help make sense of the stuff around us.

Functionality is a technical statement of what the stuff around us does.

The only dogmatic prescription apposite to convergence is: At any point in time stuff either functions in accordance with how we have partitioned our minds (that’s good), or stuff doesn’t (that’s bad).

Many years ago Bob was at a club listening to Miles Davis. The stuff coming from Miles and his band was not the stuff Bob recognized as jazz. Between tunes Bob asked, “What’s that you’re playing Miles? It sounds different.” Miles answered, “Times change man.”

Miles was right (about change not music) times do change. We take note of change that strikes a Responsive Chord. We tune out dissonant change.

When typing became known as word-processing Wang became successful. When word-processing became known as something you did with a computer Wang became obsolete.

Functionally the Wang word processor was a computer, technically superior to the offerings from Apple and IBM. Unfortunately in the minds of customers Wang meant ONLY word processing. “Times changed man”, but Wang didn’t. They were behind the convergence curve even though they were in front technically.

Convergence occurs when the partitions in our mind change. Predicting and parlaying with convergence is called success. Confusing a change in functionality for a change in convergence leads the other way.

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The story of how an Unusual Mind created a new industry and wiped out another.

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What is meant by advertising savings and where does the savings take place? Note: The sample test mentioned in this edition of Manna Nosh is part of the Transcript & Notes file.

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In this episode of Manna Nosh, Bob Manna tells you the story behind successful advertising.

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In this, the very first episode of Manna Nosh, Matt Manna welcomes you to the show and talks a bit about future episodes.

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