The frog who noticed the boiling water…
March 4, 2011 8 Comments
There were once a bunch of frogs. They all jumped into a pot of water. You know how the story goes.
Except… in this case, it ends differently.
As the heat is slowly turned up, something happens. One of the frogs looks around, and actually notices the heat. He begins analyzing and forecasting what this rising temperature means for his future. He jumps out of the pot and encourages others to do the same. While the others are afraid of the risk of leaving, he is afraid of the risk of becoming extinct due to inaction.
As the last remains of an industrial era begin to warm towards a boiled extinction, Seth Godin repeatedly displays the uncanny ability to see the trends and encourage others to join him in the “revolution of our lifetime“. The greatest question remains how many will jump, unaware of what’s happening around us.
* The original image has been modified above
Seth Godin comes to Orange County
Last night, at the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Orange County, CA, in an event organized by Linked OC and its founder Bryan Elliott, amidst an engaging and inspiring mix of stories, analogies, quips and quotes Seth Godin essentially made the following point:
(My paraphrase) In a world where the speed of business cycles are exponentially increasing, there is no longer time to copy what others are doing. There is not enough time to imitate. Assemble the required inputs, create something remarkable with it, and distribute your art and ideas far and wide. The barriers to distribution are gone. CEOs, marketers, and well, everybody can take a lesson from this. But, the one catch is that you have to take initiative. Which, for many of us, is counter to everything we’ve been taught in school and in our jobs.
If you want to be challenged by one of the few guys who consistently thinks outside the box, check out his latest “Poke the Box” (which by the way has no title on the book cover for a couple of very interesting reasons, and is the first release from “The Domino Project”). Want to interact with Seth directly? Check out his rare Q&A session on Twitter, Friday, March 4 at 10 am PST
“Once you get your ducks in a row, what are you going to do with the ducks?” – Seth Godin
Good question. Do something. Let’s Go.
Brian Vellmure's CRM Strategies Blog 
Hi Brian
Thanks for an inspiring post. I’ve been holding back on my idea of the “Clienteering” space in business because I didn’t want to appear foolish, take risks and because I was comparing myself unfavourably with other “experts” in the customer centricity field. In my world Clienteering is what a business needs to do to exploit the B2Me channel i.e. the channel where we listen to customers to obtain the “actionable insights” required to drive our businesses forward. Until businesses take some definite new directions rather than tinkering round the edges (of existing silos) they are still “in the pot” rather than jumping clear. p.s. the use of my language is not the key but rather the grouping of skills and processes in a cross functional space that in most cases are absent or deficient.
Ray,
Thanks for sharing your journey and best wishes on your next chapter!
– Brian
please start a conversation on this. and post link
Nice post! What I like most about Godin’s quote is that just taking action is not enough – you have to innovate to make a difference. Taking it back to the SFA segment of CRM, we’ve seen innovation in the business model, pricing, delivery, and messaging, but not in features. Slapping an activity stream on CRM is not innovation; the space is still predominantly made of hierarchical interfaces that are designed to store data instead of keeping you productive. That’s why I keep telling our guys that our many competitors don’t define us – we need to concentrate on our special sauce.
Great post, Brian!
I am studying Retail Management #mkt4760 with @dr4ward and we have been amazed how many large organizations are not in tune with all the CRM opportunities social media has to offer. CRM seems to be more important today than ever in winning business and I wonder if an organization is not involved in social media as a form of CRM is it too late to start?
Thanks!
Megan,
Thanks for stopping by and kudos to you for reaching out and engaging.
It’s definitely not too late to start, and while it’s easy to engage on Social Media, aligning communications and messaging with all the moving parts of an organization (sales, marketing, customer service, manufacturing, distribution, etc.) can actually be quite complicated. Most large (and small) organizations have been built around an industrial age business model. The opportunities (and challenges) that social channels present are a challenge for most to integrate with existing communication channels (face to face, phone, email, chat, snail mail, etc), and it likely requires the creation of new rules, standards, culture, compensation structures, etc.
If you were to get hired post graduation to a retail manufacturer who were not yet participating in social media, why would you tell them it was important? You have 3 minutes with the CEO of your new company. Ready….Go!
I like the article, and sometimes I feel like I’m that frog that jumped out quickly only to find that it’s awful cold and uncomfortable outside having gotten used to the inside of that nice warm pot of water. Thinking outside of the box, however, becomes much easier when you’re not inside it anymore!
for me.. ive never been able to think inside the box.
so I am delighted.. many frogs are jumping..
—
i’ve been designing games since I was little. its just how I learn. and I had a public school teacher who spotted it… thankyou universe.
in games… we dont have processes… (ive been bpm for 10+ years.. which I think is funny. Worse I qualified as an accountant. crikey.. how linear thinking is that. you do what you need to do)
in games…
we have a goal, we get things based on a set of rules (e.g. contacts, accounts, information, insights, whatever…), and we get rewards.. (rewards is actually wrong word.. we get clear repeat indicators of our progress) and its all voluntary.
a game is nothing but a “structure for conversation”
that was not my insight. Its the beautiful swedish game designer Klaus Mellander (founder of celemi games, pre-digital).
so all I keep hearing is linear thinking… processes.. boring fart processes…
we actually don’t need these to “run a business”. sure people currently need them to feel safe, know what left and right hand are doing, or mitigate risk.
so
please consider if your thinking linear. There is great book by Neuroscentist who had a stroke (Stroke of Insight) is the book name. And a TED talk too. she shows in the talk.. how we are limited by our own rational, linear processing preference.
games access the other side… naturally.. hence the feeling of
– “flow” e.g. where did the time go
– “fiero” e.g. yes! you shout with such a sense of victory.
Ive not seen many customers in my life experience either of these.. when the sale is won
have you?
so to frog jumping… frogs in flow.. frog’s experiencing fiero.