If the message matters - test it with an outsider

Have you had a solution for a company but struggled to connect with your prospect?

Or, a need for help but unable to convey it in a way to get the support you were looking for?

Have you found yourself needing to find different words to say the same thing?

Sometimes you need someone else (a stranger to your world) to read or hear your message. I'll often ask my wife to listen to a presentation or read an important document or a few friends that don't mind my calling on their help. If they like it (not just understand it) then I know it will connect with others.

I can also tell by the tone of their responses if I have to go back to the drawing board.

A friend shared about a marketing effort that was going nowhere. This was several years ago. A company was financing people purchasing gold and they profited from the appreciation. The original pitch went like this:

We will finance 75% of your purchase of gold. (This went nowhere even though it was a good deal)

The second pitch went like this:

Buy a $6 gold coin for $2. (The increase in sales was dramatic)

Our words and phrases can make a difference. Some have the gift or skill to effortlessly turn a phrase. For the rest of us - thank goodness for loving spouses and tolerant friends.

You will enjoy this clip from the Canne Film Festival. Kyle, thank you for sending it.

PS: My wife likes this one.

What does common sense have to do with it?

I had lunch today with a top strategic airport planner. We compared notes about the similar dysfunctions within the airport industry in planning and implementing and the commercial real estate world. We were both struck by the cost of these dysfunctions and how stuck each industry seems to be in repeating the same behavior over and over again.

Mindshift has proposed what seems to be a common sense alternative. Deliver a turnkey solution with an integrated team based on trust.  Two blogs ago we shared the story of a developer who built a LEED Platinum building and did it at a lower cost than comparable conventional buildings. They used an integrated team - makes sense.

I know airports and construction are complicated and layered with obstacles and land mines. However, I keep looking at people whose success is based on taking complicated challenges and finding key fundamental principles to focus on.

Here are a few examples of solutions and people tackling huge problems by finding a common sense lever.

Cool Roofs and Cool Pavement

If roofs and pavement in the 100 largest urban cities were changed to a white reflective surface it would offset 44 metric gigatons of greenhouse gases. It would offset 10 years of industrial use and equal more than a year's output from every country on the planet. These are called "cool roofs" and "cool pavement."  The article is from yesterday's LA Times.

The Pickensplan

Today the United States imports 70% of its oil. We use 25% of the world supply. We pay other countries $700 billion a year. World production peaked in 2005 at 85 million barrels a day. Rising economies like China and India have and will continue to compete for these limited resources. Boone Pickens proposes a common sense plan (Pickensplan) that provides a bridge of safety until more innovative energy sources are developed. Each of these sources is cleaner than oil.

• Wind
• Natural Gas

We will be able to reduce our demand for foreign oil by about 15 million barrels a day. The investment required is approximately the same amount that we send to other countries for their oil.

Consider the positive ripple of benefits to the economy, to the security of the nation, untangling many of our dangerous alliances and moving toward clean energy.

Thomas Friedman's new book; Hot, Flat and Crowded, makes a similar sobering argument.

Warren Buffet is the guru of financial common sense. He advises to stay out of debt, invest in what you know, get your money to work for you and be patient.  If you make it this far and have the time watch this video.  It gets to the heart of Mindshift's mission. It answers this question, "if you (whether owner or supplier) want a successful project - how would you chose your team?"

The lowest price? 

The slickest presentation?

The most comprehensive proposal?

The nicest prototype (mockup)?

When we major on the majors I think our decisions get easier and make common sense. When our focus is on secondary issues; low cost, best presentation... we typically sacrifice the majors and then life really gets complicated.

The Story of Psycho-Milt

How do groups get things done? Or more importantly how will groups in the near future get things done?

Clay Shirky answers this question in the most profound way - be sure to watch the video below. Here are some of my notes and thoughts after listening to it 4 times today. He articulates what I've been fumbling to say in my book and whenever I speak.

For 500 years when people wanted to get something done they formed institutions; businesses, churches, schools, governments, associations, clubs... You get it.

Communication costs have fallen to such a degree - that we are beginning to see coordination built into the infrastructure; Flickr, Amazon, Netflix, Ebay, Meetup... Okay?

Pause - think about this.

Institutions are driven to optimize the 80/20 principle. In fact if they can get 90 percent of the benefit from 10% of their efforts - all the better.

Psycho-milt changes everything (watch the video). If the barriers (costs) of harvesting benefit from the low producing 80% are removed - what would that mean?

Some companies like Proctor and Gamble are taking this approach to their R&D - open source collaborative platforms.

Mindshift was formed as one a collaborative platform. We're still old school in our thinking (we're boomers) and do better face-to-face than we do virtually - but we are inching our way to illumination.

This video by Clay Shirky might just take you all the way to illumination. Thank you professor Shirky!

I'm tempted to shave my head.

Green Mythbusting

One of our founding members commented that using "turnkey" teams and integrated project delivery is where Sustainability and Green were three or four years ago.

The 4 minute mile for LEED Certification, so to speak, has been to deliver Platinum level at a comparable cost to conventional construction.

Our team returned a few weeks ago from our summer summit and met with a developer who did just that. In fact, they delivered a LEED Platinum building close to 200,000 square feet at cost 3% less than comparable conventional Class A space. The operating costs are also 45% less than neighboring buildings. Oh yes - they have a fully leased building that is 21% higher than other buildings in that market.

They did so using a tightly aligned team and taking a turnkey approach. If you would like to find out more about the project send me an email.

Mindshift has adopted a "Do-Tank" strategy. We validating the mindshift model with live projects before we present with a clear roadmap to our colleagues and peers.

We want our industry to be able to sit in front of corporate decision makers with a new value proposition. This IBM ad captures the shift we would like to see.