David Koren

Bringing it all back home

I'm the closing speaker at the SMPS Northeast Regional Conference ("The Business of Innovation") from May 2-3. To conclude the conference, I'll be talking about strategic planning as a way to bring all the talk and learning about innovation back home so that marketers can work to transform their firms. Here's the blurb that I've pitched to the folks putting the conference together:

Bringing it all back home
Developing a strategic plan to lead your firm to marketing success

We all know that creating a strategic plan is essential to success, so why do so few firms have one? Well, it's probably because you haven't written it yet!

In this two-hour closing workshop, we'll review the essentials of developing and working with a strategic marketing plan:

· Running a planning meeting
· Writing the plan
· Making assignments
· Following up
· Sharing the plan with staff members
· Empowering marketing staff to own the plan
· Using the plan to evaluate opportunities
· Evolving the plan over time

As part of the workshop, each participant will write a one-page strategic plan for their firm—and leave with an action plan to work with firm principals to complete and implement the plan.

Helpful Graffiti at the Citibank

I walked into a Citibank tonight, and noticed that there were lots of these 8.5x11 posters printed out and pasted on the walls... except, clearly, the black ink on the printer was running low... and somebody decided to send Citibank a friendly little reminder message in their own cadence.

Culture and Space

I've been invited to speak at the ARC-Interiors Conference from September 27-30 in Miami. Here's the topic I just pitched to them:

Culture and Space
the relationship between the culture of an organization
and the design and evolution of its interior spaces

“Culture” is an important contemporary buzzword in business and in design. We all know intuitively that there is a direct, if subtle, relationship between the design of spaces and the culture of the organization that uses them. As designers, we create spaces with a view to enhance and extend our clients’ organizational cultures. The spaces we design are therefore both a reflection of culture, and an instrument to reinforce culture. Over time, spaces are altered by the people who use them to support how they interact with the space and to reflect their sense of their culture. Culture and space share an ongoing dialogue that begins with move-in. The difficulties that an organization has in successfully occupying and utilizing space can be thought of as a struggle to understand their own evolving culture and to reflect it in the design of its spaces. In this talk, the speaker will utilize recent examples of commercial and institutional interior design to discuss the relationship between the underlying culture of an organization and the design and ongoing evolution of its interior spaces.

Marketing Trends for 2007 and beyond

(just submitted to the IIDA-NY newsletter for their next issue)

It’s no secret that marketing architectural and interior design services has grown more sophisticated in recent years. The business climate and our own ambitions for our firms drive us to compete harder for work. Technology enables us (or should enable us) to do more with less, to stretch our time and resources and utilize them more efficiently. At the same time, the profession of design marketing continues to emerge, and specialists like me work with firms of all sizes (either as full-time employees or as consultants) to help them be more strategic in allocating their marketing resources and implementing their business strategies. Looking back at what it was like to market design services a few years ago or even last year, a few broad trends become apparent:

1. Graphic Sophistication

If a technology exists, it will be used. Desktop printing technology has evolved considerably over the last few years, both in terms of quality and speed. As we all struggle to present our firms and our work as clearly as possible, our documents will become more colorful and more graphically intensive. The downside here is that while it is cheaper and faster than ever to print a color brochure, it still takes as much time to plan and design it. The more work we do in color with complex layouts, the more resources will be spent on graphic design.

2. Faster and Faster

Time is money, and clients of every type recognize that the sooner they can complete their project, the sooner they can stop paying double rent, or begin to utilize their new space to make revenue. The pressure on design and construction professionals to move faster bleeds over into the marketing process. While technology enables us to create documents more quickly, it doesn’t enable us to think any more quickly. With some client types, a two-week turnaround for an RFP response used to be typical; two days is more the norm these days. This focus on speed, combined with the capability to produce documents easily in full color, creates a real quandary for our industry: given a limited amount of time to respond, what should you focus on, your graphics or your message?

3. Differentiation and Specialization

What are you known for? Though you might like your reputation to be about quality design and a high level of service, you’re probably known for the project types you specialize in. Like it or not, it’s easier for your clients to think of you as “the restaurant designer” than to think of you for your contemporary style or the other intangibles or barely tangibles that define your approach and your work. Not that this is entirely irrational: if I’m a client, and I’m designing a lab or a school or a fashion retail space, I want to work with somebody who knows what they’re doing. The benefit to specialization in your practice is that it is much easier to build a reputation by doing one thing very well than it is by doing many things well. The downside, of course, is that if you do something very well, you may be condemned to repeat it.

4. Got strategy?

With very little time to respond to opportunities, it is more important than ever to have an underlying strategy that guides you in making decisions about what opportunities to pursue and what level of resources to invest. In an article published online last year, business consultant David Maister makes the case that if you aren’t saying no to some opportunities, you don’t have a strategy. It’s vital that you make decisions about where you’re trying to take your business so that you can be prepared when opportunity knocks. Consider working with a marketing consultant (or in-house marketing staff) to develop a strategic marketing plan to guide you. As the saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

5. Integration of communications and project delivery

Marketing is obviously the front end of the design process—it’s where the work comes from. But there is a role for marketing and communications not just at the beginning of the project, but at every stage of the design process. As the design team works with a client to develop a project, there are opportunities to create communications tools to enhance your marketing efforts. How can you capitalize on the design you are doing today to win additional business tomorrow? How can you capture and document the design process to tell a story to a future client, or to the press? I think that this is really the next evolution of marketing and communications in design—how can we come to think of marketing not as something that happens first, but as an ongoing process that is integrated with our projects?

A Moment out of Time

I'm having a very asynchronous, anachronistic experience today. I am posting from the car. I am using my black MacBook that is connected through the Internet via Bluetooth and my Treo 650. I am listening to satellite radio, playing the Sex Pistols. I am driving a rented PT Cruiser, which draws its inspiration from cars from the 50's, but is actually tricked out with lots of nice modern features like an aux port in the stereo, satellite radio, and built-in easy pass. Smash and I are driving to my parents for Christmas, listening the whole way to Willam Gibson's novel PATTERN RECOGNITION, which was written three years ago, and it shows. It's all about a specific recent moment in history (MacCubes for example, are delightful recent anachronisms) but because of the way Gibson writes, it feels like a futuristic fantasy. And now it's the past. Merry Christmas!

Make no little plans...

I came across a great quote today, that I think I've heard many times but never really paid much attention to...

"Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized."

--Daniel Burnham, architect

Burnham was the designer of the Flatiron Building, but principally worked in Chicago.

ARC-US Conference!

This is a link to the description of the talk that I gave today at ARC-US in Newport Beach, California:

Link: America's Leading Architects Forum.

It went very well, and I got lots of positive feedback from the audience! Sasha came out to hear me!

A Simple Protest

On my way home, walking through Times Square, I saw this guy standing in the middle of the square: jeans, shirt, and a simple sign. On one side: "Time for the truth! Why are we in Iraq?" On the other side: "$2 billion a day? Where's Osama?" It was quite striking... one person, a simple message, reaching thousands of passers-by, just by standing there. Though the face of the protestor was a little uncertain, and a little self-conscious, the overall effect was quite powerful, like the single protestor in Tienamen Square stopping the tanks...

Healing

This is the first text that I have tried to type with two hands since I broke my hand a month ago. It's stiff, but it's healing rapidly. I'm wearing a splint all the time, and am just taking it off to wash and exercise my fingers a few times a day. This is the first time I've included typing as an exercise. It's starting to hurt a little now, so I think I'll put the splint back on. I am VERY much looking forward to having full use of my left hand again...

Broken and Slow

I broke my hand a month ago today, in a Wal-Mart parking lot. I was helping a friend move a truck full of furniture. I opened the back of the truck, and a kitchen counter fell on me. I hadn't packed the truck at its last stop, and the kitchen counter wasn't tied down. I broke the fourth metacarpal bone in my left hand. I had to have surgery to reset the bone, and now I have three titanium screws holding the bone together.

While I don't feel like I'm moving much more slowly as a result of this, typing is a total pain. It's continually annoying or depressing as I'm confronted with things that should be easy to do that aren't: moving boxes, getting something (like my keys) out of my left pocket, putting my shirt on. While, at work, I've been functioning at nearly a normal level, I've been more of a recluse at home. It's a pain to go out. It's a pain to try to work. I'm watching more TV than usual, and playing more videogames (Civilization 4, mostly). I've got a chapter of a book to edit and two lectures to prepare, and I'm in deep procrastination mode. Heal faster, I think... but my real fear is that, once I've got my left hand back, I STILL won't want to catch up on work.

The big lesson of this injury for me is that we really do choose the pace at which we function. When I hurt myself, I was deep in a cycle of doing too much, moving too fast. I felt like life was just accelerating, continually, without a break. Then I hurt myself and I have been doing less. And there hasn't been a disaster. It's been ok. I've been functioning just fine, at a slower speed. So, if it's possible to slow down when you hurt yourself, why isn't it possible to slow down whenever?

Though the pace of the world seems to be increasing, the responsibility is on each of us to choose the pace at which we will function. You are responsible for your own actions. You are responsible for your own emotions. And you are responsible for your speed. Find the speed that works for you and allow it to shift to match the world around you. Become a conoisseur of different rates of motion, thought, and change.

It used to be that our pace was set by the world around us. We were faster than the world, and so we spent a lot of time waiting for things, people, information--like waiting for the FedEx to arrive. Now, in an age of instantaneous access to information and media of all kinds, and on-demand communication with anyone, anywhere, the machines are finally faster than we are. The machines are, finally, waiting for us.

Good. So make 'em wait. You take your time.

Everything you know is already out of date

(written for submission for the Spring Newsletter of the IIDA-NY Chapter)

The Internet has brought unprecedented changes to the way we work and live—email, Googling, Ebay, Amazon, instantaneous access to the news. We are now at a point where we are beginning to achieve critical mass (there are, as of January 2006, a billion people on the Internet) and the changes that the Internet is bringing to our lives are, if anything, coming at an increasingly faster rate.

We are now in the era of “Web 2.0.”  Web 1.0 was when every site was like an ad, flat and static, updated by one person or a limited team. Now, in the era of “Web 2.0,” things are becoming more dynamic. We’re seeing a lot more interactivity, and a lot more many-to-many communications. Everyone is a potential web publisher; everyone is a potential contributor to the dialogue that is happening online. This massive interactivity, in real time, around the clock, has real implications for the way we communicate with our clients and market our services. How does the immediacy of an emailed proposal change the client relationship? How does the fact that your client is reading your blog change how you relate as professionals?

Here are four ideas about how the facts of life, work, and professional communications are changing:

1.         You can find out anything about your clients—and your clients can find out anything about you.

Everybody Googles. There’s a well-known cartoon by Peter Steiner that appeared in the New Yorker (July 5, 1993)  with two dogs sitting at a computer. One dog says to the other, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.” Today, using the Internet, anybody can find out if you’re a dog, or if you’re the leader in your profession, or if you’ve ever been arrested, or if you bought a house recently. The Internet has moved from an anonymous communications medium to a venue that is hyper-public, and recorded in perpetuity. A recent BusinessWeek article reported on prospective employers Googling job applicants, and finding quite a bit revealed on sites like MySpace.com. We all have a lot more information about each other at our fingertips than we used to, but what we do with it, and how it changes how we relate as professionals, is an open question.

2.         People are talking—about everything—including you.

There is an incredible amount of chatter on the Internet. On blogs and in forums, users post on every topic imaginable—reviewing their new digital camera, sharing advice or personal anecdotes, complaining about an employer or a service provider. There’s an old adage in marketing that if a customer is happy, they'll tell two people about you, but if they're not happy, they'll tell nine people about you. Today, if you provide service that a client is not happy with, the client could easily tell thousands of people. It's more important than ever to manage all of your relationships carefully—with clients, employees, partners, consultants. To check out the kinds of chatter that are happening online in our industry check out the Gutter, the design-gossip page of the Curbed real estate blog. The forums in Archinect can get a little saucy, too.

3.         People are sharing—a lot.

One of the most positive things about the Internet is the amount of collaboration and knowledge-sharing that is taking place. Wikipedia  is quickly becoming the best source in the world for information on anything; however, since the articles are written by an army of volunteers, you sometimes need to provide your own reality-check to the information you find there. Programmers utilize the Internet to work collaboratively on open source software—such as Linux or OpenOffice, a free, open source Microsoft Office clone. People want to participate, be a part of building something, and be recognized for it. All companies would be served by learning to harness the passion of their customers (think about the way that Amazon allows any customer to write a review of any product in its catalog) or their employees (Google gives every employee one day a week to work on innovative personal projects) to support the success of the company.

4.         How soon is ASAP? How fast is too fast?

Wherever you are, your client can reach you. You’ve got a mobile phone. You can check your email. You can respond to a request by emailing a PDF file of a plan or a rendering or a contract. In this entirely digital, mobile-enabled, always-on world, what’s to stop you from responding instantly to any communication, any request from any client, at any hour, from any location? Well, you just can’t work like that, right? Sometimes you need to turn the computer off, let the phone go to voice mail, and leave the Blackberry in the next room. But determining the parameters of when you are on and when you are off is getting harder all the time.

There’s so much change underway in the way we communicate, it’s tempting to make overbroad statements like, “It’s all changing!” But, in fact, it isn’t. We are riding an accelerating parabola of change, but what this means is that essentials are as important as ever. People do still hire people, so building personal relationships with clients based on trust and mutual respect is still the most important thing to do to build business. The Internet doesn’t change that—it just provides a new landscape in which to do it, with new rules and new challenges.

Why Things Go Wrong

There's a famous quote (and the only attribution I can find right now is from Robert Fothergill's play Public Lies, written in 1993, but I doubt that's the original appearance) that says something like: "There's only one way to get it right, but there are an infinite number of ways to get it wrong." While I've always believed this was basically true, it's occurred to me this week that, in fact, when things go wrong, there are actually only a few areas in which the problems can occur.

Part of my thinking on this is influenced by reading Marshall McLuhan lately. McLuhan posits that everything is basically media, that "media" is any extension of the human form. If this is, in fact, true, then we can look at building a building and writing this article as both actions to create media. In other words, they're both part of a very similar creative process.

So what is this process, and where do things break down? Well, I've noticed at work that I'm often blaming either strategy, or communications, or leadership for basically anything that goes wrong. For example, the Enron and Arthur Andersen collapses were both failures of leadership, because leadership is responsible for injecting a vision, a mission, ethics, and style into any creative process. And in the case of those two companies, clearly, who ever was keeping their eye on the ethics was clearly out to lunch.

Communications are at fault a lot of the time--we've all seen that. One of my favorite communications snafus is when somebody uses a pronoun in a sentence (such as "It is really important to me.") and the person listening to the message things the pronoun ("it") is referring to something totally different, like say, getting home at a decent hour, when actually the person is talking about keeping Roe v. Wade from getting overturned or something.

When strategy breaks down, it's usually because somebody hasn't thought things through, or there isn't agreement among decision makers. A great example here is the AOL-Time Warner merger. Did anybody have a plan there? Or, of course, more topically, the Iraq War. Did anybody who actually knew anything about Iraq actually think this would be easy? Was anybody who knew anything about Iraq actually consulted? If they were consulted, did the decision-makers actually listen to them, or did they just barrel ahead, following their mission, without regard for reality.

So, generally, things go wrong when either leadership is absent to provide vision, mission, ethics, and style, or when a strategy is based on incorrect assumptions, or when the strategy is not communicated clearly. But there's one other place where things can get messed up: knowledge. A leader needs to look around and see the world as it is, and gather information. Then, that information must be viewed with perspective to transform it into knowledge. One of the great failings of any leader is not acknowledging that which you do not know. If you don't know what you don't know, you have a serious blind spot, and you are doomed to fail. This is certainly part of what happened in Iraq (but I believe the strategic failure was far greater than the failure due to lack of knowledge).

I created a little sketch to illustrate what I'm talking about here--that any process is driven by perspective and information, and follows a process of gathering knowledge, creating strategy, and developing communication--all informed by leadership. Here it is:

I've got an 11x17 of this hanging above my desk, and I'm thinking about it and trying to continue to develop it as a model for thinking about leadership and action.  (PDF File here.)  Let me know what you think!

A Political Exhibition at the Center for Architecture

The new exhibit at the Center for Architecture on Barcelona, "Barcelona in Progress," is the most political thing that the Center has done since it opened in Fall 2003. What better way to point out the failings of New York's public and private development community than with an exhibit that features a city that seems to be able to get it right, creating great public buildings and spaces that are well designed and that work for the people of Barcelona?

For example, just look at Torre Agbar, the building that was just completed in Barcelona for Agbar, the water company in Barcelona. Whether it's your taste or not, you've gotta admit that the design is certainly more ambitious than anything proposed for Ground Zero.

There was a great article on Bloomberg News yesterday about the exhibit at the Center, and what it says about the lack of a cohesive design-oriented plan for Ground Zero. Read it here:

What Ground Zero Planners Could Learn From Barcelona (Bloomberg News, 4/12/2006)

Business at the Speed of Light

I just sent this proposal in to ARC-US to deliver a presentation at their conference in San Diego in November...

Business at the Speed of Light
The acceleration of business and communication, and architectural practice in the 21st Century

In the last 25 years, technology has completely changed the way we conduct business. A series of revolutionary inventions—CAD, overnight delivery, faxes, mobile phones, email, and the internet—has transformed practically everything we do.

Now that the internet is nearly ubiquitous, however, we are entering an entirely new era. We have more information at our fingertips than ever conceived of before. We are able to communicate with our clients, staff, and collaborators instantly, no matter where they are.

Add to this the fact that we are now conducting business in a vastly expanded geographic and economic arena. In the last 10 years or so, over 2 billion people have joined the global economy—in China, India, and emerging countries in South America, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. The world is truly bigger, and smaller, than ever before.

In this new environment, the speed of business has increased dramatically, and we are now operating in an always-on, 24/7 global economy. The world does not stop when your office closes. Every business must contend with how to respond as rapidly as possible to their customers—no matter where in the world they're located, no matter what time it is where they are.

But this new era is defined by more than just speed. Now that we can access information and communicate instantly around the globe, new forms of online communication are emerging. It is now possible for every individual who is connected to the internet to communicate with every other individual. Social networking on the internet, in the form of online communities, blogs, wikis, and content sharing, is beginning to transform the way that people interact around the world.

This new environment turns conventional corporate marketing and communications on its head. In a world where everyone (at least, everyone who is connected to the global economy) has immediate access to libraries of current information (that is, current as of this second) on you, your company, your competitors, and your market, companies need to find new ways to communicate with and truly engage clients. It isn't enough to send out a postcard and update your website. You have to find ways to truly provide unique value to your customers—whether through a trust relationship that you have built or through knowledge that only you can provide.

A few key questions:

• How are architects coping with working globally, in a 24/7 environment?
• How are suppliers changing their communications/marketing organizations to accelerate response and provide enhanced levels of personal service?
• How can companies in our industry utilize many-to-many forms of online communication and collaboration to provide increased levels of service and value to our customers?

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David Koren, Assoc. AIA
Senior Associate, Gensler Architecture, Design & Planning Worldwide

David Koren is the Marketing Director of the Northeast Region of Gensler, and the author of The Architect’s Essentials of Marketing, the first book on marketing written specifically for architects. David was the co-chair of the marketing committee of the New York Chapter of the AIA from 2001-2004, and was president of the SMPS New York Chapter from 2005-2006. He has a BFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University, and an M.Phil. in Irish Theatre Studies from Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.

David is an avowed early adopter, and has always been fascinated by technology and its social implications. He's been tracking and participating in the development of the internet for the past 15 years. David combines a deep practical knowledge of the business of design with a vivid imagination and sharp communication skills. He's working on a new book on the speed of business.

The Academy Awards

I watched the Academy Awards tonight for the first time since, I think, 1989. As a result of a particularly painful experience watching the Oscars that year, I have since sworn off awards shows. I've always hated the way that awards shows are so self-congratulatory, insular, and disconnected from any trace of reality.

This year, with Jon Stewart as host, I felt challenged NOT to watch the Oscars. I've had a lot of admiration and respect for Jon Stewart ever since he took on Tucker Carlson in 2004: "You people are hurting America." I watch his show when I can, and find him funny and frequently insightful.

So Sasha and I sat down to watch the Oscars, both working on various projects while passively watching. And I was a little surprised at two things... First, the movies that were up for awards all looked pretty good. You see, we haven't seen very many movies this year... The only ones I'd seen, incredibly enough, were MARCH OF THE PENGUINS and STAR WARS: REVENGE OF THE SITH. Clearly, we have to get out to the movies more (and maybe try working a little bit less). Second, the awards show actually seemed pretty well paced (short speeches!), and it didn't have very much of the "Look at us, aren't we great?" vibe that most award shows seem to have. Granted, some of the material (like Tom Hanks getting attacked by the orchestra in the "what not to do" as an awards recipient clip) didn't work at all... but it's live TV, and I can cut them some slack. I was actually really touched by how honestly affected some of the award recipients seemed (I'm thinking of Philip Seymour Hoffman, but there were many others). And Jon Stewart had some good bits (like coming back from commercial and being "caught" telling the audience why Scientology is so great).

All in all, I found the whole show to be kind of intimate and human, which really surprised me... And, ironically, it feels really good to be reassured by Hollywood, in a nation where it seems like Hollywood is the only real power base that isn't afraid to challenge the dominant ideology. It seems to me that most corporate interests, most of the media, most politicians, and most of the public either believe they are benefitting by direction the country is taking, or seem to feel that they have nothing to gain by speaking out.

So, yes, the Academy Awards actually gave me hope for what our country is capable of... The entertainment industry, which is based on fantasy, "star power," and who-knows-who, seems a lot more real and authentic than our government these days, which seems to be experiencing a near-total lack of anything approaching effective leadership (and I'm not just criticizing the party-in-power here). The Oscars demonstrated more leadership, conviction, and heartfelt warmth than any white house press briefing, presidential photo-op, or political speech I've seen in a long time.

The Marketing Inferiority Complex

NOTE: This is the draft of an article that I've just written for the next issue of the online newsletter of the SMPS New York Chapter.

Let me begin with a story... A few years ago, Gensler hired Bob Quintana, a local affiliate of Tony Robbins, to run a one-day motivational/sales training workshop for about 40 staff members. We met on a Saturday in a large multi-purpose room that we had designed for one of our clients. Personally, I was a little bit apprehensive about the Tony Robbins style, but I went into it with an open mind, and found a lot of the training to be quite useful—the goal-setting exercises, the personal warm-ups, and, especially, the culminating activity of the day, breaking boards.

After a day that alternated between introspection and rah-rah exercises, we were each given a 8”x10”, 1/2”-thick piece of plywood. We were asked to write on one side an obstacle that we were facing in our careers, and to write on the other side what would happen to our careers if we could break through that obstacle. I wrote on one side, “marketing as secondary to design,” which popped into my head as an obstacle I was facing—that I saw marketing as a support function, rather than as a collaborator with design and technical professionals. On the other side, I wrote “increased influence,” which would surely be the result if I could just learn to see marketing and design as equally important partners in building the business of my firm.

They gave us a demonstration of how to break the boards, Bob cued the high energy music, and each of us, in turn, broke our board. I've never looked at the relationship between design and marketing the same way again.

As President of the SMPS New York Chapter, I talk to a lot of marketers about their jobs and their career development within their firms. “They just don't appreciate me.” “I feel taken advantage of.” “My principals don't see the value that I bring.” “You're not going to believe what they did this time...” I think we've all been there, at one time or another.

But we all have it within our power to change the roles in which we are cast by our principals. But first, we have to change our own beliefs about our jobs and the value that we bring to our firms.

Many marketers feel beset by “tasks” (production, administration) when they really want to be doing “strategy.” “If I could only get past these tasks, I could be a strategic partner to my firm's principals,” I've heard many marketers say.

Your firm's principals have expectations of what you do, and how you do it. The challenge for each of us is not only to fulfill their expectations, but to exceed them. You have to get the production tasks done, and then look for ways to add value to your firm that your principals can see and appreciate. One easy way to add value is through online research, Googling the client that your firm is pursuing (without being asked!) and providing your principals with intelligence that they can use to understand the prospective client and their needs. When you take the initiative and do this, you demonstrate that (1) you care about the same things your principals care about, (2) you have the intelligence to find information that is valuable, (3) you are driven, and (4) you can provide more value than just typing, collating, and stapling. You're saying a lot, without saying a word.

That's only one example. My point is that, in order to change the perception that your firm's principals have of you and your role, you have to find a way to deliver what is expected, provide something more, and have it recognized as adding value. In order to figure out what the “something more” is that you can provide, it helps to see yourself as a strategic partner to your firm's principals.

You aren't overhead. You are a strategist. Change your own perception (while still getting the job done) and you can change the perception of everyone around you. As Gandhi said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.” If you want to change your situation, start by changing yourself.

Free Internet for Everyone

'I am worried that it could just be half the world that is flat and that it stays that way.'
-- Bill Gates

I just had an idea... Somebody needs to run for Congress on a 'free internet for everyone' platform... Everyone, not just Americans. We need to raise the political dialogue above debates over-who-did-what-to-whom and whether we should rename French Fries to Freedom Fries and really talk about the contribution that America has made to the welfare and prosperity of the entire world, and needs to continue to make. We have to get everyone on the internet, as quickly as possible, or the gulf between the information have and have-nots will widen to become an almost irreconcilable gap. It should be a mission of the United States government, in the interests of creating a more connected, prosperous, and harmonious world, to make this happen.

The Revolution Will Not Be Billable

Part of the massive change that's happening in the way we work and live has to do with when you're on and when you're off. More of us are on more of the time. We check email on the weekends. We're reachable via our mobile phones. We all talk about the intrusion of work into our personal lives, but the corrollary is also true: our personal lives are intruding more and more into work. And the technology which enables our employers to find us anywhere also enable us to get out of the office and still be reachable. The tools of subjugation are also the tools of empowerment.

It's clear that the 8-hour workday and 40-hour workweek are history. We are also not just employees any more--we are free agents who are employed based on a mutually agreed-upon contract. We are owners in our companies (through ESOP programs or just by having shares in our publicly traded companies) and we need to start acting like it.

If you've got a great idea, act on it! Worry about who gets paid what and who gets credit for it later. Document what you do, and be careful, but don't be afraid to jump in and make change where you are. Corporations are no longer ruled by people who have all the ideas; our jobs are no longer to simply fulfill what our leaders tell us to do. We are here to help our companies move faster, be smarter, and be more efficient. And that requires our brains.

So, the revolution will not be billable. Focus on the idea, the innovation. Not the money. Believe in the idea, and the money will take care of itself.

The Walls Come Down

"'Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down.' I could say 'Elves' to him,
But it's not elves exactly..."
--- Robert Frost, "The Mending Wall," 1914

"In Internet time, there are no secrets, there's no time for delay. There are plenty of competitors who are going to eat you alive. You need to not take a breath, and start over, and do it again, as soon as you get done with one. And you need to juggle three or four of these, all the time. That's how you compete and survive if you're in the software business on the Internet."
--- Jim Bizdow, President, RSA Security, from "Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet" (PBS)

"The entire idea of this book makes me think my head is going to explode."
--- Sasha Koren, February 2, 2006

Welcome to the 21st Century. I think it's taken us a few years to figure out what this new era is about, but now that it's becoming clear, we all have to adjust and consider how we find balance. The walls are coming down, and the boundaries and definitions that we have applied to our lives are changing.

I think that speed is the defining factor of this new era. In The World Is Flat, Tom Friedman makes the case that the start of the current current trend of globalization began with the Berlin Wall crumbling in 1989, and then was enhanced by FedEx, Netscape, UPS, Napster, and other revolutionary links between locations and people around the world. Now, we live in an era in which it may soon be possible to actually work anywhere and so, as Richard Florida says, cities and countries are competing for top talent. Places around the world, such as China, India, and Southeast Asia, have entered the global economy, and now capital and people can move around the world as freely as ever.

What's the necessary result of this tremendous mobility? Both equality, and division. But the boundaries are shifting so fast that it's tough to see it. The twentieth century boundaries of race and class and geography and time and control of information and hierarchy and identity are all becoming obsolete. Success, in this new era, is about finding balance and integrating your identity in a world that is always on, in a landscape of information and connection that is as close as your cell phone, or the nearest wi-fi hotspot, in a world where everything is recorded, you're always on camera, and everything you type (basically) is in the public domain.

This is the new book I'm writing:

SPEED
Coping with the pace of life and work in the 21st Century

I'm going to write it quickly, and I'm going to write it on this blog. I'm researching the topic now, and I'm moving as fast as I can.

Why is speed the result of the boundaries going down? Well, the more that we are always on, and the more that technology and connection is ubiquitous, the faster that our clients, our friends, our customers expect us to respond. A week for a response? Where were you yesterday? Where are you right now? I need it now! This is an emergency! And, as the artificial excuses for delay become more and more impossible to maintain, we are all accountable for being plugged in, and responding immediately, bringing our full selves into the Internet, onto the web, into the public domain.

I believe we've only been into the new economic boom for about six months, since the last half of 2005. But everyone who seems to feel this new era that we are in complains about the pace. The statements "I'm swamped" or "I'm working too much" have become almost passe. It seems like everybody in the creative class who is plugged into the global economy is working too much, as we all struggle to keep up with the rising expectations. So the big question is, how do we cope? How do we find balance in this new era? How do we find a way to turn off?

I think we actually need to find ways to bring more of ourselves to what we do, and to be really firm with what our needs are. Being overly accommodating to our clients and our friends may no longer be possible in a 24/7, always on world.

Stop and Go

I went to a Buddhist lecture last night, not because I'm a Buddhist, but just because I'm interested in many of the ideas of Buddhism, and because I like listening to people who are good speakers talk. I've never been to a Buddhist lecture before, but I know that, generally, people who are priests or ministers or rabbis are pretty good speakers, mostly because they have to do it so much.

Anyway, I arrived late, and left early. What struck me, upon entering, was the immense sense of stillness and peace that had been created in the room. The room, in itself, was nothing special. It was a congregation room in the Community Church of New York, where I had never been before. The room had been decorated with some Buddhist tapestries and posters. But basically it was the inside of a basic, mid-20th century, boxy, brick church. But the room was totally serene. There was so little movement. I sat in the very back, right by the door, and dropped both the bags I was carrying. The usher, a pleasant and earthy woman, said to me, "You can move up." I replied, "I'll move in a moment." And she was fine with that. But I didn't move. I got kind of stuck in the back, watching people come in late, and sit down around me, and then move up into the congregation.

A young couple came, with a baby, and sat down next to me. I thought, "A baby! That's totally going to ruin the serenity in here." It didn't. The baby slept, silently, almost motionlessly, and the couple held hands. I watched another man come in, sort of agitated. He sat next to me, moving his hands together compulsively. Gradually, over the course of two or three minutes, the movement stopped, and he shared in the stillness of the room.

When the speaker, Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong, began to talk, she spoke in a highly modulated pattern, with what I thought was a slight Irish accent. She stressed every word she said, and only tossed out two or three at a time, like this: "following... in the footsteps... of Buddha..." I enjoyed listening to her, but the substance of the talk didn't hold new information for me, particularly. I mean, it's not really about new information, is it? It's about learning to silence your own internal chatter so you can just be. Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong's talk was about providing points of reference that people could latch on to in order to find out how to silence their own internal chatter. And it was delivered in a manner that was also devoid of any distractions. It was, in a sense, perfect.

I dozed off twice. Or, at least, I achieved a highly restful state there in that serene room. It didn't matter. It was not a "sleepy room" like you find in a boring lecture. It wasn't boring. It was highly concentrated and minimal in the extreme.

After about an hour and a half or so, I broke my own serenity and left. It wasn't that I was bored, or that I needed to go. I just felt that I had seen what I had come to see, and heard what I had come to hear. The talk, in particular, as I've said, didn't hold any new information that I hadn't read or heard before. But the room was fascinating, and the people who came were really interesting, how they plugged into the serenity. I think I could have been the first person to leave. People just kept coming, and nobody seemed to leave.

What strikes me, upon reflecting on the experience of the lecture, is that it was such a different kind of space than most of us typically find ourselves in. It was a unique, highly attenuated moment of intense serenity and peace. So thick you could cut it with a knife. It was an addictive stillness.

I think most of us find our lives as a frantic concatenation of somewhat random activity. We move faster and faster, doing more and more, and never quite achieve peace. But I think that, in order to be happy, we have to achieve some harmony with the frenzy. We have to find a balance between stillness and motion. Maybe it's a stillness within to mirror the velocity of our bodies. Or something like that. Is it possible to be at peace and in constant motion?

I left the lecture feeling like I got something out of it, but I didn't need more. I saw, in that room, one way to achieve peace and, if Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong is to be believed, joy. But, personally, I don't believe that I can find joy in stillness. I need to be moving, as quickly as possible, with some kind of balance inside. That's what I'm striving for: peace inside while moving at infinite speed.

In and Out

Globalization is very good for some (maybe even most) people. It's going to be very difficult  for others. As barriers to trade and the free movement of capital come down, the accelerated movement of goods, money, and ideas will make some people very rich indeed. It will be a huge challenge for the rest of us.

Throughout the last hundred years or so in America, historical trends, economics, social policy, communications technology, and culture have served to, if anything, reduce the class differences that exist in our country. The CEO may have made 20 times what you made, but everybody watched the same TV shows, the same sporting events. Everybody got to go on vacation. Most people could afford cars. The 'American Dream' was being realized by more and more Americans.

Over the last few years, we've seen a regression in that trend. CEO salaries are through the roof, in some cases totally to thousands of times the salaries of their junior employees. I recently saw an article that pointed out that, over the last 20 years, the average salaries of the best-paid 20 percent of Americas had gone up by approximately 30 percent, while the salaries of the poorest 20 percent had only gone up by 16 percent. The rich are, in fact, getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer.

Globalization will only serve to accelerate this trend, at least in America (in India and China, the poor are getting richer, too). Just as globalization means that, essentially, the world's best talent is competing with the best talent around the world, it also means that the workers of the world are in competition, too. So Ford has to lay off 30,000 workers and close 14 plants because, in global competition, they can't compete if they're paying US union wages.

In his books Rise of the Creative Class and Flight of the Creative Class, Richard Florida makes the case that the existing paradigm for class in the U.S. is obsolete: that people are defined more by what they do than by how much capital they control, and that capital follows creativity to such an extent that our most creative workers are also generally our best paid. I would like to take this one step further... We are rapidly becoming a society of two classes: those who are 'in' and who are participating in the global economy, and those who are 'out' and are not.

A few ago, in the dot.com years, these would have been described as the information 'haves' and 'have nots.' I think, for the first time, we are seeing the economic affects of being a 'have' or a 'have not' with regard to information technology.

Those who are 'in' are participating in the evolution of our society, whether through their brainpower, their leadership, or by investing their capital.

Those who are 'out' are living, functioning, trying to get by. Their biggest goal has to be to try to get 'in' and participate in the global economy, tap into the dizzying acceleration of change that shows no signs of slowing.

Our biggest goal as a society should be to help those who are 'out' to get 'in.' A world in which half of the population earns $500,000 a year or more, and the other half earns $8 an hour, will be a scary place indeed. (I'm reminded of the future earth in H.G. Wells' The Time Machine.)

We have to reverse the widening divide between rich and poor in America. We have to create educational and social structures to help more people get into the global economy. if they can't, we'll all suffer the consequences.

Speed and Globalization

What's happening now? What is this 'new boom' roller coaster ride we're on? I'll tell you... I think we're finally reaping the tremendous gains in productivity and efficiency that communications technology and globalization have been threatening to bring for years.

It really is on the verge of being a 24/7, always on world. (I'm thinking of writing a paper or giving a talk called 'Everywhere and always on/right here, right now' because they really are the same thing--more on this later.) I'm writing this post as an email on my TREO while I'm waiting for and riding on a subway car--I'll send it when I get outside.

Let me tell you one story from today that illustrates where we are and where we are going... And architect in Melbourne, Australia is working on a big headquarters building for a bank and wants to team with Gensler to design the work environment. So he picks up the phone and dials the LA office of Gensler (Why LA? I don't know.). The person who answers the phone in LA writes an email to some people in our DC office, because she thinks they may have banking experience there, and copies a bunch of people in the LA office, too. The DC office, fortunately, knows that our financial experience lies in the New York office, which is coincidentally located in New York, the financial capital of the world. (To their credit, LA knows a lot about the entertainment industry and DC knows a lot about working for the Feds... Imagine that!) Anyway, DC bounces the email to me, and copies everybody in LA who had been copied before, and a few in DC and in NY, too. I go online, and find that we may have actually have worked with this architect before, on a big development in Dalian, China. I also know a certain studio director in NY who has lots of financial experience AND is an Australian. So I wrap all this info up in an email, attach a secure PDF file with our big bank qualifications, and bounce it back to LA to send to Melbourne. One additional point of note: the email from LA said that the architect in Melbourne wanted our info for a meeting with the bank client today. Which today? I'm doing this at 7pm in New York... It's the middle of the next day in Australia! Hoping that the call had just come in that morning (rather than the previous day), and that we could still get our info to the architect in Melbourne, I pressed send.

Things like this are beginning to be normal, everyday occurances. Just watch what happens next.

Now I press send on this so I can look at the menu in this Mexican restaurant...

On Fear

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom, in the pursuit of truth as in the endeavour after a worthy manner of life."
  --- Bertrand Russell

"There is nothing to fear but fear itself."
  --- Franklin Delano Roosevelt

One of the things I think about in those moments when I'm not either working, socializing, or sleeping (these moments are getting increasingly rare) is what I'm going to write my next book on. Not that I've got time to write a book right now, but I really want to make time for it and write another one. I had thought (in a previous post) that I might write a book on workforce motivation, but I'm finding that it really isn't grabbing my attention right now (although I think I could probably sell the idea to a publisher).

One idea that came up a few weeks back was to try to write a book that might benefit Gensler in some way... you know, like a book on Sprawl or Sustainable Design or some urban planning concept. But I'm having a hard time coming up with an idea that I'm the right person to write about. I'm very interested in cities and community planning, but I don't have a developed angle yet.

An idea that popped into my head this morning is to write a book on FEAR. I had coffee this morning with a friend who does marketing for an engineering firm, and we were talking about topical issues, such as Pat Robertson saying Ariel Sharon had a stroke because God is punishing Sharon for splitting up Israel. I expressed my belief that the current WAR ON TERRORISM and the ISLAMIC JIHAD are a conflict of the Puritans on this side fighting the Puritans on that side, with Europe and the rest of us stuck in the middle. As I was walking back to my office, I was thinking about what motivates people to shut down their thinking, to believe that only one point of view is valid, and that conflicting opinions and beliefs must be repressed or destroyed... it's fear.

Fear, it seems to me, is the source of many (or all?) of our problems in the world today, and if people can better learn to manage their fear, they'll be much saner and able to make better decisions, and lead happier lives. As Frank Herbert wrote in DUNE, "Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration." Fear affects our decision-making, and the way we relate to other people. We all need to work on managing our fears in order to function and live together.

It's a developing idea... I'm not sure that I could sell it, but I'm really interested in it.

Architectural Record reviews my book!

It's only been out for 15 months... but now the most widely read and important architectural magazine in the United States has reviewed my book!

Have a look:

Architectural Record review of the Architect's Essentials of Marketing

"The Biggest Mistake Marketers Make" - Published!

Happy new year! I've been busier than ever, it seems, over the past few months. It's been really tough to keep up with work, the SMPS, and having some kind of social life. I had almost forgotten how busy things were in 1999-2000, but it feels like the economy and the speed of transactions have returned to that pace... I'll try to keep up, and I'll try to keep posting!

The article I wrote a month or so ago, "The Biggest Mistake Marketers Make," has just been published in the SMPS-NY Chapter Newsletter:

The Biggest Mistake Marketers Make

Treasure Island

Interesting article about really interesting proposed development on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay...

It's got high-rises, it's got organic gardens and it just might be a model for cities everywhere

"Free Market Would Never Pick Sprawl

I just came across this really interesting article... which posits that sprawl is actually the result of government intervention in the free market, to artificially insulate the "haves" from the "have nots":

"Free Market Would Never Pick Sprawl"

Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure

This is the smartest article on marketing and branding I've read in quite a while... The link goes to the HBR site where you can buy the article...

Marketing Malpractice: The Cause and the Cure

The Biggest Mistake Marketers Make

(Hint: It’s  not misspelling the client’s name!)
by David Koren, Gensler Architecture Design & Planning Worldwide
SMPS-NY Chapter President, 2005-06

(Note: This article was written for the Winter 2005/2006 issue of the newsletter of the SMPS-NY Chapter)

--------------------------------------------------

“I don’t want to work on proposals anymore.”

You’ve heard it said. You may have even said it yourself. Many marketers view proposals as the bane of their existence, a rote task, the thing that keeps them from becoming more “strategic.”

Personally, I think this attitude is damaging to your effectiveness as a marketer, your success in your current position, and the development of your career.

It’s easy to understand where the attitude comes from. There are a number of factors that make proposals, for many of us, a real drag. First of all, most firms are not adequately staffed in marketing—either the marketing staff numbers are two low, the skill sets aren’t right, or the marketers simply haven’t been around long enough to know how to do their jobs effectively. Then, to add to this, most firms aren’t particularly strategic about the work they go after—too many proposals, with too few wins, makes the job of preparing proposals feel like working on the assembly line in a sausage factory. Third, of course, is the priority that some principals place on proposals—evidenced by behaviors such as sitting on an RFP for days, waiting until 5pm to sit down to talk to the marketer about the proposal, and acting as if the proposal is much less important than everything else going on.

So, in response to all of this, many marketers decide that the development of their career must be in some other direction—either into a different industry, into public relations or graphic design, or into the vague cerebral regions of “strategy.”

There’s a classic Harvard Business Review article from 1960 called “Marketing Myopia” by Theodore Levitt (reprinted in his book The Marketing Imagination). In the article, Levitt makes the case that the railroads went bankrupt because they didn’t understand what business they were really in. They thought they were in the business of moving people and goods around by rail. If they had just understood that they were really in the business of moving people and goods from place to place (regardless of mode of transport), those same companies would probably own the airlines today. A simple redefinition of purpose could possibly have saved an entire industry.

I think you can apply this same rationle to thinking about your career as a marketer. What business are you really in? What is your role in your organization? What value do you bring? If you feel like your value is in cranking out proposals, maybe you just need to re-imagine your role and purpose.

The way I see it, marketers and the marketing function are vital parts of our organizations. Our mission is to partner with the principals of our firms to bring in work. Sometimes that involves proposals and presentations, and other forms of direct business development support. Other times, we need to work on more indirect marketing efforts—like direct mail, media relations, events, holiday cards, even rebranding efforts.

Strategy is everywhere. It’s in everything we do. Strategy is the essence of the value that we bring to our organizations as marketers. But, in my view, strategy disconnected from implementation is just talk. It’s easy to “wax strategic” and leave implementing the strategy to somebody else, and then blame that somebody else when something goes wrong. (Just look at our nation’s response to Hurricane Katrina for evidence of what can happen when a strategy is developed, but it’s not clear who’s job it is to implement it, or even how it should be implemented.) As a marketer, your job is to partner with your firm’s principals to develop a strategy, and then to see that strategy through. That may mean proposals, and that may mean a postcard. It could be anything. Whatever it is, it’s in support of your firm’s overall strategy.

When we are truly strategic, and thinking and working in alignment with our firm’s strategy for growth, we become indispensable. But strategy, and the implementation of strategy, cannot be outsourced or delegated. It’s our job. And it’s a great job to have.

Three Great Quotes

Today, I happen to have come across a few great quotes that relate to marketing:

"You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who does what you do." - Jerry Garcia

I was interviewed this morning by a reporter for Oculus, the magazine and e-newsletter of the AIA NY Chapter. I used this quote as a way to demonstrate that architects need not to compete with one another, but to truly stand out.

"The best swordsman in the world doesn't need to fear the second best swordsman in the world; no, the person for him to be afraid of is some ignorant antagonist who has never had a sword in his hand before; he doesn't do the thing he ought to do, and so the expert isn't prepared for him; he does the thing he ought not to do; and often it catches the expert out and ends him on the spot." - Mark Twain, from "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"

I found this one in a Tom Peters presentation while I was searching for the correct phrasing of the Jerry Garcia quote. I think it speaks adequately of the challenge of being a brand leader (like Gensler). The threat isn't the direct competition. It's the competitor who you don't see coming, the renegade.

"The short road to ruin is to emulate your adversary." - Winston Churchill

I'm a big fan of Winston Churchill, and I plan to use this one, too. Don't be a copycat! Do something different!

Paco Underhill and Presentation Style

I'm at Parsons School of Design watching retail guru Paco Underhill (author of Why We Buy, which I honestly haven't read yet). I'm writing from the lecture not to report on his content, which is somewhat what I expected--a talk about why people buy stuff, a topic I don't honestly care that much about.

I'm writing this from my phone in the lecture because Paco Underhill is one of the strangest presenters I've EVER seen (and I've seen A LOT of people present). I can't figure out what's wrong with him exactly... The room is divided into two halves with a central aisle. Paco keeps strutting up and down the central aisle, twisting awkwardly to the left and right to address the people over there, then the people over here. My first impression is that this is a bad presentation trick that some presentation coach told him to do, because he's a generally uncomfortable presenter, and people who are comfortable presenters strut around a lot.

But there was a problem with my thesis... He's not actually a bad presenter. His speech is somewhat lively and actually delivered fairly well. In fact, if anything, it feels a little pat, a little over-rehearsed. What's weirdest is the combination. This awkward, uncomfortable, forced strut combined with a speech that feels like he's given it 100 times. You'd think that, if this were old material, that he would have figured out how to present it by now. Could the strut just be some new trick that he's added recently to liven it up, at the suggestion of some presentation coach?

That's what I thought, until I heard something else... At first, I heard a pause, like he was struggling to remember the next word... like his word-for-word memorization of the script was beginning to fail him: 'plan my... menu for the week.' So, is this script memorized word-for-word? Is this just a performance? Is he perhaps animatronic?

Then I heard something else... 'We have new ne-necessities.' That's it! He's a stutterer! And this speech has been rehearsed significantly, first with a voice coach, and then, it seems to me, with a presentation coach.

Well, good for him. I admire his 'polish,' or, at least, his sense that in order to make a polished presentation, he needed to rehearse it to death with (probably) two different coaches.

I look at him. I look up at Paco, into his eyes. I put my glasses on in order to see more clearly. I look in his eyes, and he looks terrified. Despite the fact that he's strutting around the place, making large gestures, speaking with gusto. He's simply been rehearsed by experts, over and over and over. Like an animatronic actor.

But most people probably haven't noticed any of this. They probably just think he's a little weird.

That said, once I've figured out that he's a stutterer, and sensed that he's afraid to be making a big presentation like this, I find him empathetic and charming. He seems real and human in a way that he didn't before. Once I know the story, I like him more.

What do I take away from this? Well, I think it's important for each presenter to find their own natural style (and Paco Underhill, despite his growing prominence, despite his attempts to overcome his stuttering, hasn't found it). For my brief keynote at THE Marketing Event on Friday (see text below or elsewhere on this blog), I wrote it Thursday morning, and I rehearsed it once... at about 11pm, Thursday night, in a bar, for four friends. I wanted to do it again at home, but I ran out of steam, and felt good with my one rehearsal, so I let it go. And I think I did well... My words, written word-for-word as I talk, written 24 hours before the speech was delivered (so it was as fresh and topical as possible), then rehearsed once, in a bar. And it felt fine. It was fun. I didn't stress out. I was a little nervous, but channeled it quickly and attacked my material.

Another lesson here is that the more we know about people, the more we learn facts about them that make them real and human to us, the more we are able to empathize with them. The lesson is that we all need to try to bring our entire selves to everything we do, so that we are real and empathetic to those around us.

Now back to Paco's talk...

My Next Book?

Through the last recession, corporations and other organizations have been able to wrest tremendous productivity from the people in the middle of their organizations, the professionals. Professionals are now working in incredibly productive ways, utilizing technology to make them more productive than ever before.

There are still two places in which most organizations are not particularly productive--at the top of the organization (because people who lead organizations, for the most part, still don't understand the true potential of technology, and have not integrated contemporary technology into their working lives) and the bottom of the organization, as most people at the bottom of organizations are not "plugged in"... They're simply punching a clock, doing a job, biding their time.

But imagine if EVERYONE who worked for a company, or a not-for-profit organization, or an acadmic institution, or a government agency really owned the mission of the organization, really understood where the organization was going and felt like they were a part of it... Wouldn't that be unbelieveable? Just imagine if every secretary, every laborer, every clerk were plugged-in to where their companies were going, were real participants in the journey of their organizations. Their jobs would change, they would be happy, they would be able to grow and evolve within their organizations as their organizations evolve.

So... The next book I want to write is a book for the people at the bottom of organizations, people who hate their jobs and want to get somewhere, but don't know where, and have no idea how to make changes in order to get there... Something like, a book called...

'THIS JOB SUCKS!"
transforming the job you hate
into the career you want

Or something like that. I'm working on it.

My Introduction/Keynote for THE Marketing Event, November 4, 2005, 8:45am

Welcome to THE Marketing Event!

I'm David Koren, the President of the SMPS New York Chapter for the 2005-2006 season.

On behalf of the SMPS Board, our Professional Development Committee, and everyone involved in this event, I want to thank you for being here and being a part of this event.

We've never attempted anything like this before. And it's fantastic that so many of you have come out and committed to spending the day with us. With your help, I know we can make this event a huge success—for our chapter, for this community of marketers, and I hope for each of you personally and professionally.

The fact that each of you is here demonstrates a commitment on your part to your career as a professional services marketer, and it also shows a commitment on your firm's part to your development as a professional.

Let me just say a few words about what this event is really about…

Marketing in our industry is a tough job… for a number of reasons… Deadlines, lack of structure, lack of an established career path, and in some cases a lack of appreciation or understanding of what you do from your principals.

But marketers and the marketing effort is vital to the success of our firms.

Though it can often seem like you work in a proposal or presentation factory, the role we play—or that we can potentially play—is far more valuable.

Marketing, at its core, is a critical strategic function of any business. Marketing is about identifying where you want to take your firm, and putting processes and messages in place to help you get there.

In my book, the Architect's Essentials of Marketing, I half-seriously compare marketing to the FORCE from Star Wars. It's an energy that binds your firm together and enables you to get where you want to go. Sure, marketing has to do with proposals and presentations, but it also has to do with every interaction anybody has with your firm or its people—from the way the receptionist answers the phone to the way a project manager conducts a meeting to the way your voice mail system works. It's all marketing.

There's a quote from marketing guru Harry Beckwith that I absolutely love: "Marketing is not a department. It is your business." 

Given this fact, isn't it ironic that, as marketers, many of you probably feel like you live under an avalanche of RFPs, that you work too many hours, that you'll never get promoted within your firm, that your job and your life is just not what it should be.

The fact of the matter is that we all have it within our power to change the way we are perceived within our firms, and to change the way our firms think about marketing.

But if we don't take ourselves seriously, we can't expect the leaders of our firms to take us seriously.

We are vital to the success of our firms. We provide value in ways that the leaders of our firms can't always see. We are communicators. We are collaborators. We are strategic thinkers. We do whatever it takes to get the job done, whatever it takes to help our firms bring in business.

So, what does this have to do with the event today?

We wanted to create an event that would bring the entire community of marketers in New York together. It's great that you're all here. The group of people in this room is the core of the marketing community in our industry in New York. And, by extension, some of the most important people in our industry in New York.

Today is about professional development. And professional development is about more than just learning. Today is about learning, but it's also about building community. The people in this room are your community. We are your network. We are your peers. We are the group who understands what you're up against, the challenges you face, your role in your firm.

Through embracing and connecting with this community, we all become better professionals, and we can all define our own career paths by understanding the roles that others play in their firms.

For me, that's what today is about. Building and growing our community of professional services marketers in New York, and providing everyone in this room with a greater sense of connection, and a greater understanding of your job, and what is possible for you in your career.

That said, I have to ask, how many of you are SMPS members. Put your hands up.

Why is this important? Because the SMPS is the professional organization for people who do what we do. It's our club. Without the SMPS, we are just individuals who happen to do marketing for architecture, engineering, or construction firms. With the SMPS, we are a community of marketers.

How many of you are not SMPS members? Put your hands up.

We want you to join. We want you to be part of our club. We promise that it'll be worth it. There are a number of representatives of the SMPS here today. Please talk to them about membership.

Ok, now… Let me see the hands of the SMPS members again. Good. Now, how many of you are members of a committee at the SMPS?

This is your club. This is your community. If you talk to the many committee members that are here, you'll find (I hope) that they'll tell you that you get out of it what you put into it, that the value of being a member of this professional organization, and this community, comes from participation. That if you're active, you meet people, you interact, you learn, you grow.

If you're not active, you get a bill each year, your firm pays it, and you're a "member." But what are you really getting out of membership?

If you're not on a committee, join one. We've got representatives here from every committee in the chapter—programs, professional development, communications, public relations, membership, special events, sponsorship.

Committees are the engine of the chapter. Committees drive the chapter and push us forward.

This is our organization, and it can be whatever we want it to be. Committees are where ideas come from, and committees carry out their ideas. Get involved, grow within the organization, and be part of where we're going as a community.

Optimist or Pessimist?

I've been thinking a lot lately about the (pessimistic) attitude that things are always getting worse... What's interesting to me is that there are people around who hold the opposite (optimistic) view, and believe that things are getting better... So what's true? Who's right? It's like arguing about the Bible. You can totally find evidence that all of human civilization is on a long (or quick) slide into the crapper. You can also find evidence that we're better than ever, that we're actually at a point where we're about to stop killing ourselves willy-nilly and destroying the planet we live on.

So, which is really true? Personally, I think they're BOTH true. Things are, paradoxically, better AND worse than ever. And getting better AND worse all the time.

And what happens next? Who knows? But I bet it won't be boring...

Why I Work for Gensler

It's 10pm, on a Friday. I just got home from work. And I'm happy about it. What the hell is wrong with me? Well, I tend to work late on Fridays, to catch up on all the stuff hanging over my head so that I can NOT work on Saturdays or Sundays. So here I am, just arrived home, with this feeling of satisfaction at having completed about 80 little tasks that had been hanging over my head since yesterday or earlier.

On the walk home, I reflected on why, exactly, I do this. Why do I work for Gensler? Why do I have the job I have? I've got a BFA in playwriting, and an MPhil in Irish theatre studies. What the hell am I doing working for an architecture firm, as director of marketing. I don't have any training in either of those areas. But, yet, working for architects, and this firm in particular, to help them utilize language and information to make their business better and, ultimately, to make the world a better place, is a shockingly good fit for me. On some days, it's a perfect fit. On some days, it's less perfect. But I still can't imagine a job, for a company (as opposed to working for myself as a stressed-out, client-hungry consultant) that I'd rather have.

Ok, I'll say it. I love Gensler. Jesus, doesn't that seem weird? I had a girlfriend once (when I first started working at Gensler, if anybody's keeping track) who viewed Gensler as some kind of rival for my affections. I'd come home from work, talking about some project I've been working on to win a project to transform Times Square into a more experiential kind place (Toys "R" Us) and she would say something like, "It's always Gensler Gensler Gensler! They own you!"

But the fact of the matter is, it's the other way around. I own Gensler. At least, I own Gensler stock. But more than that, I'm a contributor. I'm an active participant in the collaborative development of this thing called Gensler. It's mine. If I walk out the door tomorrow, something will change at Gensler. I'd like to think it will be less of a great place without me... but the truth is, at the very least, it will be different. I'm part of it. (I can hear my ex in my head: "And it's a part of you... a BIG part of you!")

So what's so great about Gensler? Why can't I think of a better place for me to work? Let me give you a few points...

1. Professionalism

When I was new at Gensler, my boss, Joe Brancato, lent me his copy of David Maister's True Professionalism to read. What? Professionalism? This is the book you want me to read? What are you trying to tell me? But as I started to read the book, I realized that Joe was just trying to clue me in to one of the secrets of Gensler, and actually, if David Maister is to be believed, of success in business--that behaving like a caring, compassionate, and well-behaved human being is a good thing, and that it makes you more successful, not less. Gensler ACTUALLY does this. I shit you not. We don't get into thorny ethical issues. We don't compromise the integrity of one client relationship for another. We walk away. We don't sign contracts that are attempts by big corporations to screw us, make us liable for their mistakes, or make us "their bank" by delaying our payments. We just don't.

2. Collaboration

That's a big word, collaboration. Everybody (at least in the design/professional services world) uses it. But what does it really mean? It means that we're working TOGETHER on this thing. I'm not taking your orders. I am not your monkey. We are partners. You value my input and I value yours. Ok, so I'm a marketer. Unfortunately, in most of the architecture/engineering/construction world, that means I do the copying and lick the stamps (forget that nobody really needs to copy OR lick stamps anymore). At Gensler, whatever I offer is received and valued. I partner with design teams to bring in projects. Marketing is not a support function, folks, it's a strategic function.

3. The People

I used to work in companies where I had no idea how half the people around me got hired. Now, I work for a company where I look around, I see their faces, I look into their eyes, and I know. They're us. They fit the profile. They're mentally curious, they're incredibly smart and incredibly talented, they're diligent, they're emotive, they're good communicators. Not to say people don't behave badly once in a while, or fuck up, or say stupid shit. It happens everywhere. But, to a person, I work with the greatest group of design-oriented folks ever assembled. I'm serious. And there's very little ego involved (see collaboration above), which is VERY unlike most architect's offices.

4. The Potential

We are in the process of changing the world, one building at a time, one office at a time, one store at a time, whatever. When I'm feeling cynical about it, I say to myself, "Oh great, another store to buy jeans. Big deal!" But it isn't that simple. Things changes in two ways--in increments and in revolutions. Incremental change may involve creating a store in which the customer is more the focus, rather than the product. That's better, right? That's a step in the right direction, isn't it, a step toward not just the store, but the entire socio-economic framework geared toward people? Argue with me if you want, I hold that we are making the world better by improving its physical reality, and that is the true mission of the organization I work for.

5. Art

Not artwork, but Art Gensler. The man is amazing. Somebody described him to me recently as somebody that ANYBODY can get into the elevator with and feel better about themselves and life in general when they get out of the elevator. Art's a big lanky 70 year-old who started a company 40 years ago (at 30!) with a crazy idea that turned out to be possibly the best positioning statement in design history: that his firm would focus not on the outside of a building (like most architects) but the inside. And thus was born the interior design professional. But that wasn't enough for Art. "Retail? Sure, we can do that!" "Airports? I spend a lot of time in airports. I can design them!" And on and on, to 28 offices, 2000 people, projects around the world. What makes Art so great? (a) He's just a guy, (b) He actually (for real) cares about you, (c) He's smart as hell, in a homey kind of way, and (d) He thinks he can do anything.

So what happens when Art retires? The world ends, in a quick but painful explosion reminescent of the end of the second Planet of the Apes movie. NO NO NO. I'm kidding. It goes on. George Washington died, remember? It took a LONG time for us to get George W. But that's another story, for another post...

Gee, this sounds like a cult, doesn't it? (The ex-girlfriend: "You've been brainwashed!")

Well, in some future post, I'll talk about why the successful companies of the future will actually look a little (or a lot) like cults. For now, let's just say that I'm out. I love Gensler. Even when I complain about it. Even when somebody fucks up in a way that creates agita for me, or makes a decision that I don't agree with. I still love the place. Leave? And go where? There's nowhere like it.

I like hangovers.

Yes, it's true. I like hangovers. Every time I say this sentence, whoever I'm talking to looks at me quizzically, as if to say, "What the hell are you talking about? Hangovers suck!" I don't agree. I think hangovers are great. Am I insane? Maybe, but hear me out...

When I'm hung over, my brain operates in a totally different way than when I'm straight (or even when I've been drinking). I think the "fogginess" that people associate with the hangover is just a different kind of clarity. When I'm hung over, it's true that it's very difficult for me to go down my "to do" list, checking off item after item... but this is a good thing. When I'm hung over, I do whatever is in front of me, whatever needs the most attention, whatever seems right, without worrying about trying to hold the entire world in my hands, without trying to do everything. Just do one thing. Just do this one thing, and then move on. Don't think about the next thing, think about where you are, and be there. I find hangovers to be actually very centering. When I'm hung over, it's impossible not to be in the moment that I am in. I can't think about the next thing coming or the thing that just happened, because functioning in this moment is taking all of my energy. And I like that.

I think it's healthy to look at the world from a different perspective, and that's exactly what hangovers enable me to do. The world looks different. So, while many people see hangovers as a unfortunate repercussion of a night of over indulgence, I see them as an added benefit, a reason to have an extra drink or two.

The Virtue of Boredom

I'm nearly bored, and I'm excited about it. The last three years have been relentless. In 2003, I wrote a full-length play (The Corps(e) of Discovery) and my non-fiction book (The Architect's Essentials of Marketing), and I bought a big diamond and proposed to Smash. She accepted, and we spent 2004 looking at apartments, buying an apartment, renovating an apartment, and planning a wedding. Then, this year we got married and (finally!) moved into our new apartment. Now it's October. It's back to school time. We've been in our apartment for four months. We've run out of money for furniture. And there's nothing else to do.

What now? I ask myself. Is there some new project on the horizon? What's my next book going to be about?

That said, it's not like work has been particularly quiet (it's been nuts) and it's not like I don't have lots to do as president of the SMPS NY Chapter. But I've found in the past that having some project or interest to occupy my brain or hands in the off-hours makes my life more exciting, more interesting, and even makes me more engaged and better at my day job.

So I'm looking for what's next. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Hail to the Chief

It's finally happened. I'm president of something for the first time in my life. Now what do I do?

My old friend Natalie (the former president) convinced me to run for Vice President/President Elect of the New York Chapter of the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) in June. I won. Then, in mid-September, she stepped down as president to pursue a career outside the design/construction industry as a personal trainer. So I'm left holding the bag. In fact, when I last saw Natalie, she gave me two large bags filled with stuff that I'm responsible for as president--boards and and easel and a big binder of rules and regulations.

Now I keep asking myself, "What am I supposed to be doing?" I promised at the last board meeting (when Natalie officially resigned) that I would do some kind of mission statement or something, giving some indication what my presidency is going to be about, what this year is going to mean for the SMPS. I've got some ideas... but I haven't done it yet. This is something that seemed like it was going to be a fun thing to do when I first had the idea to do it, but I've been procrastinating. This has become that one thing on the list that I don't want to do. I'll do everything else on the list, dancing a merry dance around this one, putting it off, putting it off...

I was supposed to have a year of being vice president before being president, a year to figure out what the heck the organization is about and where I want to take it. Now I've got to dive right in, set some priorities, and start being presidential, dammit. At my first event as president, a networking event, I nearly wore myself out shaking hands, talking up the organization, advertising future events, and selling raffle tickets.

It's not that I don't believe in the organization. I do, very much. It's just that I feel blindsided by this new responsibility, and I'm not quite sure what I want to do now. I'm sure I'll work it out. I'm sure I'll come up with some kind of compelling vision to lead the organization forward.

The SMPS is a professional organization for people who do marketing for the built environment--in other words, architects, engineers, construction folks, and other consultants. Marketing in this industry is still a relatively new thing (architects, for example, didn't compete with each other on fee until 1970) and marketers in the industry have a lot of special challenges. Very often, they're working in isolation inside a firm of people with a totally different career track, working for somebody who generally has no idea what they do or how they do it. Marketers in this industry are also an eclectic bunch, generally having degrees in areas related to English and communications, the arts, politics, or art/architectural history. What makes a marketer good at what he or she does (it's generally a she, by the way) is our ability to communicate and collaborate with the other individuals in our firms.

I think my year as president needs to be about igniting the passions of SMPS members... about inspiring the members of the organization to take charge of their careers, step up within their firms, get active in the SMPS, and do what they want to with their lives. That sounds like a good thing, right?

More on this as it develops...

Language Is Power

I've been thinking a lot about language lately. I've been teaching a writing workshop class at Gensler (3 hours of teaching, 3 sequential Friday lunches), something I haven't done before. When I was first approached by my friend Jim to do the class, my immediate thought was, "Why would I want to do that? I don't have time for that! And what's anybody going to get out of that? I can't teach anyone to write!" But he kept after me, asking for some kind of commitment as to when I would get this class rolling. Sometime in the spring, I proposed that I'd do it over the summer. So, reluctantly, I put together a class in August, and now I'm repeating the class in November.

It wasn't very hard to put it together. Matt in Chicago had done a class like this before, and he diligently documented what he did and what he said. So at first I just took his outline, notes, and materials, and taught that. Now, in November, I've modified some of the curriculum to fit the flow of the class and my own style.

But in spending time preparing and teaching, I've been doing a little thinking about language. "Why is this important? What can I actually 'teach' about writing in three hours?" It's obvious that communicating verbally is one of the most (if not the most) important skills in business. You have to be able to tell your client what they're going to get, how long it's going to take, and what it's going to cost. When something changes, you have to be able to tell them why, and what you're going to do about it. If a professional does not speak and write with confidence, that individual's professional trajectory will be somewhat limited.

A clue came to me at lunch with an entrepreneur a week or two ago. After the normal professional niceties and after I learned about what his engineering firm does, we started revealing our own personal histories--how we got where we are. He told me that he's read someplace that most business leaders are actually "C" students, which I believe is something he tells people to explain himself. When I was telling my story, about being good in English and Science in high school, but choosing to study playwriting at NYU (to the dismay of my physics teacher), he said appreciatively, "You must have a great vocabulary." When I looked at him quizzically (ha! there's that vocabulary!), he offered, "I've read that strong vocabulary is the one trait that leaders around the world share. Leaders of all kinds--business leaders, political leaders, whatever." He meant it. Your vocabulary is a factor that gives you personal power. Which is why, I thought to my self, I'm always hearing radio ads for "Million Dollar Vocabulary" and other programs to teach adults new words.

At around the same time, I got a resume from my boss, Joe. Strangely, it was from a business development person from an engineering firm who had been hounding me lately, trying to get me to set up a meeting at Gensler for her firm's principals to rub elbows with some of our firm's key people. Joe had read through her cover letter and underlined five or six words: winsome, ubiquitous, obsequious, laconic. The last line of the letter is actually, "I hope to anticipate an interview and propinquitous employment." Handing me the letter, Joe said something like, "Look at this vocabulary! What's she trying to prove?" We had a little laugh over it. I think I said, "I think I know her. English isn't her first language. She must've sat with a Thesaurus." I promised to follow up with her, but I don't know what to say when I call her, "Wow! Nice vocabulary! Laconic! I can't believe you actually used 'laconic' in a sentence! Well done!"

Last night, on the walk home, I thought about the Tower of Babel. Everybody was working together, heaving and ho-ing, toting barges and lifting bales, building the biggest monument to man that the world had ever seen. And then something funny happened. They couldn't communicate anymore. Every person spoke in a different language. And the whole thing just fell apart. "Where do I put this corn meal?" And nobody knows what the heck you're talking about. You try to pantomime "corn meal" but there isn't time and it's not a priority to the guy you're talking to and you just can't get your message across. So you go home and stop building the stupid tower and teach your kids to speak the language in your head.

Without language, we'd be fucked. Language is the food of consciousness (or something like that). Language isn't just how we tell each other what to do and what we want; it's how we record what happened and how we feel. It's how we learn and teach. It's how we talk to ourselves and figure things out. Language (and the consciousness that comes with it) is what separates us from the rest of the beasts on this planet. If we can't make and understand words, there's no society, no socialization, no organization, and very little knowledge that is able to be passed down from generation to generation.

So language isn't just important, it's vital. It is, in a way, the substance of power itself. Language is the only way there is to truly influence another human being--whether you're teaching or coercing or threatening or convincing or persuading or seducing or preaching or inspiring. It's all impossible without language.

So work on your vocabulary, try to use laconic in a sentence, and figure out when to use "its" and when to use "it's." Mafia bosses and George W. aside, it's really tough to get to the top if no one can understand what you're talking about. Language makes you powerful, and successful, and influential, and sexy, too.

Marketing: The World of Lies!

The graphic designer who works on my team in marketing at Gensler spent the day yesterday at an Edward Tufte workshop. I went to see him last year, and thought he was just brilliant. He's got a really interesting perspective on information, and I find his ideas about information density specifically to be quite controversial. In today's world, people seem to have a tacit belief that information needs to be presented in an increasing simplified way. We need to show less data, not more. PowerPoint rules the day. Tufte would argue that the answer isn't less data--it's more data. The challenge is to present as much data as possible, as clearly as possible. Tufte goes as far as to say that PowerPoint is, essentially, evil. His essay "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint" makes the case that PowerPoint was responsible for the destruction of NASA Space Shuttle Challenger, by totally obfuscating the risks of bringing the shuttle down. It's riveting reading, and is sure to get a lively conversation going around the conference table when you're rehearsing for that important presentation.

But Tufte goes one step further... He seems to believe that marketing is, in fact, one of the greatest evils in the world today. At the start of his seminars, there's an opportunity to meet him briefly and have him autograph the books that are included in the cost of the seminar. When I was there last year, I waited in line to meet him and get my copies signed. When it was my turn, he asked me what I did for a living. "I'm the Marketing Director for a large architecture firm." He looked away, signed my books, and was done with me. Not that I expected a whole conversation, but it was clear to me that the man didn't have much respect for what I did for a living.

So what? I thought to myself. Who cares what he thinks? But I've actually been chewing on this ever since, turning it over and over again in my head. Is the substance of marketing really lies?

I believe that my purpose at Gensler is actually to serve the truth, to help our staff and our clients get access to information about our experience and our capabilities, and to collaborate with staff members on communications to clients that clearly present what we're proposing to do, how long it's going to take, how we're going to do it, and how much it's going to cost. I'm not interested in deceiving anyone. It's not worth it. It's not necessary. It's not professional.

But when Tufte thinks of marketing, he isn't thinking of me. He's thinking of commercials. He's thinking of packaging design. He's thinking of politicians. He's thinking of communications that attempt to persuade you to do something (usually to buy something), and that are inherently subjective, including all the information that serves the argument, and ignoring all the other data.

Are all commercials lies? Perhaps.

Full Engagement

I've been interviewing candidates for a marketing job here at Gensler. It's been interesting, and I've been meeting lots of really interesting people. I realized today that when I interview somebody I'm really looking to understand them, I'm really looking to get a sense of the whole person. It's not just about filling a spot ("You! Get in that box!"). It's about finding somebody that I can add to the team here and who we/I can grow with. It's like dating.

I think we're moving more and more to a world in which people can bring, and are expected to bring, their entire selves to what they do. It's not enough to punch a clock, and then to spend your evenings writing poetry or whatever. People want to be who they are, all the time, and to have their work lives support that. I find it really exciting, because it's great for everybody: the individual, the team, and the company. The individual feels more connected with themselves, and more comfortable in their own skin; the team builds a deeper, more human connection with each other; and the company gets more productive work out of a workforce that feels like they can truly be and express themselves.

Thinking about this reminds of something the Dalai Lama said in his speech at Rutger's on Sunday, something like, "The purpose of education is to help us reconcile the perceived world from the actual world." As a society, I think we're actually getting better at this, we're actually moving closer to being what we seem to be. In a world of constant surveillance, it's harder and harder to hide parts of yourself (or crimes you've committed) from others.

You just are who you are. It just is what it is. Even at work.

Moment!

Ok. Now I'm just trying "Moment" for the title. Let's test that. Let that sit. I always obsess over names too much. For plays especially. It seems like by the time I've got the name for the play picked out it's halfway written already. So let's try "Moment," see what Smash thinks, and see if it sticks.

The Moment?

Ok. I've changed the name of the blog to be "The Moment" and added "by David Koren" underneath it. That makes it sound like it's a book or something. Fair enough. But "The Moment" as a title? How about "At this moment"? or something like that? Smash originally had the idea to call this blog "Marketecture" because I do marketing for architects, and I've written articles and a book on the topic... but I'd like to write about other things, too. So that title won't work. And I'm just toying with other titles. I fully intend to keep rattling on here until I figure out what the hell I'm doing. Until this somehow connects with who I am as a person and what I believe the direction of my life is. At that point, I'll be a blogger. Now, I'm just prattling on... looking for direction... trying to figure out what is what...

The Moment

Starting is hard. I think I need a name for this weblog. I think part of what is hard is that it is my name up there. I don't want it to be about me. Nobody cares what I had for breakfast. I don't even care what I had for breakfast. So the blog shouldn't be about me. It should be about things. So it needs some kind of title... "The Moment" is the best title I've thought of yet. I like it's enigmatic quality. It has an immediacy: What moment but now? I'll sit with it.

Testing!!!

This is a test of my ability to send an email from my phone and have it
appear as a post in the blog... Did it work?

Blog This!

To tell a story, start at the beginning. If you can't start at the beginning, just start!

I don't know where to start this story. I'm not a narcissist. I can't stand narcissists. I don't like blogs. I don't read blogs. I don't particularly believe anybody cares what I think. Who am I? I have credentials (we ALL have credentials) but so what? Why are you reading this? Why do you care?

I'm starting a blog. I started it about two weeks ago. But I had no idea how to start. What am I going to write about? Who am I writing for? Why bother? Who cares? I became paralyzed with the whys and hows, mired in the quicksand of STRATEGY. There is no strategy. It just is. Deal with it. It's been a struggle. I want to have a purpose. I want to be writing for a reason, not just blathering. But it's not so simple. This is a thing that must evolve. So I just need to start.