By John Canan
April 1, 2004
It was April 2001. I was in the midts of four large corporate deals for my employer. My gut was screaming to me about two of them that they stunk like espoinoage. But the names of these companies, once added to our client name list, would be fantastic. Turned out two companies were scaly-wags and sought enough info to build out the systems on their own. Trusting that the company that I worked for would not sue for breach of NDA because it did not want to garner an agressive reputation. Damned! I should have listened to gut. I knew it. But could not prove it, and those at the top within the organization would not have heard it, blinded by the limelight...
Four years later, I have learned better, I hope. I now listen and right now, my gut is screaming again. This time about how each of us, American workers, are not only a part of the company marketing but a deep part of the brand itself. And it is our responsibility to get the word out about who we are. What we love and what we hate. We market our skills and labor abilities and to re-invent ourselves through our accomplishments. If we wait to punch the clock and for the next download of instructions and leave well-enough alone, we may wait ourselves out of the game.
I have never had much interest in spectator sports. I love to participate and tend to do those things that I can get in there and do. If I want to see cars go fast, I push the accelerator firmly until I reach the desired 120+ mph I am craving. If I am bored and restless, I take an unplanned walk through an unknown natural area and see what I come up with. If I feel predictable and sloth-like I venture out to find a set of rock bluffs and take my shoes off and begin accending.
In an era where your accomplishments and professional value are measured by your ability to say “no” to or veto something, and this global economizing can provide riches and success beyond the '90's imagination, I think, in fact I wholly believe that this will all spin back around. And that we will be wondering how to talk to our customer down the street (or even our neighbor where we live, for that matter). We business owners will wonder how to attract and retain customers in our local area. We will no longer hail the might of the giant, but bow to the wow! of relationships. We are in the midst of "own nothing if you can help it" downsizing and outsourcing, and off-shoring, and job exporting... and I think it boils down to the simple basics that Business started with before there was a Sears and Roebucks, Woolworth, Ford and others. You see, of the 100 top corporations in 1900, more than 75% of them are GONE. Each of us must market ourselves. Become problem solvers and profilt centers not cost centers. Care, and care loudly and greatly from sea to shining to sea to all we know and meet.... let the sun shine on our talents, passions, and abilities.
When I started consulting (by accident) I began to realize it was my curiosity and undying passions that let to the success I was having. I had already started and sold two internet businesses. Not by plan, but because I wondered how to start a Outdoor and Survival School. And then, in 1999 I wondered about how to develop a web site hosting business. I sold one, started the other, and then in 2001 sold the second business. Mostly I wanted to achieve without the resources, what I saw other companies spending 100’s of thousands of dollars to play around with. Which in some ways angered me to the point of enragement, full scale implementations that were not only truly thought out, but had lasting impacts on employees and investors when these projects failed. I noticed through the dot com fallout that it was only the grass roots innovations that were tied to a passionate dream that were still wining. Grassroots, in the effect that these people were on a one-way mission with success or bankruptcy, and so they were still in tune with people. And because of this passion, they were enlivened, engaging, and as a result engage with others. What they really wanted to do probably could not be done. But damned it anyway they were going to do it somehow. And so as a result, names like Jeff Bezos, Seth Godin, Carly Fiorina, Lou Gerstner, and Meg Whitman are just about household names, like Abe Lincoln and George Washington.
What do we do? I say do something! I still wish that I had followed my gut on those business deals that I did not disengage from! And I am still pissed off about it. I still do not subscribe to the one company’s gazillion magazines. Delete anything in my inbox pertaining to or about them, etc. Does it hurt them, hell no! But I prefer to keep their esteemed names off of my radar, as I know that someday these companies will reach a rewarding position of oblivion and irrelevancy. Each of us, who care to still be doing something tomorrow better start doing something today. Think of it as You (your name) Incorporated. There are not many things in the USA to manufacture. There are not as many managerial positions to hide in. There will be a time that we will all need to know something of value and to actually be the value to the companies we work for. For myself, it will be in the form of not working for one company, but serving many while learning from each. This is my brand “me”. My son, will be his own brand him.
I truly believe that the internet and global economy will reach the growth point that it will need to turn back to its roots, its own real and virtual communities and find its strength and grow from these roots. I think that the days of the mom and pop shop keep, will be revisited and that those who win will be the ones who really know their customers.
WalMart and the 22nd century? I do not even think this retail giant will pose a threat to any business in the 22nd century. I think their day has come and gone. And I do not view them as the evil of rural America. There were opportunities, holes, and unserved markets. They filled those niches and did so remarkably! 20 years ago (circa 1984) if you bought something at a Wal-Mart you HAD to tell someone. It wasn’t just the price, it was the experience in whole. The fact they this store had it, at this price, and you also bought this other thing-a-bob, and how you looked in stores in three counties…. There were needs and Wal-Mart fulfilled those needs better than anyone else was trying to do! I love them for that. And do not feel bad at all for those who were already there, could have caused a revolution, but was happy with business as usual… and did nothing to change the world around them and their communities! Uh, good-bye! Think of and only serve yourself and you may find that you are of no use to anyone anywhere except yourself. But unfortunately for you then, no man is an island unto himself, but then its too late.
Do something, do something now! Create, be creative, get off your ass and revolutionize your world! And what you do may be what sends today’s business giant into extinction.
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