Top Ten I Wish I Had Written This

This is the third edition and is out on time (more or less). You can read the earlier editions of my Top Ten here and here. As always, ‘I like them and my gut says so’ is the only criteria for the selection of the posts mentioned below. They are not in any order of priority. I hope you like them as much as I did. More importantly, I request you to continue to direct me to such awesome posts.

• ‘May I market for you?’ by Greg Verdino

“Marketing wasn’t about helping your company sell but helping people buy” says Greg basis an age old definition of Marketing. He raises very simple and pertinent points that will make you think. And hopefully act.

• 'The only choice' by Sam Ismail (An International Smoothie)

Sam Ismail captures the thought that is running in every agency person’s mind as regards what needs to be done to make the business attain great heights (bring back the glory days) A well thought out post calling for tough stance which might seem idealistic but may be the best solution yet.

• 'Why most advertising doesn’t work' by Dave Trott

Dave Trott writing about Bill Bernbach will automatically get featured in my Top Ten. The piece de resistance of the famous Avis case (We try harder) is the 6 point document agreed between Bill Bernbach and the client (Robert Townsend) of Avis. This should become the standard document between agencies and clients.

• ‘Are you a capitalist or a creativist?’ by Rory Sutherland

Great brand owners are creativists in that their ambitions went far beyond self-enrichment. Giving the example of an experiment in 'Experimental Philosophy’ Rory goes on to say that greed is not only bad for business, it is definitely bad for brands. Awesome and I agree completely.

• ‘Are you more than your title?’ by Jeffrey (Call me Jeffrey)

Jeffrey is the Chief Creative Officer of skinnyCorp the owner of the most happening clothing brand threadless. When he says that titles might increasingly become less important in modern businesses you might want to take notice. Not only notice, read this post and hopefully his blog regularly.

• 'An astounding intervention that stopped employee theft' by Bob Sutton (Work Matters)

In this post Bob Sutton presents a case on how a company prevented employee thefts and it is a great read. Bob Sutton is a professor of Management Science at Stanford University and the author of the famous ‘The No Asshole Rule’. He makes interesting point in an almost irreverent way.Lucky students!

• 'The lifestyle business bullshit' by Iain Dooley (Signal vs. Noise)

“When you’re building products or services, there’s a nonlinear connection between input and output. You can put in just a little and still get out a spectacular lot.” This is from the corporate blog of 37 Signals and they should know. This post makes us revisit clichés and debunks them.

• 'Expecting Entreupreuners' by Confessions of a Wannabe Adman

I like this post as it kind of dovetails into Sam Ismail’s one linked above. He says (rants) that agencies (ad) need to have an entrepreneur spirit within and that it will go a long way in bringing dynamism back into the business.

• 'The dumbing down of the dumb' by George Parker

He is crusty, irreverent and brutally frank (read his blog). This post is a tirade against ‘pop’ culture and how technology is making it easier for it to spread. Technology that he takes on includes the most talked about (or tweeted about) and how it is eroding the communication skills of the young.

• 'Parsing out your exes' by The Musty Man

A hilarious piece about one’s ‘exes’ (girlfriends). A sample “A big part of this trick is arriving at the point where you can truly, honestly and openly hope for the best for the person you've just left or, at an even higher level of difficulty, the person who just left you....... you're still mostly hoping that her new boyfriend gets cancer in his dick.” There are two wonderful short videos to go with the post.

(Image courtesy: samscam)

Top Ten I Wish I Had Written This

This is my second instalment of ‘I wish I had written this. It was due in April (the chosen posts were written in March or thereabouts) but delayed for reasons best known to me. Does not matter though as great stuff is always timeless. I am also grateful to all of you who in response to my request have continued to direct me to more such awesome posts. Please keep it coming.

As always, ‘I like them and my gut says so’ is the only criteria for the selection of the posts mentioned below. They are not in any order of priority. Hope you like them as much as I did.

• Passion economy, an e-book by Sean Howard (CrapHammer)

Sean Howard liked and believed in Saul Kaplan’s ‘Passion Economy’ so much that he decided to write about it. He did not stop with that. He made eminent authors contribute and created an e-book that he shared with the rest of the world. That’s passion for you.

• Clients ask all the wrong questions by Bob Hoffman (The Ad Contrarian)

In another life, The Ad Contrarian (Bob Hoffman) must have been the kid who pointed out that the Emperor was in the buff. When you read the above post (and all his posts, for that matter) you will know why. He does not spare anyone and I must admit that I am addicted to his blog.

• Culture, the last advantage of a company? by Adrian Ho (From the head of Zeus Jones)

Nearly ten years ago the founder of Legend Computers in China (now Lenovo) said in an interview that the key to a successful organisation is its culture and how quickly employees are able to become part of it. I believe in this. Adrian Ho states in his inimitable style that culture will be the only differentiator that an organisation has vis-a-vis the collective world.

• Journalists: Where do you add value? by Jeff Jarvis (The Buzz Machine)

Jeff Jarvis asks the fundamental question that should be in the minds (and lips) of journalists. He says originality is the key and goes onto to explain what he means. The lack of it is also the reason why media is struggling these days.

• Post consumption economy by Tim Brown (Design Thinking)

Tim Brown starts off by stating that his interpretation of economics might seem naive and yet goes onto write a simple and lucid piece on economy that I understood - at last!

• What is the value of bullshit? What are the top bullshit professions? by Idris Mootee (Innovation Playground)

Idris Mootee defines the criteria for bull-shit professions and sets out to give a list of ten bullshit professions. He manages only eight of them. The jury is open for the remaining two. One of the practitioners of bullshit is mighty offended and says so in his comments. It is great fun.

The Ad Contrarian pointed out to an almost similar idea of Top 10 Bullshit professions in his blog, posted over five months ago. Whatever be the list, I am happy to say that my industry is strongly represented :)

• The cult of done manifesto by Bre Pettis

It was written in 20 minutes. It is a simple set of 13 statements that is truly awesome. Sample this - “Laugh at perfection. It's boring and keeps you from being done.” Just read it every time you start a work or think you are done!

• Planning Wank by Charles Frith (Punk Planning)

At last, an appropriate title. This is a wonderful and humorous post that questions lot of our beliefs, especially our prejudice towards Microsoft vis-a-vis Apple. The comments that follow make for an equally great read.

• The Art of change by Neil Perkin (Only dead fish)

As a person trying to make some changes in my life and career, I know how difficult it is. Imagine an organisation that wants to get into the social media bandwagon - it requires a total behavioural change. Neil Perkin rightly states that it is an art to make people embrace change and goes onto explain why.

• Business’s increasing proximity risk by Mats Lederhausen (Howsmatter)

Understanding how your products and services affect your customers and the broader society is paramount to avoiding huge problems. The problem that Mats Lederhausen is referring to is the current economic crisis.

• A special post - Days with my father by Phillip Toledano

(Image courtesy: Found Drama)

Top Ten I Wish I Had Written This

‘I like them and my gut says so’ is the only criteria for the selection of the posts mentioned below which I came across during my random browsing. They are not in any order of priority. Hope you like them as much as I did. I also invite suggestions and directions to more such posts – including yours - as I intend to make it a regular feature.

• Great Ideas: Platforms for value creation Vs platforms for creative executions
  

Great brands are built on the value they create for the consumer. This is achieved by ‘doing’ rather than ‘talking’. A fact brilliantly stated by Adrian Ho.

• Revelations and insight
  

‘Insight’ is a revelation according to the author (Aditerate). Not only does it tell you what an insight is but also tells you where you are most likely to find it.

• Creativity and the rise of optimism

Paul Bennett feels that creativity is about collaboration - this is more than ever true now than ever before because of the troubled economic times. He urges businesses (and people) to share, to give - ‘doing good begets doing good’. He should know. He is a Chief Creative Officer at IDEO.

• Ignore everybody

‘Ignore everybody’ is the first point in ‘How to be creative’ by Hugh Macleod (Gaping Void) and it rolls thereafter with one useful tip after another. This is a very old post and the best part is that it is getting published as a book sometime this year.

• Rock logic vs Water logic

‘Try everything and see where it goes’ is the inspiring line in this outstanding post by Dave Trott. With enough examples from people who have dared, Dave Trott tells us that we have to explore to succeed.

• The role of messy in social media
  

Sean Howard (CrapHammer) writes about the need to be ‘messy’ in order to enable conversations. I think this is not only true of the social media space but also advertising.

• Bet on the future

By telling the story of how Rockefeller Center was created during the great depression and became successful in spite of the odds against it, Faris gives us all a message of hope in these unsure times.

• More on Twitter is my Submarine

Here’s a simple piece by J.P.Rangaswami, whom I discovered courtesy Chris Brogan, on why he likes Twitter. He uses the analogy of a submarine to make his point.

• Love (and annoying)

Seth Godin, explains the difference between doing things people love and between doing things people like (less annoying) and why one cannot try to do both. And great brands do things people love.

• So long, and thanks for all the fish

This is a farewell post as Editor by Gina Trapani who founded and created lifehacker.com into the force it has become. It is an inspirational piece especially for struggling bloggers like me.

PS: When I ran the idea of this post past a good friend of mine, he said that the title should be “Top Ten I wish I had written this, but alas can’t!”

(Image courtesy: Johan Jonsson)