Friday, April 21, 2006
Create something out of air
Step 9. Smoke their mirrors.
To be a true guru, you have got to appear to add to the store of human knowledge.
I say "appear to" because some of my fellow (though uncertified) gurus get by with a bunch of stolen concepts that anyone could lift from anywhere. And, as an expert is someone who knows 5% more about a topic than the average person, they often get away with it. (The public is gullible.)
The easiest way to be seen to adding to knowledge is to re-label someone else's ideas. How many times has the Ladder of Loyalty been trotted out and messed with and called things like "The Ladder of Commitment"?
I hit a home run with the concept of "clutterbusters", dimensional mailpieces that broke through the clutter and disrupted the daily routine of the recipient and got great results. I lifted the idea from an old article in Industrial Marketing magazine. I added a psychological explanation for the reactions we were getting, spun right out of my head. And voila! Guru.
Another favourite of mine is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Very handy little model when talking marketing. In fact, liberal use of models denotes aspiring gurudom. Over use of them indicates tryhard.
On the path to gurudom, keep up with the manufacturers of models. They feed the punters' need for certainty. ¶ 3:43 PM
Step 9. Smoke their mirrors.
To be a true guru, you have got to appear to add to the store of human knowledge.
I say "appear to" because some of my fellow (though uncertified) gurus get by with a bunch of stolen concepts that anyone could lift from anywhere. And, as an expert is someone who knows 5% more about a topic than the average person, they often get away with it. (The public is gullible.)
The easiest way to be seen to adding to knowledge is to re-label someone else's ideas. How many times has the Ladder of Loyalty been trotted out and messed with and called things like "The Ladder of Commitment"?
I hit a home run with the concept of "clutterbusters", dimensional mailpieces that broke through the clutter and disrupted the daily routine of the recipient and got great results. I lifted the idea from an old article in Industrial Marketing magazine. I added a psychological explanation for the reactions we were getting, spun right out of my head. And voila! Guru.
Another favourite of mine is Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Very handy little model when talking marketing. In fact, liberal use of models denotes aspiring gurudom. Over use of them indicates tryhard.
On the path to gurudom, keep up with the manufacturers of models. They feed the punters' need for certainty. ¶ 3:43 PM
