National Treasure, Mavens, Seasame Street, BLOGS
.....Global Shakeouts, and Local Fallouts....
CHANGE
Why CHANGE?
Let us first start by introducing a character by the name of Benjamin Franklin Gates. He has been searching for a treasure, the greatest ever, that was believed to have been hoarded and removed out of the old to the new world. But what has this to do with Value Based management (VBM)?
Before coming to that, we like to introduce another personality , Paul Revere. He is remembered as the man who helped in no small way to deliver the birth of a new nation. Well, as the plot goes, the fathers of this new nation had a secret that they wished to hide the whereabouts of this enormous treasure, and what better way to hide the secret than the back of the Declaration of Independence. Here we have Nicholas Cage and Diane Kruger playing the respective roles of Benjamin and Abigail in the movie entitled the National Treasure, hunting for the treasure. Like Ben, we needed a road map in order to find the holy grail of VBM, we needed clues, and just like in the National Treasure, the secret was crying out loud at us, right very here. So what was it? Well, here it is
BLOGS.
Russell, our trusty feline companion, was quick to smell a rat and niftily pawed over the keyboard for the right font for the symbols to turn into legible letters B L O G S. Is this a word? Is this a real clue or another red herring?
We were told that baristas were very creative that they can unravel puzzles while shooting their machiatos, provided we buy a cup of our favourite from them. Open seasame and we had another lead. I was told there was this author who hung out at these caffeine-filled outlets, who had figured a way to draw out all these ants. Well, simply placing sugar along the trail. What a splendid start to a hunt!
I set off for the airport, with Smoke On The Water rocking in the background. In attempting to piece the clues together, I settled down for a cup of cappuccino, and soaked in the ambience at the airport. The place was quiet and tranquil, without the typical buzz one would expect in a marketplace alluded to by Michael Dertouzo. What was I expecting?
Anyway, it was a perfect hideout for solitude and quiet contemplation. Being a compulsive city dweller, I soon succumbed to the need to stay connected, and I whipped out my laptop, and quickly scanned for a network. I was connected without much fuss, and with free access too. That was neat, because I had the best of two worlds: alternating between the tranquility offered by a cloistered lagoon and plunging into the deep blue sea where creatures of all sorts lurked and everything was fair game. Literally, all the world's a stage, where one can articulate, communicate and execute whatever fantasies one dares to venture into, for the world to see. The wonder of technology.
With not much to work on, I keyed in connectors and mavens and google threw up a myriad of sites. And I noticed there was quite a buzz on this topic. It was surreal for it seemed that everyone had gone virtual, teleported into another dimension. It was about a book entitled Tipping Point written by Malcolm Gladwell, who happened to be a marketing strategist for Starbucks. Was it too coincidental, I casted a suspicious glance at my cappuccino as Starbucks seemed to jump out of my screen. It was said that it placed outlets in nooks and corners of office blocks and of streets, just like lining sugar along an ant trail. The turnover of the outlets was said to be high, but it achieved the goal of (re)locating outlets and optimized customer pass through. Such strategy contributed to the phenomenal growth of Starbucks. Things were starting to fall in place.
In it, it described how under the Law of the Few, a few influential people ( connector who knows lots of people, and people of him, a maven is an expert who loves to teach, an information gatherer, obsessive over every single detail and will sniff things out ) can shape opinions on a subject matter and by word-of-mouth tip it to a point of such epidemic popularity. Paul Revere was one such connectors. For things to happen, talent is required to create ideas and technology is for building the info-highway to reach out to the mavens, who will turn to the connectors, who will then propagate it to the rest of the world. Next, is the level of stickness. The more compelling the idea is, and willingness of the consumer to hire its service, the more memorable will be the experience, and the more they will come back for repeats. Finally, the Power of Context. When the community is encouraged to appreciate creativity and tolerance, you will have a vibrant ecosystem that is inclusive rather than exclusive. Talents are likely to be more abundant in such places.
I pondered over this and it struck me that we needed more software and not so much of hardware. A park with a band with an attitude playing Smoke On The Water will rock. You don't need a state-of-the-art stadium for this. At the core, customers treat goods and services as a hire to fix a need, and as we become more and more plugged into a digitized world, disintermediation will take hold, lessen the role of the middlemen. It dawned on me that unless the value proposition is compelling, it will be near impossible to make an economic profit, and there will be no incentive for the stakeholders to hang around. They will move on to greener pasture. Global shakeouts and local fallouts. These are the signs of time where competition is intense and the pressure to succeed is tremendous. Some succumb to the temptation to take shortcuts. Well, time is a good arbiter of character and the deserving shall prevail. So, more economic profit equals more buzz.
As we will be constantly be working on emerging markets, by definition we are also working on a smaller market segment. Although small, we must bear in mind these customers are also likely to be the mavens and connectors. You should go out of your way, to impress, to win them over. It is a small price to pay, because when the market takes shape thanks in no small way to these opinion shapers, the growth will be tremendous, and with first mover advantage have a head start in gaining mindshare.
Now I got it, the road to nirvana in VBM, is to connect with your customers ( and suppliers ) in a sincere sort of way. Anything less, and you can expect backlash. Eureka! BLOG, that innocuous web log where one expresses one's thought, serves as the platform for me to articulate, communicate and execute my value proposition - and links to the mavens and connectors, all at one go . Can it tip? It is only a question of time. Now I can't wait to proof it! That's the buzz!
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Filmography links and data courtesy of
The Internet Movie
Database.
in the former. So what is so important about this? For one, it may provide some clues as to your state of competitive readiness. We believe that early adopters of this simple technology will have a head start in gaining mindshare. Most of us will remember the first man to conquer Mount Everest, but do you know of the second person? As we move forward, market is becoming more fragmented and this will allow micro-businesses to develop their niches. The winner will be the one that has a compelling value proposition ( quality products or services ) servicing a very limited market with customers spreading all over the globe. It must be able to develop a sustainable go-to-market program given the limited resources available. This is where 
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