The Art Of Strategic (Fresh) Thinking, Cheech & Chong? My Favorite New Follow, Can We Be Radically Ourselves?

The Art Of Strategic (Fresh) Thinking, Cheech & Chong? My Favorite New Follow, Can We Be Radically Ourselves?

Thanks for reading. Welcome to Different.

The (experimental) LI newsletter you probably won’t like.

Sponsored by Bad Tuna Industries.

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The Art Of Strategic (Fresh) Thinking

(I know this is going to sound nuts, but please just hang out with me on this for a sec…)

Many people do not (actually) think. They don’t know how to think. And they’ve not been taught to think.

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That’s why, what most people call thinking is actually just mentally re-tweeting an idea (in their head, to themselves) of something they heard that sounds “good” (comforting) to them.

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Or people often will parrot something that they heard, that they are pretty sure most people they are interacting with, happen to already think and agree with…

“… well Jim building a business takes time and a lot of hard work….”

In this case, we’re presenting “thinking” as a way of gaining acceptance.

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That’s not thinking.

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It turns out, (many) people do not know the difference between thinking and having thoughts.

(the shit that just rolls through your head…. The voice that is always talking to us, in our heads….

?…wait for it…. Listen… Listen…..There!....there it is, that voice… the one that just said, “what voice is he talking about?… do I have a voice in my head?…” that’s the voice.)

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That voice talking, is not you thinking. It’s you having thoughts.

?Thinking starts, when we interrupt that voice. When we STOP. And ask:

  • “Why do I think that?”
  • "What do I really know about this?"
  • "What am I missing?"
  • “What do I really think?”
  • “Do I agree with myself?”
  • “Should I accept, or reject the premise of what I think?
  • “If I reject the premise of my own thinking and unshackle myself and actually do some pro-active different thinking what might I see?

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“Strategic thinking” (which is maybe one of the most overused yet misunderstood phrases in all of academia and business) is not what most people think it is.


The vast majority of strategy is thinking “what has been true” about the past.? Harvard Business School students read ~500 case studies during their 2 years of study. About the past.


Good to Great?by Jim Collins is all about comparing similar companies (from the past). McKinsey’s own?website?says that strategy is based on the past:

“Creative data mining enables us to produce privileged insights and finely calibrate strategies that we know work;

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these are not simply theoretical claims backed by a few cases but rather statistically valid ones based on large-sample learnings from nearly?100 years of experience.”


The vast majority of content about strategic thinking comes from academia and strategy consulting firms. And thinking about “what has been true in the past” is deeply rooted in their DNA.


When you hire (most) management consultants, what you’re really buying is a detailed analysis of what worked.?Yesterday.

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This is exactly what technology analyst firms like Gartner do.

They explain the past.


Category Design, in its purest form, is the art and science of creating different futures.

The art of the possible.

People who create different futures ask,

  • What could be true?
  • What new mental model would have to be invented for this to work?
  • What if people moved?from?the way it is,?to?a new different way?

The most legendary entrepreneurs, creators, innovators and marketers move the world forward. That’s what makes them category designers.


"Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."

-Archimedes

Category designers think and make different.

And sometimes in the face of insane odds, radical criticism and (even) outrage.

Because most people can’t (won’t) think different. At first.

?But never forget…..

?.....Everything is the way that it is, because somebody changed the way that it was. ??

And the way you change the way that it is...

...with different thinking.

Ps…. If you want to go deeper here are two podcasts for you:

A New Way To Think with World’s #1 Management Thinker Roger Martin

The Voice In Your Head, Why It Matters, & How To Harness It with Psychologist & Author of “Chatter” Ethan Kross

And a book (we wrote on writing, that’s actually about thinking)

Snow Leopard: How Legendary Writers Create A Category Of One

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?Isn't it amazing how, when we are 100% ourselves, it does give others the permission to be 100% themselves ???? ??

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What does it say about a person when Cheech & Chong gummies ads chase them all over twitter?

(Asking for a friend)

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No alt text provided for this image
Cheech & Chong Gummy Ad on X (aka Twitter)


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My Favorite New Follow

"Celebrity Hairstylist and Personal Style Savant" (how's that for personal category design?) Ricky Hodge in Austin Texas.

He's got over 300,000 (eagerly) watching him on Instagram and TikTok . Get dressed. That's right. Ricky gets dressed. (that's it)

Here's what he does.

Incense.

Pants.

(spins)

Shirt.

First shoe.

(spins)

Shoe two.

(bows)

Belt.

Neck wear.

(spins)

Jewelry.

Spray.

Spray.

Spray.

Spray.

Potions.

(bows)

Hat.

Bag.

(spins)

Pick up 2 white dogs.

Wave bye.

All while music plays. And Ricky's done in 20-45 seconds.

I can not F*%$@n believe I watch a dude in Texas put his pants on.

(didn't see that comin')


The native digital world (of course) is a mashup of content, marketing, education, recreation, art and entertainment. Ricky synthesizes it all, while creating something new. He's category designing a fresh mélanger of native digital content. And he (only) does one thing.

Ricky gets dressed.


Now it turns out, there are 269,000 independent hair stylists in the US. (according to Bard)

And Ricky stands alone.


Ricky wins by creating radically different (niched down to one thing -- getting dressed) edutainment marketing in the native digital world to establish monster sized moat differentiation IRL.

Sounds simple?

Yet, the rare (legendary) leader hand crafts their category design and marketing execution with the precision of Ricky Hodge.

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Can We Be Radically Ourselves??

I'm try and remind myself.....Never let what you think, other people might think about you, stop you.

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We can't control what other people think.

?(no matter what we do)

So, what if, we were radically ourselves? And we let the chips fall where they may? ??

The reality is, it's (way) too hard contorting ourselves into some box we think we need to fit in. For others.

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The people who were never going to love us, never will.

No matter what we do.

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And, the people who do love us, will love us (a bunch) extra for being 100% ourselves.

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Pirate on my friend,

Christopher Lochhead

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Copyright?Category Pirates , LLC

Public notice.

The creator of this (experimental) LI newsletter was likely consuming libations, is lucky enough to enough to have multiple learning differences,?was thrown out of school at 18, does not possess a GED and can’t find his keys.

As a result, there are ideas and insights in here that can't be found elsewhere. And, there are also (random) strategically placed spelling, grammar and formatting mistakes in this newsletter.

They are a secret code.

Free Britney ??

If you enjoy Different, please share this newsletter on LI now ??

(throw a brother a bone ?? mate)

And, if you're not enjoying this you might get a little vomit in your throat if you consumed our books , paid newsletter , and/or podcasts .


Ps. Check out our new #1?Bestseller (in Marketing & Startups) “The 22 Laws of Category Design”


AND….This week's?Follow Your Different Podcast ?features a real, "life Yoda". The?Mother of Holistic Medicine (102 year old) Dr. Gladys McGarey.

If you want?the secret to a "Well Lived Life" you'll love this episode.

The Ramones were right.

Here's a cool podcast on becoming a category designer.

Are you still reading?....


... this is the part of Different, that is like the very end of a movie... where some directors throw in crap-o-lla (are there one or two L's in crap-olla? If you know, pls drop it in the comments ??) for their own entertainment purposes, because they assume by this point, people have left the theater...

...but for some reason you're still reading... and I'm still writing...



Hey, thanks for hanging out for the extra (silly) scooby snacks at the end... let's hang out again soon ????????

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Ryan Alford

Building A Growth Community for Podcasts to Generate Revenue & Leverage | Host and Creator of the #1 Business & Marketing show on Apple Podcasts - RIGHT ABOUT NOW

1 年

A lot to love here but my favorites Thinking does not equal having thoughts. The art of the possible. Brilliant Chris

Fil Zanasi

Helping technology firms develop and execute a sustainable growth strategy by using timeless, proven fundamentals.

1 年

Cheech & Chong ?? You're bringing back happy memories Christopher Lochhead???? This is one of your posts where I agree with some and disagree with some. 100% agree that people often just 're-tweet' opinions rather than pausing, self assessing, asking themselves what they really think etc. 100% agree that case studies are used by many in a really shallow and unhelpful way: "Do it this way! Apple did!". But case studies are often used in a business school or in consulting as a tool to encourage real thinking. I've led workshops and classes where I shared a case study and then asked: Why do you think they did that, why did it work/fail, why might it have failed/worked, what other choices did they have at the time, do you think those choices would have failed or worked?

Jason Emanis

Hospitality Tech Growth Advisor l Chief Marketing Officer l Fractional CMO l Positioning for Growth

1 年

Had a prospective client reach out to me last week with “we should connect. I’ve noticed you are a Play Bigger fan.” ????

?? Brendon Rod ??

IAM Resilience Evangelist ?? | Startup Afficionado ?? | Go-to-market Architect ??

1 年

Scooby snacks ??????

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