The Future is already here, but not evenly distributed.

I believe life is all about the C between B and D. It is the Choices you make from the day you were Born until the day you Die. Born, Choice, Die, Got it? To build on that, life’s true meaning is I.C.E. Break free from the state of Ignorance, by the Choice of lifelong learning, until the state of Enlightenment. These are the thoughts I go through every morning sitting in the ICE bath doing the Wim Hoff breathing exercise.

I recently met Rose Jia who champions the idea of Renaissance Marketer. We found ourselves share the belief in masteries across multiple disciplines and the exponential synergies found between them. Incidentally, I am not advocating to just become a generalist and dip your toes in as many areas as possible. In fact, the deeper you can go, the better when finding the synergies. I am sharing some of my personal learning here and hopefully give you some ideas on how to become a more successful marketer.

First, find synergies across multiple industries. Before land line phones were invented, people talked to each other and wrote letters to each other. The technology of sending sound through cable enabled that revolution. Then cell phone companies leveraged wireless, display and battery technologies and enabled everyone to talk to each other anywhere they go. Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone by saying “It’s a phone, its an iPod and its an internet communicator”. Apple integrated all the previously functions and more: the portal to your digital life. A whole new list technology was introduced to work cohesively: touch screen, 3G, cloud and AI, etc. It is easy to observe that the more technologies that can work synergistically with each other, the more value a company can create.

Second, find synergies across multiple functions. I had the opportunity to work both in high profile marketing roles at fortune 200 company and Executive assistant role for the CEO of large public companies. I often observe the value of marketing is considered differently by other functions than the marketers perceive themselves. However, if marketing can truly understand the viewpoint from all departments, we can drive something truly amazing. I am currently championing the concept of “UP2U”, which is short for User Planning 2 User. The idea is the entire value chain of our business can be open to users’ feedback and ideas. They can contribute their ideas from product design, engineering, manufacturing, branding, sales and user operation. If their input brings real value, we will share the returns with them through reward system. We are already seeing initial success of much improved customer stickiness as well as buy in from other departments of the company.

Third, find synergies across multiple geographies. Tesla’s auto pilot was tested recently against Xpeng’s ADAS system in Beijing, China. The result is Tesla missed 5 out of 10 highways exist because the AI algorism does not merge into the right lane early enough. By the time the exit is here, the car is still moving way to fast and not in the right lane yet. Xpeng’s system was able to make all 10 tries because the AI assumes Chinese drivers are much less “polite” than a US driver and much less likely to yield to a car to merge in front of them, therefore tries to merge to the right lane a whole 2 kilometers before the exit. If Xpeng ever decides to sell in the US market someday, it is important for them to pay attention to their success in China and avoid pitfalls of Tesla in this instance.

In summary, the future is already here, but it is not evenly distributed. You just need to open the next door and find it. Open your mind, learn other disciplines and you will find yourselves much more valuable as a renaissance marketer.