Go Electric

I finally caught A Complete Unknown story of Bob Dylan's rise and going electric at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. The music is fantastic, and the story is an example of how powerful doing the unexpected and opposite of what you are known for can be.

Doing the opposite of what is expected can be particularly powerful in politics. More than 100 years after Teddy Roosevelt was president, he is known as a "Trust Buster." One reason is that as a rich, Republican, socially connected New Yorker, he was the last person one would expect to take on Wall Street Financiers like J.P. Morgan.

Richard Nixon, despite the Watergate Scandal, is still known as the anti-communist hawk who "Went to China."

Businesses can do it as well. In 2015, REI closed on Black Friday when other retailers pushed deals and sales earlier and earlier. Being closed and "Opting Outside" has become part of the company's brand identity.

History and the press love it when people do the opposite and unexpected because it is a great story.

Should you go electric?

1. Be clear about what you are gaining and what you are losing. For most businesses and politicians it is safer to do as Ronald Reagan said, "Dance with the one who brung ya." And focus on your base. Alienating this base is a considerable risk that you need to weigh against what you will gain. Will you gain a wider audience like Bob Dylan, or like Teddy Roosevelt, stop a revolution and save capitalism from itself, or, like Richard Nixon, create leverage against your largest geopolitical rival?
2. If you do it, go big. Dylan could have just released his electric record, and it would have still done well. But by going electric at Newport, he created a historic event that has lived for decades. Roosevelt didn't need to take on the most prominent industrialist in the world as his first Trust-Busting effort, Nixon could have opened up diplomatic relations with China without visiting the country, and REI didn't need to build a marketing campaign around closing on Black Friday. But they all went all in on "going electric." As my old linebacker coach used to say, "Always go full speed, when you slow down, is when you get hurt."
3. Can you pull it off? Dylan is a Nobel Prize winner and one of the greatest songwriters of his generation or any generation. Roosevelt and Nixon were both shrewd and talented politicians, and REI is a leader in the outdoor industry. Before doing the unexpected, you need to be established.

You need a reputation and talent before you can go electric.