Marketing Musings: Connection (and Ingenuity) is Powerful

I lived a large portion of my life “off the grid” and yet I had ample opportunities to embrace technology and innovation. I looked to solve problems in new and resourceful ways because I lacked modern comforts and conveniences. I created my own technology. I connected together what I discovered in nature, books, languages and conversations. I tested theories. I discovered that sometimes the simple solution that is staring us right in the face is disregarded because we are distracted, disconnected, too busy to stop, look and listen. I learned that the opportunity for one meaningful conversation that will spark an innovation is sometimes ignored. Sometimes we forget what we know or what we don't know or what we need to know. We forget how to connect and thrive. We forget how truly powerful we are.

In a recent discussion at work, I saw stunned faces as I retold the true story of how my father, Martyn Clark, purchased pigeons to be able to communicate with my mother Margaret while living in the remote community of Oona River, Porcher Island, just south of Alaska's border with British Columbia. My dad, Captain Clark, acquired?homing pigeons to send love letters home to my mother Margaret?whilst he was at sea. A simple, powerful, and beautiful way of getting a message from one person to another – the essence of communication and connection.

So when I think of technology, I think of how it enables us and how I consider human centred tech to be of paramount importance. But first we must unpack and unpick problems and visualise what we need. When we take a step back from our tools to understand how and why we use them, we are better able to make decisions, ask good questions, and solve complex problems. We introduce better tech and create innovations by understanding our resources better and by making unexpected connections for an improved outcome.

As my homing pigeon example shows, while communications between people and across networks grow and expand every day, sometimes?it’s the simple things that need to be remembered, cherished, and shared so that we are better able to leverage and celebrate our resources. To discover together better - simpler - solutions to problems.

Part of a larger story of life in the Pacific Northwest, my homing pigeon example illustrates that?there are times when an unusual or deceptively simple arrangement works wonders in our fast-paced world; we are sometimes too quick to forget or to overlook simple solutions.?It reminds me of the Gandalf character in The Hobbit who stated: “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay."

Power is sometimes framed in simplicity, in connections, in the movement of birds’ wings over a stormy sea, in ingenuity and... in homing pigeons.

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Esther Clark?is author and outstanding contributor to Forbes and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Follow @ClarkEsther. This article was inspired by the article The Power of Pigeons published in 2019 by Esther Clark.