Singular focus

What’s your mantra?

Winston Churchill famously repeated to himself these three words: “Always more audacity”.

He audaciously doubled down on the bombing campaign against Germany, including the controversial firebombing of Dresden, which he knew would weaken morale and hamper weapons production. At the Casablanca Conference in 1943, he audaciously demanded "unconditional surrender" from the Axis powers when victory was still highly uncertain. And, his famously audacious rhetoric, "We shall fight on the beaches..." stiffened resolve when Britain stood alone against the Nazis in 1940.

Why does a mantra work, whether it’s in war or peacetime?

It works because it provides motivational focus by crystalising into a pithy phrase one's core values and priorities. Its real power comes from its repetition: so that, during difficult circumstances, it can help overcome a tendency to lose perspective or courage.

Question: Do you - and your team - have a mantra? If you don’t, what should it be?

Directing the signals

Now, what you mightn’t know about Churchill is that he served in parliament almost continuously from 1900 - 1964, a record for any modern British politician.

But did you also know that a group of owls is called a ‘parliament’?

And, the reason I’m bringing owls up is because of their unique facial disc, the concave collection of feathers on their faces.

Every one of the 200 species of owl has this unique arrangement that amplifies and directs sound waves straight to their ears. And, because their ears are offset (slightly), they can ‘build’ a strikingly accurate 3D picture of where their prey is rustling or squeaking. All in the dark.

When I learned this, it got me thinking.

For an organisation, what’s the equivalent of the owl’s feathers that amplify signals to detect important factors in their environment?

My most strategically sophisticated clients conduct regular horizon scanning in which they seek out ‘signals of change’ and then use these to create ‘a-ha’ moments. From these, they generate ‘so what?’ activities, be they contingent (after the event) or preventative (before an event).

The best example of this was a university client who created scenarios, one of which included this one: “All Chinese students cease coming to Australia because of a political dispute between our countries”. Notably, this was developed in 2018, two years before Chinese students really did stop coming to Australia, but because of a pandemic, not a political tiff.

What it meant was that university had about a six month head start on the others in Australia - they knew what they needed to do in such an eventuality (lay off staff, shut down courses, convert rapidly to digital in some areas) and they simply activated this plan with a few variations.

Question: What are your organisation’s ‘early warning’ systems?

Effeminate

I’m visiting the UN in Geneva next week and apart from chocolate and its lake and mountains, the town is equally famous for watchmaking. And, if I asked you to think of a Swiss watch company, what name comes to mind?

Think hard.

Rolex of course.

Now, there are many fascinating things about Rolex, one of which is that it’s been a non-profit company since 1960, when its founder, Hans Wilsdorf, handed ownership to a trust that gives much of its profit to social causes in Geneva and surrounds.

But, Wilsdorf was also an innovator a half-century earlier, when he basically invented the wristwatch.

Before WW1 all watches for men were large pocket watches. The idea of putting a small watch on a bracelet was deemed ‘effeminate’. But during that war, ‘trench watches’ worn on the wrist became not just popular, but essential, as the hands of trench-dwelling officers were occupied with many other things.

Wilsdorf had to solve a number of technical problems to bring this idea to fruition, including, famously, waterproofing the case. That technology alone brought fame, and customers flocking to Rolex in the 1920s. From a technical innovation to a marketing innovation, his stroke of genius from the 1930s was to associate Rolex with adventure, physical challenge and extremes of human endurance.

Rolex became associated with cross-channel swimmers, then Everest mountaineers, polar explorers and deep-descent submariners. The brand became associated with ‘defying limits’, ‘pushing boundaries’ and ‘discovery’.

All from a product that was initially perceived as ‘effeminate’.

Question: What are the powerful associations you want people to make with your products or services?

Give me the singular focus of your attention for three seconds longer, and please click the ‘Like’. It truly makes a difference, as it means more people end up reading this. Yes, that’s how the algorithms work!

In this coming week, work out what your singular focus is, pay attention to those of others, and I’ll see you next Friday (en route to Geneva, via Paris).

Andrew