Suresh Dinakaran's Blog

 

As contrary to conventional wisdom and logic as it may seem, physical flaws, it turns out, create an instant appeal to others. We are duped into believing that the pretty, the pristine, the perfect get all the perks, all the glory and and all the breaks. When in reality it is not exactly that at all.

 

There is a reason why we lean towards the average. Research done by University of Texas scientists hypothesized that individuals with features close to the mean of the population are viewed as less likely to carry genetic mutations and, therefore, we unconsciously see them as being ‘ normal ‘ for our species. Whereas beauty is seen as a deviation from the norm and a genetic defect.

 

Average as beauty is timeless, universal and appealing. Sorry to disappoint all those with killer looks!

 

According to Dr Stephen Marquardt, a reconstructive surgeon in Southern California, the ‘ perfect ‘ face isn’t a creation of Hollywood or advertising agencies but is actually based on a simple mathematical formula  known as the Golden Ratio. Beauty, it turns out, is not in the eye of the beholder but in a mathematical calculation.

 

If we were to segue back to the US Presidential elections in 2000 and 2004: Al Gore and John Kerry(both presidential candidates) came across as too-handsome con men against the average-looking George Bush. His comical-looking big ears were a conspicuous flaw often magnified in caricatures. Americans not only felt that Bush would do the right thing, but they also felt a Darwinian-like need to rally behind and protect him- the unattractive(by classical standards) underdog- against the more aristocratic, handsome and intelligent Gore and Kerry.

 

People who are exceptionally pretty or handsome often think they are entitled to everything and have probably always had people giving them a break, so they just expect it. It is not a big deal for them not to return a favour or renege on a debt. Unattractive people probably have a harder time getting things in life, getting people to do things for them. So, when someone finally gives them a break, they’re more likely to appreciate it and feel a stronger need to prove they are worthy of the kindness.

 

Carrying on from where we left off on Al Gore, with his largely expanded girth; he is now human in both his appearance and his presentation style. We seem to like Al Gore much better now that he’s not quite so perfect. Gail Sheehy in a New York Times editorial titled ” Flawless, But Never Quite Loved “, said perfection was Al Gore’s Achilles Heel: he lacks glaring flaws, no dark past, no drunken parent or dubious paternity, no private demons, no cheating at Harvard, no bad-boy brother or left-wing wife…how is the poor man to compete in the Politics of Personal Biography!

 

The quizzical universal appeal of the ‘ ugly ‘ can be best attributed to ET: The Extra Terrestrial( A Steven Spielberg runaway hit) where the wrinkle-faced, hairless, bug-eyed alien waddled into the hearts and minds of millions. The fictional alien with an appearance that Spielberg called ” something that only a mother would love ” was seemingly everywhere in pop culture- from commercials and public service announcements to books and songs.

 

At a time when when stoic journalists with pretty faces and perfectly sculpted ‘helmet hair’ graced news and talk shows, an over-weight, coif-challenged, African-American woman aka Oprah Winfrey with extra weight, non-conformist hair  and folksy style helped her propel to one of the media icons not just in America but around the world.

 

There is a field of anthropology called ‘ human universals ‘: things that people across cultures find universally appealing or comforting. According to researchers, a preference for physical flaws is one of those human universals. If Oprah were to be thin and runway-model gorgeous when her show first debuted, viewers would not have had an instant and deep connection to her.

 

When Mickey Mouse first debuted back in 1928, his face and limbs were in proportion to the rest of his body( a symmetrical appearance is considered unappealing to the mass consciousness). But along 1947, just as the famous rodent’s personality was evolving to become more adult and well-mannered- his appearances became more juvenile. Artists at Walt Disney, enlarged his head, exaggerated his ears and also lengthened his pants from above the knee to down to his shoes. Mickey’s evolution has made him more infant like in his appearance and, therefore, more vulnerable. What is vulnerable is lovable.

 

” Beauty is only skin deep but ugly goes all the way down to the bone“.

 

When we are having a collective crisis of confidence, we always resort to the comforting allure of the less-than-perfect– whether it is in the form of a leader, a teddy bear, Mickey Mouse or an Oprah.

 

Our distrust for perfection or things that come too easily continues to permeate our manufacturing systems too. We have the sophisticated technology to produce products with zero defects but our primal, anthropoligical and biological conditioning prevent us from buying into them. Perfection, after all, is the domain of those who oppress.

 

According to Carleton Coon, a Harvard educated physical anthropologist said ” problem-solving by trial and error ” is one quality all cultures have in common. Because humans historically have had to make several tries to get something right, it ‘ feels right ‘ when there are initial failures.

 

So, conspicuous imperfections anyone?

 

 

 

If you are anywhere on a high traffic density road in any modern city today, you would be subject to billboards and digital advertising signages screaming 25 to 70% off( or its equivalent underpricing bribe), irrespective of the time of the year, regardless of category that the brand is struggling, surviving, thriving or flourishing in.

 

In my opinion, this is a sure fire way to establish that the highly competent and skilled branding and marketing professionals behind such campaigns are downright lazy. Pardon my saying so. Low price is the last refuge of leadership that doesn’t have the guts to make a great product and tell a true story to the right people.

 

Not all customers are made equal. Some customers want to pay more than others, and some customers want to get more—of something—than others. That is an established default. The questions(here are a few) to ask might be:

 

” Are you selling to the wrong people? ”

 

” Is your marketing message incorrect? ”

 

” Your costs of acquiring a new customer are more than that customer is worth? ” 

 

” Your supply chain may be undeveloped? ”

 

” What are you outsourcing? Is the time and money you spend on every step rewarded by the customer you serve? ”

 

” Is there a mismatch between your story and the worldview of those you seek to serve? ”

 

” Are you overspending or underspending on marketing? ” – (often, it’s the under spenders that are in real trouble!)

” Because you are already in Red Ocean territory and your product or service is not remarkable ”

 

” Are you misrepresenting or over representing when you are communicating ? ”

 

” Is your advertising or brand communication instantly forgettable? ”

 

” Is it because your product doesn’t earn traction with your customers, they wouldn’t miss you if you were gone–and the substitutes are easy ? “.

 

” Even though you’re trying hard, you’re being selfish, focusing on your needs instead of having empathy for those you seek to serve. The shoe is not on the other foot “?

 

” Is it the people you seek to serve don’t trust you? ”

 

” Are you focusing on the wrong channels to tell your story? Just because social media is fun, it does not mean it works! ”

 

” Are your people motivated or trained to be efficient?Because people do what they want, and they respond to training and respect and opportunity!”

 

” Are you being reactive, doing what the market tells you instead of bending the market in the direction you want it to go? ”

 

A lot of what is claimed to be marketing is exactly what it is NOT. Often times, when faced with problems like these, we wield the megaphone and start shouting and hyping, cutting promotional corners instead of doing the hard, deep, meaningful work of understanding what we make, how we make it, and who do we make it for. But the relief is that once you understand what is broken( in the long list of questions above), you can fix it.

 

As it is said, ” Don’t find customers for your product or services. Find products and services for your customers “. More on this at https://www.brandknewmag.com/dont-find-customers-for-your-products-find-products-for-your-customers/

 

It is said that ideas are aplenty but ideas without action are regrets.

 

Don’t be bothered about the fact that your ideas will be used or stolen. If you are part of a creative and branding agency like ours ie ISD Global, you will face this all the time. Even if you are not, that remains a distinct possibility.

 

Many blunders in business are through inability or an unwillingness to adopt new ideas. We have seen many a success turn to failure also, because the thought which should be trained on big things is cluttered up with the burdensome detail of little things.

 

History is littered with instances where a market leader couldn’t see the potential in a rivaling idea. Showing up and shipping out our ideas is the least we can do. For a stunning and shocking understanding of the game changing ideas that were let go by big leaders, take a look at this blog https://www.sureshdinakaran.com/blog/2024/02/25/leaders-big-ideas-and-their-we-shall-let-this-pass-mindset/

 

As there are misanthropists or haters of men, so also are there misologists, or haters of ideas– Plato

 

 

The business world has launched a new quest. The ancient pursuits- for capital, for raw materials, for process technology- remain eternal. But now business seeks a new advantage- delicate and dangerous, and absolutely vital- the creativity advantage as a conduit to sustainable, cumulative, competitive advantage.

 

Way back in 1995, IBM acquired Lotus for US $ 3.5 Billion. Surely it was not just to get its software. Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen did not estimate DreamWorks worth at US$ 2.7 Billion based on traditional capital assets- it had none. These companies bank their bottom line on fresh talent and new ideas-on the creative potential of their employees.

 

To survive and triumph in today’s marketplace, all organizations be it airlines, accounting firms, shoe makers, retail chains, software developers- must make creativity their number one priority.

 

Creativity has both a vocabulary and a grammar. It is both an art and a discipline. The jazz jam session is a brilliant metaphor for understanding creativity. You understand how a group of musicians can use their ideas to create new possibilities by challenging each other’s imagination while creating collective impact and individual brilliance. At once unpredictable and harmonious. Stimulating creativity is a process that can be observed, analysed, understood, replicated, taught and managed. Contrary to popular perception. Furthermore, managers must control without controlling and direct without directing and you will see that it is not as senseless as it sounds. Managers can’t demand creativity  any more than they can order growth from a flower.

 

Like jazz, creativity has its vocabulary and conventions. As in jazz too, its paradoxes create tensions. It demands free expressiveness and disciplined self-control, solitude in a crowded room, acceptance and defiance, serendipity and direction.

 

All this is risky. Unavoidably so. When the alto sax player starts a solo, he doesn’t know where he is going, let alone how far and for how long. His inner voice- to which the music, the other musicians, the setting and ambience and even the listeners contribute- directs him. That’s the nature of improvisation and companies that aren’t willing to take its risks are not long for this fluid, protean, constantly challenging world. Companies that shun creative risks may be undercut by competitors not only with better products and services, but also with better processes and ways of perceiving new opportunities. Escaping the stagnation of the status quo, of the risk free life, is part of the exhilaration of jamming-in music and in business.

 

In jazz-and in business- the improvisational style derives its power from the way it juxtaposes certain vital human tensions or paradoxes. Here’s a partial list, in no particular order:

 

• The established( tradition, powers that be, status quo) in tension with the new
• The need for form in tension with the drive for openness
• Critical norms and standards in tension with the need to experiment
•  The security of the familiar in tension with the lure of the unknown
• Responsiveness(responsibility) to the group in tension with individual expressiveness
• Discipline in tension with freedom
• Power in tension with desire
• Established theory in tension with persistent experimentation
• Expertise in tension with freshness, naivete

 

The choice is stark. Create or fail.

 

 

 

It is very common during a floor test in parliament or senate that some members abstain either by design or inertia. Abstain because you are not certain about the next step or the future. Staying away or hiding from taking action, casting a vote, or showing up to dispense your responsibility is never a solution if the intent is progress, resolution or making things better.

 

The better way is to show up. Even when things are unclear or uncertain. Even when you are not well informed. Engage with the situation or problem. Find a point of view that you hitherto did not have.

 

” Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides. One of the greatest regrets in life is being what others would want you to be, rather than being yourself. You can keep as quiet as you like, but one of these days somebody is going to find you “.

The ability to stand naked in our own truth is an incredibly salve and is the boldest statement you can make about your integrity and authenticity, both of which are at a high premium in the current social media calibrated culture that we find ourselves in.

 

So, show up and ship out. Be out there. Hiding isn’t a great place to be especially if you are seeking the true and best version of yourself.

 

There used to be this fabulous guy, of all places, at the international arrivals airport hall of the Newark(New Jersey) airport who sang, yes sang -weary travelers towards the baggage claim area at 6 am.

 

Talent– what a word!

 

I love the word. So different and far removed from the over fatigued:-

 

” employees “

” personnel “

” human resources “

 

Talent! Just hearing the word makes you feel like doing chest bumps, offering the high five. Uttering it makes you puff up and feel good about yourself.

 

You love the word because the adjacent images that come to mind include Zakir Hussain playing(toying with?) the tabla, Yo Yo Ma on the cello. Gene Hackman in total control of a scene. Lata Mangeshkar in crooning glory. Pavarotti in full throttle. The quintessential Kevin De Bruyne sublime assist. And Michael Jordan ” parting the waters ” … and making that famous last shot that won the Chicago Bulls their sixth NBA Championship during his tenure with the team.

 

Talent! What a word!

 

To quote editor extraordinaire Tina Brown ” The first thing is to hire enough talent that a critical mass of excitement starts to grow “.

 

Coming to Your Local Cinema: The story thus far goes like this: We lived through the Age of Agriculture. Then the Industrial Age. The Information Age followed suit. And what has arrived on the Big Screen. The Age of Creation Intensification.

 

The white collar paper processing age is… long gone. Great products are not enough.(Not nearly enough). Great services are not enough. ( Not nearly enough). New bases for value-added are imperative- posthaste. And the revolution has only begun.

 

You are not going to make it in the next new forever changing dynamic with yesteryear concepts be it TQM(Total Quality Management) or Six Sigma or CI(Continuous Improvement) or any of those other New Nostrums that we so obsessively embraced 25-30 years ago. You are going to make it by providing ” Solutions “. ..” Experiences “..” Beautiful Systems “..” Dream Fulfillment “..” Design that WOWs “..” Brands that Inspire “.

 

And this ” new stuff ‘ is all about ” creativity “..” imagination “..” intellectual capital “. And that stuff is all about..Talent. The new technologies that undergird the white collar revolution may seem like a dehumanizing force; but, they herald the end of “grunge” work and thence a People’s Revolution. In other words, a ” Talent Revolution “.

 

Fundamental premise for all those who have already(or now willing to acknowledge it)- we have entered The Age of Talent. ” Okay, fine, ” I can hear you saying. ” Put people first. Been there and done that”. No..No..No!

 

The point being made is not about people being cool, people being important. It is that ..people(their creativity, their intellectual capital, their entrepreneurial drive) is all the hell there is.

 

Talent(if you are serious about it) is a 25-8-53 affair…25 hours a day, 8 days a week and 53 weeks a year. Historically, smart people have always turned to where the money was. Today, money is turning to where the smart people are.

 

So, time to go beyond the ubiquitous term ” we put people first ‘ which drops off every second corporate lip without hesitation. Putting people first is according a special meaning to the word ” first “. It means that ” getting the people things right”.. is alpha and omega ..and every letter, Greek or non-Greek in between.

 

Are you talent obsessed?

 

Stop. Impasse. Status quo. As is where is. Inaction. Static. None of these words convey anything even remotely called movement, progress , action or resolution.

 

But the wait continues. So does its partners in rhyme viz anxiety, worry, tension. And what is the return on investment in this case. The IRR( the Internal Rate of Return as it is called) reads negative. It achieves nothing of any value. Unlike if you were to focus, take action, explore, learn.

 

It is said many lives are wasted by just waiting for something good to come from the horizon instead of going to the horizon and finding something good over there! Whatever happens, do not let waiting become procrastination. The full proverb goes something like this- “good things come to those who wait but only the things left by those who hustle.” The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations dates it to the early 16th century, some three hundred years before Lincoln’s birth.

Waiting is akin to wasting time. And time is a scarce resource. It is therefore both shameful and painful. Worry and waiting are never the substitute for activity. Imagine if we reduce our waiting and worrying time , the skills we could learn, the work we could ship out, how our mindsets and attitudes can get recalibrated for the much better.

 

We are over protective of our lineage, of our past and what has transpired. We are over dependent on past decisions than we would like to think or admit. Attribute it to the trap of what Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman articulated in his seminal book ” Thinking Fast And Slow ” of System 1 and System 2 Thinking. System 1 thinking is a near-instantaneous process; it happens automatically, intuitively, and with little effort. It’s driven by instinct and our experiences.

 

Begrudgingly we must acknowledge that NASA is the epitome of ultra progressive, non linear, uber innovative thinking. That said, it is intriguing to note that NASA’s Solid Rocket Boosters were designed using a 4 Feet & 8.5 Inches width. What sets the cat amongst the pigeons is that this is the exact width( 4 Feet & 8.5 Inches) used during the Roman Empire when they patrolled the vast amount of land under their control using their two-horse Roman War Chariots.

 

If you go back in time, the obsession with the 4 Feet & 8.5 Inches width applied to trains, wagons, tractors and what have you. Today we have trains running at well over 350 kmph, but we still have tracks the width of which were determined by what was prevalent in the two-horse Roman War Chariots.

We have scaled the zenith of space technology. Yet, what seems ridiculous is the fact that in each incremental decision people have weighed the options available and then decided to simply stick with what was there before. In other words, they stayed caught in a groove. The path of least resistance.

 

The takeaway is that we are more dependent on our past decisions than we would like to think or admit. Once a path is set, we often walk down it blindly, failing to question why it was put there in the first place and whether a better path might exist.

 

If you want to create the future, you need to dodge the traps keeping you fixated on the path that you are already on.

 

If I have stated the obvious in the caption above, I am not contesting that.

 

Some years ago, George Gallup, Member, Advertising Hall of Fame, had quoted ” Not everything that can be counted counts; and not everything that counts can be counted “.

 

Amidst the acerbic cancel culture that we not so grudgingly seem to have invented, you will find a large number of nay sayers for anything that you ship out be it a book or a post or a product or a service or a suggestion( mind you all these are acts of courage as you brave the risk of rejection)…and unfortunately, they fall into the bracket of conformist criticism, the kind of criticism which tells you that you have no right or business to do what you are doing and you should go back to colouring between the lines or let the sand slip through your fingers. The only thing you do at such times is ‘ do nothing ‘.

 

The ultimate disappointment would be to reman in a state of impasse for fear of being criticised or rejected. You rather show up and ship out in the quest to move people and enrich their lives.

 

 

Criticism is a dream slayer, the speed breaker that comes in the way of your voice, your idea, your product or generosity. That said, not all criticism is unhelpful. If you are able to distill the conformist criticism from the constructive criticism( which comes with the generous intent and suggestion of improving your work or product or solution), you are well on your way.

 

Our load bearing capacity is indeed Machiavellian. Especially when it comes to resentment, anger, envy, jealousy, bitterness. All these come with an adhesive that seems to have more stickiness than is needed. We can choose to lean against it and close the door on new thinking, new possibilities, new optimism and new connections.

 

One thing you have to doff your hat off to for bitterness and resentment is the consistency that it brings along. It tails you like a shadow, is never-ending, almost impregnable and it will show tenacity and persistence as long as long you want it to. It is the same old, same old, with nothing novel to offer. Impasse and status quo are its pillars.

 

 

Bitter can never be better. It is a Con job! Better implies that what we have right now is imperfect. Better requires change, and change is scary. Better might be in the eye of the beholder. Better is an assertion, one that requires not just the confidence to say it, but the optimism to believe that it’s possible.