BRAINFOOD - FEED ME, FEED ME

Matt Mattus wrote an inspiring and sobering piece in the Dec 08 issue of HOW magazine. He listed 10 characteristics of “culture creators”, people who find new sources of inspiration and seek to influence others through design.

This tenet is so pertinent for Convertium. As a company of Internet professionals, we should not only strive to do good work for our clients, but also create new ways of succeeding on the web. This can be in design, marketing, technology, whatever. We have to innovate and not just take.

I found Mattus’s article sobering because the characteristics of culture creators that he identified are not commonly found in individuals, and even companies. Yet, these characteristics are crucial to our success as an interactive agency. Here they are (paraphrased):

1. Feed curiosity: how many of us find wonder in all and everything around us? No business as usual! Always ask why and how!

2. Research everything: culture creators are obsessed with wanting to know more, why and how. They are not satisfied with just surface level or fleeting information.

3.  Develop intellect: the relentless pursuit knowledge is a must. Non-stop learning, and training to learn. (This is why one of our candidates interview question is what have they been reading lately?)

4. Respect history: we need to know that our present knowledge and expertise have come from the talent and toil of those who came before us. To create the future, we must understand the past.

5.  Crave excellence: there must be a broad passion for excellence in all things. From attention to details to an earth-shaking concept. You must pride in a job well-done. Any job.

6. Cultivate expertise: culture creators are experts or strive to become experts in their respective fields. The one thing that culture creators cannot tolerate is incompetence. Quality is non-negotiable.

7. Seek validity: focus on the end results - whether consumers want and like what is produced. In our business, we need to listen to the voices that matter. Filter out the gibberish.

8. Create fearlessly: we need both brains and the fire in the belly to succeed. To boldly go where other have not demands that we be passionate experts - and fight for what we believe.

9.  Celebrate rarity: not only must we love talent, we must be able to see the uniqueness and wonder in all things great and small. We seek originality, and once found, we cherish it.

10. Be original:  ultimate, the culture creator must be a leader. Of thought, creation, action. There is no formula, only rules to be broken, new chapters to be written. CREATE not copy.

This is why at Convertium we seek culture creators. Are you one?

In his latest book, “Outliers”,  Malcolm Gladwell mentions the 10,000-hours rule.  This rule states that for someone to become very good at a task, he needs to spend 10,000 hours doing it.  From brain surgeon to rocket scientist to programmer, the very good professionals are the ones who have clocked in the really serious hours.

Talent, is just a predisposition. An opportunity.  The common factor in success stories is simple hard toil and effort.  Even child prodigies score earlier because they started practising and rehearsing when they were very young.

Using Bill Gates as an example, Gladwell reminds that the world’s richest man started his programming activities when he was still a teenager.  At 13, Gates started spending hours a day at a mainframe terminal. This was back in 1969 when even top universities did not have computer access.  By the time he dropped out of Harvard, Gates had more programming experience than most programmers would have in a lifetime.

10,000 hours, even at 8 hours a day, take 1,250 days. Divided by 20 working days a month, that works out to 62.5 months that a professional would need to be honing his specific trade at.  So, I would be wary of anyone who claims to be an expert in anything after a year or even a few. 10 years would seem more humanly reasonable. (Interesting to note that the Catholic Church has similar requirements for most of their priestly orders.)

At Convertium, we actually have colleagues who have clocked in more than 10,000 hours of experience in their areas of online expertise (don’t call us uncles!).  But since the Internet is still a relatively young field, it is the collective expertise that our 30 colleagues generate on a monthly and yearly basis that truely allows us to serve our clients more effectively.

It helps that everyone at Convertium is passionate about the Internet. And we do nothing but Internet work 8 hours (ok, always more) a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year (less leave days and slacking time).  At the individual level, we all strive to become the 10,000-hours expert.  As a company, we generate that 10,000 hours every 2 months.  That is why we are stronger and better together.

The next time you meet an Internet expert (or any other for that matter), think 10,000 hours.

The Singapore Government has awarded the Singapore’s Next Generation National Broadband Network to the OpenNet consortium, which includes SingTel and SPH, amongst others.

 The nation-wide roll-out of the 10x faster broadband (1 Gbps)  infrastructure has been accelerated from 2015 to 2012.  However, 60% of the country is expected to start enjoying innovative broadband services in 2 years’ time. Yes, in 2010!

The above development has serious implications for all businesses that use the Internet for marketing and commerce. (Which means everyone.)

In short, expect lots of consumer demand for very rich multi-media content and services to be delivered.  Think hi-def videos, large volume downloads, multi-dimensional interactions, and user interfaces straight out from your favourite sci-fi movie.  Your nicely designed website just isn’t  going to cut it anymore.

No longer will it suffice to have fancy Flash banners and “interactive” websites.  Even the collaborative Web 2.0 applications  (e.g. Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Google apps) and other forms of User Generated Content (UGC) that we know of now will soon be passé.

Imagine (if you can) what type of content can be delivered online at 10x the present broadband speed.  Businesses, large and small, will need to get very innovative and start learning (now!) how to confront the challenges of this super-rich media environment.  Yes, businesses will need to invest (much) more in compelling and relevant content.  We can hear SPH and Mediacorp laughing all the way to the nearest DBS.

What can you do with all that broadband bandwidth?  If you do not know, someone else will, and they will eat your lunch faster than you can say “1 Gbps”. In fact, other countries like Korea, Taiwan and even Hong Kong are already moving faster than Singapore.  We will be getting there sooner than many companies may be ready for.

If the Singapore Government makes the super-broadband services affordable (tax payers’ money is used to ramp up the infrastructure), expect penetration rates to be  easily be as high as the broadband rate we now have.

What about your agency?

Whoever is working with you on your marketing and business operations had better ready too.

At Convertium, we are anticipating enhanced (and new) design and development technologies to be available.  So, for us, it is non-stop learning how to use such tools to exploit rich-media and multi-dimensional interaction opportunities.  We will also need to be thinking more of content as well.  For now, we are setting up a brain trust to better prepare our creative, technology and marketing practices for the challenges ahead.

We look forward to new online platforms delivering content and services from all sources imaginable (and un-imaginable). The consumer’s media consumption pattern is going to be radically changed.  And we want to be amongst those doing the changing.

We hope to see you there, too

(Source: www.ida.gov.sg)

Our quick take on Chrome (Google’s new web browser) is: hold on to your pants.

We do not anticipate any sudden and significant migration of users to Chrome for the near to mid-term (12 months). It seems to be a good browser, but significant improvements are behind the screen and not obvious to the layman.

In fact, regular users of Internet Explorer, Firefox and other browsers may find few compelling reasons to make the switch. Frankly, if you are not a techie or novelty junkie, Chrome can wait.

Most users should still be using Internet Explorer, which is the default in Windows PCs.  A growing minority will still use Firefox (less than 20%). Of immediate concern would be compatibility issues for your websites.  Chrome does not pose a significant issue, as it is web standards compliant.

Nonetheless, Convertium will be assessing clients’ websites on Chrome over the next couple of weeks.  If there is any compatibility issues, our clients will be alerted. If you have any questions on Chrome, please feel free to contact us.

This one should interest all managers and bosses. According to a Harvard Business Review podcast (Mar 08), 60% of all interpersonal conversation in the office falls into two categories: (1) workers talking about how good they are; (2) workers denigrating and complaining about their co-workers. And this is a worldwide phenomenon.

The weather, and even babies, take a back seat to self-promotion and the tearing down of others. And it does not surprise me one bit. Why? Because if everyone were wise and rational, we would all be wearing togas

So, people can be blind to the detrimental impact, even to their own person, brought about by all the negative conversations and gossips. A really basic rule of thumb applies in such situations: if a topic does not add value, avoid it. Of course, this begs the question whether people understand and recognise value.

Another great advice I have been given is, whatever you would not say in front of someone, do not say (or write) it anywhere else. (Same thing goes for things on the Internet - if you have to hide it from your parents, kids and co-workers, click away from it!)

Which brings us back to why, oh why, do people spend 60% of their office chit chat on negative matters. Confucius probably got it right. The “superior man” (大人) does not need to stoop to low levels in order to promote himself. If fact, it is his duty to promote all those over whom he has influence. On the other hand, the “lesser man” (小人), will sow discord, exploit the weak, and take advantage for self-gain. The question that Confucius poses is whether the “lesser man” can ever learn and recognise good values. The answer is yes (except for some gone-case types).

This is where we come back to our corporate world. Confucius points the way by saying, “By nature, men are nearly alike; by practice, they get to be wide apart.” For example, it is by the constant practice of asking “Does it create value?”, and acting on the logical conclusions, would we be able to do the right thing, say the right thing. Ethics needs practice.

I believe in a world of 大人, where we can reclaim 60% of our talk time for something much better.

Convertium has its roots in the development and management of content heavy portals. (Hence the “Interactive Content Management” and “Content is King” in our corporate branding.) Over the past seven years, we have swum with - and against - Internet trends. Today, we are happily entrenched as an interactive solutions company.

Whether you call us an interactive agency, a portal company, or web consultants, hardly matter to us. To our clients, we are their online business and marketing guys.

While we are not abadoning our heritage (still a unique strength), to better reflect the type of company (and people) we are today, Convertium is adopting a new descriptor, or tagline, if you will.

Convertium = (Internet + Passion) x Results

This simple equation sums up who and what we are today. A company of interactive experts (creative, technology, marketing, project management) who are totally passionate and geeky about our chosen playing field - the Internet.

But more important is the fact the we combine our passion and expertise to produce and multiply results for our clients. Be it revenue, traffic, members or share of heart and mind, we look forward to meeting and exceeding our clients’ KPIs for us.

That’s it. Quite simple. Now, let us get back to work, where it is exciting and fun on the Internet.

This post has little to do with web design and such. But I am sure I will find a way to weave it in.

Last weekend, I chanced upon some readings on Immanuel Kant, the 18th century German philosopher. His type gave me major headaches in university. Now, after 17 years, there is a certain clarity.

I like how marketing minds tend to compress multiple variables, and even unknowns, into the singularity called “the positioning”. Applying the same to Kant’s philosophical formulations, I belatedly had my moment of clarity.

For many years, I have had beer-fueled discourses with colleagues and friends on business ethics. The beer helped limit self-examination and redirected inspection at the suspect and gossip-worthy acts of fellow employees, clients and other humans.

Rounds and rounds (of beer) we would go, trying to make sense of right and wrong. Should a person take and keep the company’s copy of Fortune magazine that was just lying around? Is it ok for someone to be a persistent late-comer at work even if he is producing the goods? Is office stationery fair game for all? Should a couple more man-hours be billed to the client to cover for the beer?

Now, as I have to manage my own company at Convertium, ethics become even more important. How does one impart a black and white standard for proper business practices? And how on earth can you communicate and set an effective (and efficient) ethics benchmark with a bunch of twenty-something colleagues?

Then, along came Kant.

Ethics can be very simple and clear, once Kant’s universality principle is applied. If an action cannot be universalised, then it should not be done. For example, if everybody were to bring office stationery home, the company (and office manager) will suffer. Taking office stationery, cannot be universalised and, as such, is unethical.

I love the simplicity of this benchmark. No matter how innocent and trivial a business practice may be, if everybody were to do the same and the result is negative, then the single action should not even take place.

What this means is, if everybody were to perform that same action or behaviour, and the result is dysfunctional and destructive, then the action by the individual cannot be ethical. There is no room for grey areas, cultural variations, and smart alecky rebuttals. And it is simple enough even for a junior staff to understand. People can argue to death about morality, but when it comes to functional, practical outcomes, debates can be really short.

So, this brings me to web design and development. At Convertium, while we are no angels, our collective conscience forces us to constantly consider the diligence and quality of the work we produce for our clients. Application of best practices, web standards, and efficacious solutions - even when they may not be seen by clients and obvious to the public.

We strive to do the right things and now, we have a darn good benchmark for it.

Those who have spent time in a field like advertising would understanding the frustration of clients not accepting your agency’s best-thought advice or work. Just about everyone in the agency business would have seen some (in our opinion, of course) pretty good work rejected and replaced by second grade ones, or watered down until it was a slap in the face.

When it came to the crunch, one diplomatic tactic which my peers and I loved to use to rationalise (and negotiate) the creative work with clients was to simply ask them one question. Would you, dear client, have your name on the ad or DM piece as the person who approved it?

Of course, it was often a rhetorical question meant to prove a point. Many clients would try to side-step the issue by saying it was against company policy, and so on. But everyone knew what we were driving at. Would you, someone who has the final say on a piece of public-facing work, readily put your good name in black and white on that piece of work, to be seen (albeit in very small print) by the world?

Clients aside, anyone who strongly champions a piece of work, should have the balls to say “Yes! I will put my good name against it, and let the whole world know it was me who made the call.”

Ad agencies have traditionally requested for their names to be placed on the fringes of print ads. Now, web agencies, like ourselves at Convertium, request for permission to have our name listed at the bottom of the websites that we create.

Whenever our name is at the bottom of any client’s website, we pay really special attention to the quality of the work. I huff and puff just a whole lot more at work to insist that any client, who has the professional courtesy to allow us to list our name on their website, should get the best possible treatment.

Of course, when our company’s name is at the bottom of each and every web page, we also want to avoid any major embarrassment to ourselves. So, it works in the clients’ favour, really.

But what about clients who insist that the end results follow their vision and taste of things, as against the agency’s honest opinion? Just ask them for permission to have their individual names listed under the credits. Whether they say yes or no, don’t forget to remove your company’s name.

Sometimes, I really want to blame it squarely on the schools. Especially fancy tertiary institutions that spin PR about how their graduates will become masters of the universe. Be it for recruitment, marketing or funding purposes, there is a dire consequence of such spin - unrealistic expectations borne by fresh graduates.

It is a phenomenon experienced in all developed economies, and across industries. Young recruits and interview candidates expect to be in positions that are high profile and high impact. They want to be in charge of marketing strategies when they have little domain knowledge. Or even having visited the real-world places where the commercial and human activities take place. Tell them that their entry level positions require maybe a few years of grind like hitting the stores, number crunching and mind-numbing paperwork, and they make for the exit faster than a premature ejaculation.

As I read the business magazines, I find scant consolation that CXOs of major corporations face the same recruitment and human resource issues as our small interactive agency. Even when the candidates say they really want a get into the Internet field, what they really mean is they want to work on big brand accounts that allow them to score big points. They want to do award-winning creative work; take control of the online marketing destiny of a product; write codes for the next YouTube. And if you do not mind, please pay them very well because they have the potential to deliver for you.

It is a good thing I do not do the first line of interviews, which is handled by our operations director at Convertium. Wait till you hear her stories. She tells me that the human resource conferences she attends talk about the issue of the millennium generation - kids coming into the market with rose-tinted glasses and a major dose of entitlement. I tell her to give as good as she gets from the kids.

Whatever happened to simple values (and logic) like, if I perform well please pay me more and promote me? To make matters even more fun in Singapore, even “foreign talents” from neighbouring countries are being caught in the zeitgeist of asking for the world before showing the goods. And it does not help that we have an “official” culture of pay-more, pay-more.

So, coming back to the tertiary institutions, yes, your under-graduates are smart kids. They probably know a lot about something or other. But please do not lead them on to think without reservation that the world is their oyster. Expect them to taste some cockles first.

In a recent edition of Fortune magazine, the focus was on excellence. How great performers in all fields rose to the top, and stayed there. Findings from prominent researchers concluded that excellence is not a result of innate gifts or advantages.

What the Fortune article succinctly puts forth is that, to succeed, individuals AND companies, must understand, focus on and practise again and again, the things that lead to excellence. Whether there is a “natural” advantage in the first place is immaterial. No matter what advantage nature and circumstances may have given you, you will not rise to the top of the pile without deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice is not the same as doing things you like, or want to, over and over again. It is knowing what you have to do, then putting a plan together, and systematically, consistently and frequently tackling and improving skills over an extended period of time.
So, according to the deliberate- practice model, excellence requires:

• A clear and detailed understanding of the network of skills that are necessary for high-level achievement in a given field.
• A structured and very disciplined approach to practising and improving each and every skill-set in the network.

Even if it means pain. That, at Convertium, we dose out a fair bit to ourselves. People have a natural (there’s the word again) tendency to rebel against structure, processes and discipline. Especially in a creative field. But in our strive for excellence, it is indeed our daily, deliberate practice of our craft that keeps us on track. Not only do we love what we do (a given), we know what we have to do in order to be better. Sometimes it hurts, but the results are worth it.

Here’s a cheat list, courtesy of Fortune, on deliberate practice: