DrContrarian

It really grates when people have to qualify what they say with 'to be honest...' I reckon you should just be honest, right? I wrote a review of a book (Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success) that I bought (on Amazon ) recently. It was written by Kevin Hogan et al - someone whom I follow closely on the net, and whom I admire for subject knowledge as well as marketing savvy. I gave it 2 stars. Seventeen other reviewers averaged 5 stars. Should I have been brutally honest? (See previous post.) Is that really what is wanted in 'comments' sections? Is that the right forum? If I can't write a better book, do I have the right to criticise? How many of the 5-star comments are seeded by friends and fans and how many are genuine? Having said all of that, I thought the book did offer a few nuggets that are worth the $20 -odd bucks spent on it. But then again, I think any book on the planet represents great value, because one sentence could change your life.

I attended the ‘Presentation Day’ at my son’s primary school today. As a matter of principle I put all my children through the public school system (as opposed to private schools). There are probably 300 or so kids in the school and has reasonable ethnic diversity. It was the principal’s last presentation day – not sure where he is going but he is leaving. The cadre of female teachers appeared scarily close to 5 years from retirement. It was my first presentation day – you should know that too. I have successfully avoided any involvement with the school (from parents’ nights to fundraising events to presentation days) for the better part of 14 years now. My deal with the school is that I will educate my children (including a solid set of values) and the school can provide the schooling: call me if you have a problem, otherwise we leave each other well alone. This is not as weird as it sounds at first; but as an educator myself I feel that riding shotgun for my child while the teachers ...

Knowledge is fossilised intuition. Love is built on a foundation of fear. Your senses bring the trouble. Pornography is a mirror, Art is a window. Passion is ignorance. Enjoyment requires the temporary suspension of reality. Fun is a requisite illusion (for sanity.) Hierarchy is a circle. Nothing is more important. Personality is the projection of consensus. All invention is rediscovery. The end is radical step change. Everything is natural. Happiness is not meant to be. Consequence is the shadow of living. Poetry is the language of pain. (Pain is the language of poetry…) Feelings are over-rated electrical connections. Equality is an error of measurement. Luck is being surprised by destiny. A path offers least resistance. You can only see as far as you can think. Greed is the fuel of the universe. Process determines outcome. All people are afraid. (Because we think more than we are.) Values are anchors of insecurity. An ounce of failure weighs more than an ounce of success. All the...

The biggest killer of success is success. (The fear of failure grows in direct proportion to what you have got to lose.) This Contrarian principle has a number of corollaries: Bigger is always worse Innovation leads to less innovation Growth leads to death If you think you disagree, just add (ultimately) to the end of each of the above. Such is Life.

You must have figured out by now that I an a fan of chaos theory. (And systems thinking.) So I believe there is a KEY, a pattern to the universe that has not yet been discovered. (This image from http://aimath.org/E8/mcmullen.html) It relates to the story of Garrett Lisi (39) who has developed a theory that unifies the theories about the universe. Even if you are not interested in this stuff, it is a cool read simply to look at how he has 'positioned' himself in the world of science.

What’s not… I read a piece today that made me think about the difference and the impact of what is and what is not. The author draws a parallel between a style guide and a menu. ‘A manual of style () and a menu share one important point in common: both impose limitations. The word "menu" is from the Latin - minuere, to diminish. You can tell as much about a restaurant by what isn't on the menu as by what is: a chef doesn't try to cook everything, or to appeal to everyone's tastes. A stylebook imposes its limitations on the varieties of a written language: it's from these many acts of limitation and diminishment that a style is formed.’ Marketers are guilty of always focusing on the point of difference, the proposition, the benefit, the key feature. We often ignore what the product/ service does NOT do or offer. Just like a menu tells you about what you can eat, what is not on the menu possibly says more about the restaurant and the chef than the ...

Mandossian: " The only marketing genius is the customer." Price: "Every cent spent on marketing activities is an admission of failure."