CHAPTER 5 | FUTURISM BY NIMBLE REACTIVITY
Speak English, please.
Content is no longer King or Queen. Speed is.
And speed is a Court Jester.
Sadly, there’s too much going on too fast. Humans are alternatively hunkered down or drinking from a fire hose.
That is true for marketers, CEOs, people in white collar professions and consumers. B2B, B2C, B2D, non-profits, everyone. We are all experiencing “innovation” at a rate that requires juggling a tennis ball, watermelon and a Lego at the same time.
It’s all not seamlessly even. For all the advancement, people feel behind because they don’t know what they don’t know, but know they don’t know it all. It's cognitive dissonance on the daily, baked into our professional and personal lives.
That’s the Court Jester talking. The Court Jester is selling paralysis.
As CEOs, Executive Directors and marketers, specifically those people who are responsible for messaging in an environment of perceived chaos, the action that gets you out of the fog is just that. Action.
Actually doing something, whether it’s reaction or proaction, takes you to a different room. If you think of a personal journey or a brand journey as a series of rooms with doors, opening a door with speed gets you to another room with another door. And another potential position or view of the sector.
This is the centerpiece of Steven Johnson’s “adjacent possible.” He’s got books, Substacks, newsletters and is a great read no matter what you’re reading of his. He's an expert on invention. Simplified, it’s get your brand (or yourself) to a different room with different doors that lead to other, different, new doors.
Out of the fog.
“Nimble reactivity” is something we’re able to deliver at 51group (weare51.com). If proactivity doesn’t feet just right, or if things are just moving too fast to be proactive, being reactive will work better than being paralyzed. You just need a nimble team who understands your business.
You also need to make sure your business has the operational marketing infrastructure to be automated and efficient as is possible with your budget and human resources. We do that too. Because you need to be ready for change.
Sometimes you just have to pick a general direction and run, carrying, rather than juggling, your tennis ball, watermelon and Lego.
It could set you free.