TribalingTribaling

The role of curators in storytelling as tribal influencers and bankers

2013-05-16T06:26:10Z

We are increasingly confronted by more and more content, and that is why many of us appreciate services that help us discover the gems. Google tackles the problem with advanced search algorithms, but we also rely on brands and publishers. Another solution, to the problem, is the role of the curator. Do you want to learn what curating is? Please watch the video above.

Many companies and organizations use influencers to help them reach out to people. Curators are an interesting breed of influencers. However their full potential can only be understood and appreciated through the lens of their tribes. Tribes are groups of people gathering around strong passions or emotions like hiking, gardening or ABBA. Curators do not work in isolation, but in relation to the people that share their passions.

Curators as dumpster divers

I was in a discussion with Olga Kravets, a netnographer, and she proposed that curators serve their tribe like dumpster divers. They dive into containers to rummage through heaps of garbage to find useful stuff that can be re-purposed. When they are done they bring forth their scavenged gifts to their tribe.

Something really interesting happens in the curation process, because stories don’t have intrinsic value. An unshared story is basically like rubbish, lying around without any value. Stories gain their meaning and value by sharing, but it’s not as simple as that. The curator imparts her own value, status and trust, upon the story.

Curators represent a new type of tribal leadership that operates bottom-up and peer to peer. As a member of a tribe, curators will always be more native and relevant than any outsiders will ever be. Within a tribe they are not only appreciated for leveraging their insider skills, but for sustaining and developing their culture.

Curators can be utilized by organizations as tribal translators, guides and messengers. However their full potential as influencers must be understood in tribal contexts. Their value – and the value they share – are appraised by tribal standards. Each tribe has their own values, beliefs, purpose, ideals, and jargon. Understanding and leveraging this tribal DNA in packaging and delivery is a part of making content more relevant and valuable. (Read this blog post about the process of tribal collaboration)

Curating and sharing stories should be understood as part of a knowledge economy. If stories are tribal currency, then curators are money handlers. However, we know that stories don’t have fixed values. Does that make curators more like money changers? And if they lend their ears to outsiders, does that make them money lenders? I propose that curators are money handlers, changers and lenders all wrapped into one. They are part of a new breed of leadership that develops tribal currency through their curation and sharing.

How life-logging can change the way we view and express ourselves

2013-04-08T07:59:26Z

Halloween 1986

As a child of the ’80s I grew up with movies like the Black Hole and Star Wars. When I dreamt of future technology, household droids always appeared more likely to me than Darth Vader jumpsuits. Perhaps this was natural considering that the only wearable tech I owned growing up was a walkman and digital watch. At one point my brother bought a baseball cap with blinking lights, but that was as tech savvy as it got.

With results in hand we now know that we are not surrounded by droids and neither have we become cyborgs. While engineers have made significant advancements towards enhancing our bodies with technological equipment, such as increased strength and vision, these landmarks have not become mass products. Instead wearable tech that enables us to track our bodies will have a shot at becoming majorly popularized first.

Commercial ambitions within the quantified self movement

Nike+ FuelBand

Do you think of Nike as simply sports attire? Think again! Nike is using technology, data and services to create entirely new products, such as the Nike+ fuel band that allows you to track your activity level. Nike was ranked as the most innovative company in 2012 by Fast Company, and some people have begun to speculate if Nike has become a technology company. Nike themselves are simply trying to merge the digital with real life, through their concept “digital sports”. Soon the synthesis of digital services in everyday activities will be taken for granted by lots of companies and products, and the discussion will become obsolete.

What is more interesting is the timing, considering a growing movement called the quantified self. Lots of people are exhibiting behaviors characterized by this movement, but far less are familiar with the term itself. People within the quantified self movement track information about themselves, such as workout, diet or mood, with the aid of tech equipment. This behavior is also known as life-logging, and the data collected is used for analysis and self improvement.

Google glass

Nike is tapping into life-logging behavior, with the addition of gamification, but they are not alone. There are also a number of life-logging apps, such as the In Flow app that helps you track your emotional pattern. Some argue that Google Glass, computing worn as glasses, will become the premiere life-logging platform of the future. According to recent rumors Microsoft will be launching a pair of rival glasses in 2014. Will life-logging go main stream? We don’t know that yet, but it is apparent that a lot of big players are entering a growing and potentially lucrative market.

Life-logging as a way to become and connect

Jerry Silfwer was the first person that introduced me to the concept of life-logging through his blog. He made a lot of interesting points about what life-logging could mean for the future. This in turn made me think about what life-logging could come to mean for the way we view our bodies and selves.

Note the word ‘could’. Life-logging can mean a lot of things for a lot of people in a lot of different contexts. What you can be sure about is that whatever it means, it is going to change. It is also going to help people change, beyond helping them do stuff, such as acting can as a bridge for expression and belonging. While there are lots of articles focusing on the functionality of life-logging, I will be exploring it’s potential for self construction.

Life-logging as DIY

Today the household instruments we use to track our bodies are quite few. Many of us own thermometers and scales. However if we desire a deeper analysis we visit experts, like doctors, coaches and dietitians. If worst comes to worst we send our body tissue to labs. While most of us will never become experts in biology or psychology we could use life-logging tools to enter areas typical reserved for experts. This could help us to a higher extant diagnose and treat ourselves.

The quantified self, and life-logging, ties in with two cultural currents, namely the challenging of authority and the DIY (do-it-yourself) movement. While life-logging could be used as a way to connect with like-minded people and belong, that doesn’t really express anything unique. It’s rather it’s potency to further individualism and personal autonomy which stands out.

Life-logging as a philosophical and spiritual device

While life-logging on one hand could enable it’s practitioners to become rational DIY scientists, I have a sense that it also could fulfill a spiritual or religious meaning. With that being said, I don’t think life-loggers in general would feel comfortable with such an assertion. I believe that the life-logging process could produce similar meaning as religious practice, without any other obvious superficial similarities.

Life-logging could be used to emphasize oneself as the center and principal interpreter of the universe, as well as accentuate a movement inwards rather than outwards. While these typically tie in with philosophical questions, they also touch upon ideas within several religious movements. The quantified self could also raise questions about the possibility to attain immortality through digital storage as discussed within transhumanism.

Life-logging as a game-changer for the way we view ourselves

While many scientists view the body as an advanced machine, I believe that people in general have a more organic and mystical approach to their bodies. With life-logging this can change as people get more instruments to understand their bodies. The body can be seen as a creator, emitter and storage space for loads of data. While machines and hard drives are obvious analogies, a more powerful image might be computer networks, especially when services, that track our bodies and behaviors, connect and talk with each other. What if your body-network informed you about how your sleep is being affected by your exercise, travel and work?

If we to a larger degree adapt a more mechanical approach to our bodies, and grow accustomed to life-logging it’s not a far stretch to accept the possibilities of also storing new data in our DNA. Did you know that 4 grams of DNA can theoretically hold 1.82 trillion gigabytes, namely all the data the world produces in a year?

Life-logging as a way to resist commercial exploitation

Another interesting term related to life-logging is self-hacking. While the idea of hacking oneself brings up lots of interesting connotations, it’s proponents emphasize a new type of data literacy. Life-hackers stress the point of taking control of one’s own data, rather than leaving it in the hands of gigantic corporations. Becoming a self-hacker can be used as a tool to position oneself against commercial exploitation of personal data.

Life-logging in summary

Life-logging has a huge potential to alter the way we view our bodies and selves. Beyond its obvious functions life-logging can be used to challenge authorities and gain more self control. The authorities in question could be corporations controlling data, or experts such as personal trainers or dietitians. More self control could involve personal diagnose and self treatment. Life-logging also raises many interesting ethical, philosophical and religious questions. In the long run life-logging could lead to us viewing our bodies as networks, as well as accepting the possibility of using our DNA as data storage.

As part of my personal journey towards trying to understand the implications of life-logging I contacted two professors, namely Grant McCracken and Robert Kozinets. They opened up some doors, which I plan to explore in a follow-up blog post.

Do you want to affirm or challenge these reflections? What speaks for and against?

Influencers: Elisabeth Knöppel, Jerry Silfwer, Mattias Östmar

How to find your maximum sharing potential

2013-04-07T21:02:00Z

Are you looking to hire someone? Or perhaps looking for a job? Or a business partner? Or a target group? Or a tribe to collaborate with? Or another opportunity?

What should you be looking for?

My advice is to always look for the intersection. This is the place where you find things in common. This is where you make your connection. The intersection could be a common acquaintance, experience, story or passion. Your willingness to open up and share, as well as your ability to listen will effect the outcome. The intersection is really everything that you share and have in common.

Once you find the intersection, don’t stop there! Always look beyond towards the potential. What do you have to offer which the other doesn’t already have? What can they offer you? What can you accomplish together? A good basis for reaching the potential is to be generous, open and curious. Different backgrounds, stories and experiences can sometimes feel threatening, but they provide the real opportunity for mutual growth.

What could this imply for your situation? Your job? Your company? Your clients?

Are museums and tribes a perfect match?

2013-03-04T09:11:22Z

How could museums benefit from going tribal? Could museums collaborate with tribes to attract new visitors? What new ways of thinking, working and organizing would this require?

These questions and many more are being explored by Kajsa Hartig on her interesting blog about Cultural Heritage and Digital Communication. Kajsa works as a Digital Navigator at Nordiska museet in Stockholm, Sweden. You can read up on her blog posts on tribes here, here and here. Another catalyst, in an ongoing discussion on the topic, has been Abhay Adhikari, a specialist in digital identities and social media training. I can recommend his post on the benefits of joining existing conversations contrary to sparking new ones. Our exchange inspired me to write a blog post on how to collaborate with tribes: 4 steps toward tribal collaboration.

Kajsa’s questions and engagement also inspired me to look at how museums communicate on the net, and the remainder of this post is a short summary of my initial reflections. Many of the challenges and opportunities I discovered relate to organizations and companies across the board. I look forward to the continuation of this discussion and hope others will join with their perspectives and experiences.

1. Relevance for whom?

If I were to summarize my impression of the challenge that many museums appear to face, it would be: relevance. I see an untapped potential for the stories and experiences that museums share to deeper connect with their potential visitors. However, this requires more tailored communications that creates the desired effect: “Yes, this is 100% me!”. To be relevant a well defined target group is required. I wonder if many museums have the ambition to reach everyone? Or do they perhaps lack a clear idea of who they are inviting? Or maybe they have a clear idea, but don’t follow through? I definitely think a tribal approach to communication could help museums become more relevant.

2. Join existing conversations

I think Abhay’s advice to join existing conversations is great! It reminds me of an article by Grant McCracken about brands connecting to present day culture and discussions:

“I like to think of branding as breathing. It is taking in cultural meanings and giving them off. Inhale, exhale — but in this case the stuff of respiration is not air but culture. Culture in, culture out. (There’s no point of joining a conversation unless you’ve got something to say.)” Read the full article here.

All companies and organizations need to look for footholds to anchor their messages and contributions. Without them they can grow isolated in a world of their own.

3. Make your next event a tribal happening!

While many companies and organizations struggle with creating events, museums live by them. I would recommend museums that want to try a tribal approach to use their next exhibition as a starting point. An exhibition is a perfect opportunity to evaluate something new within a limited time span. It will provide interesting lessons and results which can be used as a proof-of-concept to convert the sceptics and get everybody onboard in the organization. My advice: use your next exhibition as a launch pad for your first tribal project!

4. Find the passion

If you decide to follow this advice you will be back peddling! You will have a product – an exhibition – with an unclear tribe to invite. To solve this problem you will have to get creative. For example, the Nordic Museum is hosting a workshop on wigs in March. While you probably can find tribes that are passionate about wigs, it may be more beneficial to look further. What you need to do is unravel the passion (the heart) in this formula:

Besides the obvious passion for theaters, the passion could be costume drama movies. This could result in a lovable and sharable infographic about wigs, such as the 10 Most Villainous Wigs of all Time. You get the idea.

5. Pick the lowest hanging fruits

When starting off with something new, it is always good exercise to begin with the lowest hanging fruit. The reason is that it will provide a good learning experience and produce quicker results.Enthusiasm and momentum is always a good thing! Your tribal spotting could begin by identifying common tribes among your most loyal visitors. This is a great starting point, because they will most likely be happy to carry your torch for you.

6. Trend forecasting and analysis

I would encourage museums to spend more time on trend forecasting and analysis, considering that they do a fair amount of exhibition planning ahead of time. Remember that we wanted to be contemporary and part of an ongoing discussion. One good place to look is in popular culture, because they draw upon historic material for art, books and movies etc. It will actually prove quite easy to find common ground. For example: HBO is going to release a new ambitious TV-series on Vikings today. This could be an opportunity, for museums with viking material, to communicate with the potential HBO Viking tribe. Another example for museums working with Swedish cultural heritage would be to piggy back the Nordic food trend.

7. From visitors to co-creators

Tribes should not only be seen as an opportunity to attract new visitors, but also as an opportunity for co-creation. What would happen if museums regarded their visitors as participants or co-creators of meaning and content? Un-conferences have become increasingly popular during the last years. What would an un-exhibition look like?

Co-creation is great for building engagement and extending the museum experience to include a richer “before” and “after”. Vacations illustrates this well. People like to dream about, read up on and plan their trips ahead of time. When they come home they want to share their experiences with friends. How does that lend itself to museum experiences? How can tribes be invited to help plan events? How can they contribute before the event? One concrete idea would be to invite people to help plan museum events online through collaborative pin boards. More inspiration can be found in this blog post: 6 examples of tribal co-creation.

Here is a timely example of the Novia Scotia Museum hosting a Harlem Shake. An excellent example of joining existing conversations, trends and experiences:

8. Encourage the sharing of experiences

I found that many museums are great at engaging their visitors (or shall we say co-creators from now on?) with workshops and activities. However there seems to be a larger potential to encourage them to share these experiences with family and friends. One concrete idea would be to encourage people to share their photos on Instagram using a common hash tag. The Instagram photos could be featured on the museum website in a widget, and in the museum on screens. The best images could be posted on Facebook and other social media channels. This is another example of extending the museum experience beyond the actual visit.

9. Retention

Museums that begin working with tribes have a great opportunity to build long lasting relations centered around common passions. This implies that their communication can be increasingly relevant and tailored over time. All of this is a great basis for working with retention, for example through design and management of the customer life cycle. This will help museums build engagement over time, aiding the journey of people from simply being potentially interested towards becoming followers and finally ambassadors.

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Do you think museums and tribes are a good match? How would your organization benefit from working with tribes? Perhaps you already do? Do you have any ideas that you would like to add or develop?

3 major reasons people value brands

2013-03-01T09:07:11Z

Brands play a major role in the lives of people and companies. However, many don’t really understand why and how people use them. If entrepreneurs and marketers adapted the customer view they would become better at serving them, as well as unleash their brand’s full potential. The company perspective has often taken precedence over the customer. It is time to flip our thinking and re-visit household truths with an open mind in order to re-write them.

From the company to customer centric view
Let’s start by examining the commonly stated benefits of brands. A strong brand has distinct and desirable benefits that are continually delivered, according to promise, over time. It’s lighthouse qualities can lead to top-of-mind, good will, loyalty and advocacy. A strong image can command a price premium, but also increase the monetary value of the brand itself (brand equity). In the long run a strong brand, like CAT, can act as a launch pad for new products.

However… while companies focus on maximizing themselves, people are more interested in improving their lives. While companies take the time to orchestrate their brand identity, people are more interested in constructing their selves. While companies would like to cultivate their relationship with customers, it would sometimes be more realistic to admit that people are more interested in developing ties with each other. There doesn’t have to be a conflict between the company and customer perspective, but the problem is that the customer-centric view is skewed in favor of that of the company.

The brand as a resource
It is popular to think of a brand as a person, accentuating the relationship a person can have with a brand. I think it can be liberating, and complementary, to think of the brand as a tool that brings about change, much like a bridge which leads to a new destination. This forces us to see the brand from the customer perspective. There are three major ways that people use brands as resources to enrich their lives. Let’s explore them one-by-one through an example: the HEMI-powered grill.

The HEMI-powered grill

“What can you HEMI?” was a contest that challenged people to build their own conceptual machines using the HEMI V8 engine. A one-of-a-kind HEMI-powered grill was used at the event that awarded the top 5 finalists. Let’s use this original barbecue as an example of how you could use this brand to 1) do, 2) become and 3) belong.

What the HEMI-powered grill can help you DO – Functional benefits

What you can do with the HEMI-powered grill is obvious, but what you might not know is that it can help you host extremely large barbecue parties. If you have a regular Weber grill (like I do), then you probably know that it can be a challenge to keep a large gathering of guests satisfied. The HEMI grill makes this an exceedingly trivial task. It can, for example, cook 240 hot dogs in 3 minutes, using the power and torque of the engine!

What the HEMI-powered grill can help you BECOME - Self-constructive benefits

The HEMI-powered grill is covered by more than 330 square feet of steel and boasts 345 horsepowers. This in combination with the meaning it can draw upon from sources such as NASCAR, Chrysler, innovative engine development and texas barbecue makes it a potent resource if you want to express your strength or masculinity. The presumtive cost, over-complexity and one-of-a-kindness of this piece can be used to express your uniqueness.

It’s interesting to ponder upon the similarities between a grill master and a DJ. They often stand on the side focused on their art, while at the same time being the enablers of a social event. Notice how the HEMI-powered grill elevates the chef off the ground, as if on a stage (!). While a DJ stands at a booth serving music and facilitating social interaction, the HEMI-powered grill does the same except with food. The HEMI-powered grill can be used to express your role as a performer and social enabler.

How the HEMI-powered grill can help you BELONG – Social benefits

The HEMI-powered grill can offer you a ticket to various social destinations. Considering the meaning of the HEMI-engine you can use it to connect with motor enthusiasts. The grill itself can help you connect with barbecue or cooking tribes convening in online spaces like Grilling.com. This connection can be further advantageous if the HEMI brand is aligned with values and beliefs carried in these tribes. The proud owner of a HEMI-powered grill may not exploit the possibility to actually interact with people, but rather carry a fictional sense of being connected with like minded.

Unleash the full potential of your brand

People can value your brand for the benefits they bring to their lives on several levels. Understanding why and how is the same as understanding the maximal potential of your brand. While you may choose to highlight one or a few differing and desired benefits, it is important to get a grasp of the full palette of benefits beyond functional value. The Customer Centric Brand Pyramid model can help to illustrate all that your brand can offer. In the end it is up to each individual and group to decide what they want to use from your brand’s smorgasbord of meaning.

In some circumstances it is beneficial to focus on functional benefits, depending on the competition, product category and overall strategy. However many entrepreneurs and marketers are stuck communicating functional benefits, because they have not understood the full range of benefits that their brand can offer. The problem with functional benefits are that they are easy to copy, and seldom spur a high engagement and loyalty. Self-constructive and social benefits on the other hand are difficult to copy and treasured by people for their symbolic perks. Regardless of which benefits you plan to cultivate and communicate, they should all begin with the 3 reasons people value brands: to do, belong, and become.

Ask yourself the following: Why do people value your brand? What self-constructive benefits does your brand offer? How does it help people connect with each other? Have you realized the full potential of your brand?

Mike Riddell – Thought Provoking Innovator #5

2013-03-01T08:20:35Z

I have invited people that I admire and feel inspired by. I have asked them describe how they have challenged the market they are in, as well what makes them tick.

Mike Riddell

Who are you and what do you do?

My name is Mike Riddell and I am developing an alternative currency that build community and grows local economies. It works alongside money rather than replacing it, and is designed to reward community involvement.

How does that challenge the current market?

HometownPlus combines member community populations to generate leveraged buying power, build community and grow local economy. Our ‘Plus Points’ community currency rewards individuals that make a positive impact on their community whilst teaching, giving or learning. The Plus Points can also be gained and spent using our personalized smart card, as well as our online marketplace. HometownPlus is a win-win for local members, partners, authorities and the community as a whole.

What is your best tip for thinking outside of the box?

Having a dream and then working hard to achieve it. There ain’t any short-cuts!

Learn more about HomtownPlus

Connect with Mike Riddell

About.me

6 Ideas to Kick-off your next Tribal Project

2013-03-01T08:21:06Z

In a recent post I explored a mind set and agile process for working with tribes. Now I want to share some inspiring examples for your next tribal project. When you tap into the power of many, and the prospects of multiplying value together, amazing things can happen. You can co-produce sheer joy, build high engagement and authenticity, earn media, innovate, learn or spark interesting ideas and conversation.

1. You could do like HBO and inspire a mind-blowing setting in Minecraft

100 Minecraft builders banded together to re-create Kings Landing, the capital of the Seven Kingdoms in the Game of Thrones saga. The splendid city, built of blocks, is all hosted on the WesterosCraft server and there is apparently a cue of visitors waiting to login for a tour. (Should this be labeled Virtual Tourism?) Their plans are much grander than just a city, as they are in the process of recreating the whole continent of Westeros.

Let’s get the record straight! HBO did not directly sponsor or set this project in motion. All they did was make a tv-series based on George R. R. Martins fantasy novels. However, that is beside the point. Let’s just say that they could have. The reason we’re mentioning this fantastic creation is to serve you with inspiration for your own tribaling efforts. If you were to engage the minecraft tribe to build something: what would it be?

2. You could do like SOUR and crowdsource a music video

The japanese band SOUR created a real neat music video together with their fan base. This video was directed by four people and only shot using web-cams. More than 70 fans participated in this project from different places. If you were to engage the YouTube tribe or your fanbase to create a music video: what would it be about?

3. You could do like Memoto and launch an awesome Kickstarter campaign

Memoto turned to Kickstarter to fund their lifelogging camera, and surpassed their initial goal of $50K just five hours after launching! In the end they received more than 2871 pledgers and surpassed their goal by 1000%. The monetary aspect is impressive, but consider the marketing and conversation value that was generated by this feat. They were for example featured in the Colberts Report. If you were going to launch a project on Kickstarter: what would it be? If not a new product or service, then perhaps a documentary, book, comic or video game about your current one?

Martin Källström, CEO of Memoto, was interviewed here.

4. You could do like Mojang and create your own Lego product

Lego is encouraging their tribe to help create and promote new lego products. Anyone can design a new product, and refine it with feedback from the community. If the creator can rally 10 000 supporters in favor of their design, then Lego will consider it for full scale production. In return Lego offers 1% royalty.

Mojang, the company behind Minecraft (see #1 above), has done just that. They submitted a design that received more than 10 000 backers in 48 hours. Lego recently announced that the product has passed review to become a real product! Majong will be donating their 1% royalty to charity.

If you were to make a lego product out of your brand: what would it be? Or if you adapted Legos approach to your products, what would that look like?

5. You could do like Curators of Sweden and democratize your communication

Every week a Swede takes over the reins of Sweden’s official twitter account (@sweden). They share their personal views and tips of things to do and see in Sweden. The idea is that the citizens constitute the Swedish brand. Do you have the guts to unleash your official channels to your tribe?

6. You could do like Arrivas and surprise somebody with a flash mob

The transport company Arriva organized a flash mob to celebrate Mukhtar’s birthday. This was part of a larger project aimed at placing a larger emphasis on their paying customers and personnel. If you were to organize a flash mob, what would it be for?

Whatever tribaling endeavors your pursue, ensure to have fun, do something radically different, be authentic, co-create value and don’t exploit.

What was your favorite example? And why? Do you have an inspiring example of your own?

4 Steps Towards Tribal Collaboration

2013-03-01T08:20:58Z

View Full Size (1680×1050)

This is an attempt to describe the process of working with tribes. It is not meant to be a waterfall method, but rather small agile loops. Truth be told, it’s meant to be more of an instrument for reflection and mind-set than strict real world application. Reality is just too complex to be captured in a model, and this is especially true for human interaction. When interacting and communicating with people you should not be acting out of a manual, but rather your full human capacities. Regardless, I hope you will find this useful for thinking about your own tribaling efforts.

Tribal spotting

This first step is only relevant if you are looking to locate or expand the tribes you are collaborating with. Tribal spotting is the art of finding tribes which could make a good match for your organization and it’s endeavors. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to develop and test new ideas and products? Increase the value of your brand or sales? A good match will nearly always find commonality in shared values, purposes or ideas. For example: Red Bull shares the ideals and values of dangerous sports. Their pursuit for adventure, and pushing the limits of the self, would not be an ideal match for the safe confinements of snooker or darts.

Tribal investigation

This is about going native, in order to understand and decode the social aspects of the tribe. During this step your tribal spotting will either be confirmed or challenged. The aim is to go beyond the evident and read between the lines to find the meaning created through shared experiences, stories and symbols. Where others see the how and the what, you must dig deeper to see the why. While most would say “Hey, they are building stuff out of organic materials”, you should be able to say “Yes, and it expresses their longing for a deeper purpose, to re-connect with nature and be a part of the whole”. By understanding the significance of tribal phenomenon you can understand what the tribe really desires and what you could possibly offer.

Tribal contribution

Supporting tribes is really about mutual benefit, collaboration and exchange, rather than exploitation. The deeper understanding gained, from your tribal investigation, is going to help you share stuff that the tribe truely values, not merely for it’s functional benefits, but symbolic. If you have stuff to share, then it will most likely need to be ‘translated’. You will need to re-code your assets based on what you de-coded during your investigation. The aim of tribal contribution is to introduce yourself and build trust. It is not really that different from regular relationships. Someone has to take the first step, and display sincerity and respect.

Tribal collaboration

This is really about getting your hands dirty and becoming an integral part of the tribe. It’s about doing stuff together, letting loose and having fun. It’s about sharing experiences and stories which are rememberable and sharable. You are there to listen, learn and make an impression. In one way this approach and it’s conclusions is the anti-thesis to traditional marketing.

You could call it un-marketing. Or tribaling.

Martin Källström – Thought Provoking Innovator #4

2013-04-07T21:24:35Z

I have invited people that I admire and feel inspired by. I have asked them describe how they have challenged the market they are in, as well what makes them tick.

Martin Källström

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Martin Källström, CEO of Memoto. We are developing a lifelogging camera that gives you a searchable and shareable photographic memory. We grew from 4 people to 14 in six months this year. As the CEO I’m the one that makes sure there’s coffee for everyone that does the real work. Check us out at http://memoto.com.

How does that challenge the current market?

We’re creating a new camera segment, which is a boring way of saying that people are cringing of excitement about what we do. A common reaction we get is “That’s kind of creepy….. but I LOVE IT AND I WANT ONE”. And when that line of being creeped out and interested goes right through the middle of people’s hearts then you know you are onto something.

What is your best tip for thinking outside of the box?

Talk to everyone you meet about your ideas. Hear yourself improvise answers to their questions. Look in their eyes and see what makes them sparkle.

Why?

2013-03-01T08:21:35Z

“Why?” is such a simple question. Only three letters. Yet knowing it’s answer can be a real game changer. Not knowing can be disastrous. WHY might be the reason we get into bed feeling “it was worth it”. Or the reason we wake up in the morning to get out of bed.

Many projects start with high spirits and a WHY. Yet as time goes by they naturally enter a daily treadmill of tasks. Nearly all become obsessed with WHAT they do. Some will take the time to think about HOW they do it. Still fewer will be able to tell you WHY they do it. Were you ever involved in a project that you really cared about, yet abandoned? Did losing sight of your WHY, at expense of the WHAT and possibly the HOW, have anything to do with it?

WHY can really be a huge motivator. It can help us outperform ourselves. It can help us walk that extra mile when the going gets tough. It can also be the thing which unites us, offering a cause which enables us to cross boundaries and extend hospitality towards one another. A WHY can help us set aside our differences and look for common ground. All for the greater good.

Many companies and organizations start with a WHY, yet lose sight of it along the way. The quest for maximal profit can potentially overshadow the reason a company begins and continues to exist. However, profitability is not a WHY. Real WHY:s transcend commercial gain and offer something to believe in. Consider the following: do you get excited about the idea of being monetized? Does it make you tick on all cylinders?

Organizations that grow face many challenges. One of them being that they don’t take the time to share their WHY with new recruits. Expectations, rules and codes are high upon the agenda. But what about the WHY? Companies like to fashion visions, missions and values which nobody really believes in or lives by. A WHY is not necessarily penned to paper or etched into plaques. It is communicated through leadership and lived by. It ends up becoming an integral part of an organization’s DNA.

WHY-problems seldom confine themselves to an internal organization. They spread like an infectious disease to the way a company views and approaches their outside world. All to often clients and partners become pawns, necessary actors in a system governed by KPI:s. They exist for the sole purpose of maximizing profit. In contrast, organizations with a WHY have the potential of viewing and treating all their relations as co-enablers of purpose. Successful organizations do not only know WHY they exist, but also give their clients a reason to exist.

What is your WHY? Why do you get out of bed in the morning?

For more inspiration view this TED talk by Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action. Related articles: Scott Goodson talks about sparking movements and 9 ways to boost your storytelling and Tribal quest for authenticity