The Power of Simple

Chris Colbert's Posterous

What a Difference a Day Makes

I have long marveled at the capacity of Homo sapiens to use the Gregorian construct of calendar days to act, think and feel differently.  364 days after our date of birth, we have a thing called a birthday.  A day where we believe we are more special than the day before and the day after.  We also believe that the third Thursday of the month of November is the day to give thanks.  And we believe that Fridays are days we can begin to relax and Sundays are days of rest.  Well, at least we used to believe that. And we believe that the new year, as represented by January 1st, represents a whole new world, or at least a whole new capacity to create a new world, which implies that December 31st did not carry the same potential...  Now I know deep in the recesses of my left brain that that is just silly.  A day is a day is a day.  But that's not always true. 

The turning of the page from the dark and stormy 2009 into 2010 has brought with it an almost palpable collective exclaim of "phew" and "hurrah" and sunny declarations that this new year will be a better year.  And that's a good thing.  The capacity of people to move forward is in large part predicated on how they feel.  Give them hope and they will engage.  Give them doubt and they will circle their wagons.   Japan's lost decade being perhaps the best example of the latter.  My worry is that the hope and positivism that is appearing presumes that the good times we left two years ago are somehow magically about to be back.  That all those jobs will return, that the dollar will strengthen, that home sales will return, that all will be just the way it was.  I think not.  I don't believe that world will ever return.  Nor should it.  The new order of things says there are no gimmies, and that value is everything.  The value of the dollar, the value of the home, the value of the worker, the value of the brand.  Many businesses have commoditized or been dis-intermediated, our capacity to out-produce the world has been long lost, and our incestuous consumer credit based economy has pretty much eaten itself and its kin.  Our ability to regain our economic footing is purely predicated on creating more value than others can create.  And while that may seem daunting, as individuals, businesses and country, the first step is to believe we can.  And thank god for January 1st.  What a difference a day makes.

Playing monopoly

We all aspire to be one. A monopoly.  The only game in town.  Proprietary this, trade markable that.
Product developers and business people all over the world are working their assets off to come up 
with the next best thing, the thing that is wholly different, that offers tangible distinction that the competition just
can't replicate.  But the truth is that all monopolies die or slowly fade away.  The British Empire.  Polaroid.
GM. Marshall Fields.  Standard Oil.   Facebook.  Harvard University. The United States...

So why do monopolies inevitably die and/or lose their dominant position? 

Because they end up believing that they are above the realities of the marketplace and the need to 
evolve, to wholly innovate and constantly re-invent themselves.  Their first to market position convinces 
them that their brand position and value proposition is permanently secure. They stop listening to the market, 
they over-extend their offering, they take on initiatives that are motivated more by ego and largess than by 
practical consideration of what would serve their customers (or citizens) best.  They lose focus on what 
is relevant and what really drives sustainable value. They ignore the competition.  A monopolistic position 
creates a false sense of  competency, alarming forms of "strategic laziness" and a reluctance to take on 
what I call essential risk.  

So is monopolistic aspiration the wrong intention?  I think not.  The way to avoid the downside of the 
upside is not to eschew the desire to "own the market" but to eschew ego, to be laser
focused about what really matters to the people you serve and to look the truth about it all directly in the 
eye and act on what you see.  Clarity. Humility. Practicality.  Candor.  Bravery.  Ardor.  
All key to winning the game again and again.

Hello Health versus Health Care Reform

David Gianatasio of Adweek asked me today why Holland-Mark's winning the Hello Health
account was so important (other than getting a new piece of business).  I responded by saying 
that it put us at the epicenter of one of the most important and complex challenges of our time, and 
at the wheel of a brand and technology that really has the ability to make a tangible difference in
the lives of primary care doctors and all of us who need them.  In contrast to the obtuse, conflicting and
partisan driven proposals around health care reform I can actually see how the Hello Health platform 
will work to enable a better quality of care at a lower cost.  It will significantly reduce paperwork, increase
doctor access by patients,  eliminate the chasing of insurer payments (which currently takes up 40%
of a primary care practice's time) and fundamentally free the doctors to do what they do best: care 
for their patients.  It is perhaps most revolutionary in its focus and simplicity which underscores Holland-Mark's
core belief that if human beings can't easily understand something, how can they engage with and derive value from
it?

Hello Health versus Health Care Reform

David Gianatasio of Adweek asked me today why Holland-Mark's winning the Hello Health
account was so important (other than getting a new piece of business).  I responded by saying 
that it put us at the epicenter of one of the most important and complex challenges of our time, and 
at the wheel of a brand and technology that really has the ability to make a tangible difference in
the lives of primary care doctors and all of us who need them.  In contrast to the obtuse, conflicting and
partisan driven proposals around 
health care reform I can actually see how the Hello Health platform 
will work
 
t
o
 
enable a better quality of care at a lower cost.  It will significantly reduce paperwork, increase
doctor access by patients,  eliminate the chasing of insurer payments (which currently takes up 40%
of a primary care practice's time) and fundamentally free the doctors to do what they do best: care 
for their patients.  It is perhaps most revolutionary in its focus and simplicity which underscores Holland-Mark's
core belief that if human beings can't understand something, how can they engage with and derive value from
it?  

Chris Colbert

holland-mark     hmstudios

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