The Dangers of Evangelism

In recent days, we’ve all heard the story of the Americans from Idaho who went to Haiti to help the children, but ended up with a group of children that included kids who weren’t orphans, and failed to go through any of the required hoops to legally bring the children out of the Country.  This group of Baptist missionaries, I am sure, were well meaning and saw themselves even as Agents of the Lord doing his work to help make a better life for these children.  However, there’s an arrogance to this view, including one that involves a sense of paternalism, in that these well-meaning folks somehow had the one and only right answer to the situation at hand.

Lots of people need help from time to time.  Lots of people are in tough situations, but temporary fixes are at best bandaids to larger problems at hand.  That’s not to say that bandaids can’t save lives, but they don’t replace, say, stitches, or hygiene, or education for long term solutions to the same problem.  We wouldn’t think for a moment that the same folks would go to any inner city in the US and start rounding up poor children, because they can be “saved” but somehow, in this disaster zone, all sense of appropriateness is removed, and instead, in the eagerness to make a difference, people are substituting their judgment for those of people in the community.

The problem with evangelism is that it makes you think you have the only solution, the only right answer, and everyone else’s opinion is simply wrong.  For example, when Brit Hume suggested that Tiger Woods could recover from the scandal by converting to Christianity, this seems like telling someone they get a “Get out of jail free” card if they simply join up on your team.

Is it, or should it be this simple?  I think some people read the “Go and Sin No More” clause to have a subtext that says “Go and sin no less, either.”  Assuming we have manifest destiny over everyone because we think we have the right answer totally ignores the whole concept of personal choice and freedom this Country was founded on.  I may not agree with your views, and you may not agree with mine, but I am willing to fight to the death for your ability to express them, and equally for my own.  What I object to is the intolerance of the possibility of alternatives, other ideas and suggestions.  Life is never one size fits all.

I know it’s difficult when you think someone is wrong or misguided, or even suffering, and you think you have the right answer, to think you need to impose that answer on them, “for their own good.”  I know I’ve often thought I have the perfect solution to a problem, and guess what?  Someone disagrees, and they have a perfectly legitimate alternative that they think will work.  And then it becomes my job, after presenting my view, to back off and let them make their own decisions in their own life.  Whether that’s trying to teach my kids study skills that worked for me, or help a client with their website and marketing, the end point is the same.  I can give advice, but they are the ones that need to make the decisions and take action.

The paternalistic portions of evangelism- the “I know best” portion- can have ugly consequences.  Our form of government might not work as well with other cultures.  Our ideas of help may not be truly helpful.  We have to be willing to be wrong, even when we’re certain we have the right answer.    I know the group in Haiti probably had the best of intentions, but that doesn’t mean removing kids from their parents, or from their Country,  is a decision they can make on their own, no matter how much love and kindness and generosity was involved.  We still have to ask permission before forever altering the lives of others, well intentioned or not.  And that also means being willing to back off when asked.

Don’t Underestimate Surprise and Delight as a Strategy

I have been a fan of Seth Godin’s for a long time. I read his blogs, buy his books, and frequently recommend them to friends. (In fact, we celebrated my birthday this year at Max Brenner’s restaurant, in part due to reading about Max in Seth’s books.) So when Seth told readers on his blog that they could get an early copy of his book by making a donation to the Acumen Fund, I eagerly signed up.

I really enjoyed Linchpin, and you can see my earlier reviews here. I would love to sit down with Seth and discuss his Lizard Brain concept further, taking into account the development of the brain as we go from kids to adults and how that process may impact creativity. But despite any nitpicking I might do on neurology, it brought home the point that you have the best chance to succeed when you are involved and engaged in your work.

When I came home today from a client meeting where being engaged and responsive had made a big impact, I was surprised to see a package by my door. Inside was another copy of Linchpin with a note from Seth that read :

“Generosity is a key piece of being an artist. It gives each of us a chance to connect, to make a difference and to do indispensable work. You were generous enough to make a donation to the Acumen Fund, an organization that focuses on trade, not aid, building communities that work because each member contributes more than they get. A few weeks ago, I sent you a preview copy of Linchpin, as promised. Now, in recognition of your generosity, I’m giving you another. I hope you’ll share this one with someone you care about.”

What a lovely surprise! I’m speaking to a group next week, and I’m going to make sure someone in the audience gets this gift, along with the hope they will pay it forward as well in the future.

I know Seth is a fantastic marketer, and this is an additional chance to help the word spread about his book. Since I found myself quoting the book frequently after reading it, I’m doing a pretty good job of that already. But this gives me an additional chance to share Seth’s words with others, and it was a terrific and thoughtful gift to find on my doorstep. It was like finding a handwritten note, that chocolate on the pillowcase, the extra secret surprise than reinforces the concept of getting through the process of giving.

I know I always find the more I give and help others, the more I seem to get in return. The return comes in many forms, but whether it’s volunteering or taking a moment to help a friend, or doing great work with a client, I always seem to end up
feeling that everything I put into a project, I get at least that much, if not more, out on the other side. Even in cases where things don’t work out so well, I always find there’s often a lesson I needed to learn in the process.

The bottom line here is that I’m already a huge Seth fan. He doesn’t need to “re-sell” me, really. I’m already happily playing on his team, so to speak. But this gesture reinforces the message that Seth not only stands behind his work, but he wants to make it easy to share with others who may not be fans (yet) the same way I am. And it’s another lesson to me that these small moments of surprise can be touching- moments of delight that work on many levels, including encouraging me to invest in any of Seth’s future projects. Not because of any “What’s in it for me?” reason, but because he always seems to find a way to surprise and delight me, and I’ve always been thrilled by anything I’ve done on his recommendation. I always learn something from Seth, or am reminded of things that are important that I may have put on the back shelf. So I’ll continue to invest in Seth, because he’s never afraid on investing in his audience and fans.

Tags: acumen fund, delight, fans, linchpin, marketing, seth godin, sharing, surprise

Making CEOs

Getting everyone pointed in the same direction and working as a team can be hard.  There was great article in the New York Times, an interview with Mark Pincus, CEO of Zynga, about how he looks to people to the the “CEO of Something.”  It’s  a brilliant way to describe the best strategy of getting people to do stuff- give them something meaningful to do, that they control and can move forward.

In anything I’ve done, the secret sauce is to make people feel empowered and better after an experience than before.  As soon as we make someone ask for permission, we lose a bit of that enthusiasm and forward momentum.  So for example, if I teach someone how to manage their own website and analytics, they get a sense of control over what they’re doing online.  Every time they run an ad, they can  measure the impact of that media buy by tracking their online traffic, while also looking at other ways business may start to flow, like an increase in inquiries by phone, etc.  By teaching them to do it, it’s empowering for them, and I make them less dependent on third parties all together.

Likewise, if I’m tutoring a child, it’s important to give them stuff they can do, so they feel successful, but to also challenge them to do more.  But I also provide them with the “Why”- why things like math are really important later on, and even if the end goal seems like a long way away, the journey is worth the effort.

This sense of having control and power over your own destiny, of having a meaningful impact from your actions, is a feeling we all love.  We want to matter and make a difference.  And this is what Marcus Pincus is talking about when he says everyone should be the CEO of Something.  The more ownership and control people have, the more likely you’ll find them pointed in a good direction, making things happen, and contributing to your overall project and goals.  The minute someone feels like they are just moving endless piles of paper around with no change from day to day, moving pieces around a board but never making any real progress- that’s when you get problems of people disengaging and gradually ceasing to care about what they do.

I’m deeply concerned that in education, we are making teachers feel more and more like assembly line workers with little autonomy rather than the CEO of their classroom, empowered to make a real difference.  This change is largely attitude only, and not necessarily expensive to accomplish, but it might just make all the difference in the outcomes of the stuidents in that classroom.

But this is about more than education- it’s really about life.  And whether it’s running an event, or even running your household, one thing to remember is you get better results if you can make someone feel like a CEO, even if it’s something like the CEO of Dog Walking- it’s all about specialization, ownership, and making a contribution.

Who can you make a CEO today?

Idealism

At Educon this past weekend, I had many amazing conversations with educators, people interested in education reform, wild-eyed evangelists and more.  But one of the most telling moments was when Gary Stager asked, “When did idealism become a negative adjective?  I tell my grad students- You’re 22- idealistic is exactly what you should be.”

Educon as an “education/technology” conference tends to attract people who are dedicated to making schools all they can be, and others who want to make schools different, but are constantly finding the “Yes, But” in every sentence.

I was left with the impression this weekend that may educators have become real pessimists, and have lost much of their idealism.  After hearing story upon story of teachers having success with students from poor homes, from rotten neighborhoods and the like, you could hear someone remark that that case was the exception to the rule.  It made me think- How many stories of success and learning in relatively impoverished environments do you need before you decide that these stories are not the outliers and the one offs, but actually evidence that children may have potential, even if the deck is stacked against them.

The problem with this viewpoint, of course, is it doesn’t allow you to give up.  It means you have to reach every child, and not just the easy ones, either.  It means you can’t write off the disruptive kid, because with the proper teacher or a more interesting project, that kid might really start to blossom.  If you can, instead, look at some kids as lost causes and assume that you can’t make a significant difference, you get permission to fail and permission to stop trying.

I learned this weekend the real meaning of “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”  Every time someone doesn’t expect a kid to achieve, every time we make a test easier so the passing rate goes up, every time we tell ourselves our school’s test scores are simply the fault of the proportion of ESL kids, or those with IEP’s,  we are short selling our kids and their potential.  We’re using grade inflation to mask any difficulties and let it masquerade as real progress, because that’s politically expedient.  Even if you have kids who don’t seem engaged, does that give you an excuse to stop trying to teach them?  Isn’t this just a way to let teachers off the hook from doing the really hard work required?

While programs like “Race to the Top” sound wonderful, a race also implies winners and losers rather than helping all boats to rise to the top.  I think we have to stop making education a competition. There’s a  competition between teachers and students, where teachers have to exert command and control over kids, and every psych experiment ever done has shown that no one learns well in a coercive environment.  The students push back, and there’s a giant tug of war going on where no one actually ever wins or moves forward.

I want teachers and students and parents to be idealistic about education.  We have to have high dreams and aspirations.  We may fall short of the “perfect goal” but if we never shoot for the target, we have no hope of ever even coming close.

Gary also quoted Seymore Papert, the father of educational computing and founder of the MIT Media Lab, as saying “It’s okay to worry about the work on Monday, as long as it’s also working towards what you need to do someday.”  We need to have the wide angle lens as well as the microscope working at all times, and keep an eye on the bigger mission.

The process of changing and improving education is difficult.  It’s something I’d love to see IDEO try to tackle, because rather that getting potshots from outside, I think education will only improve when people fully understand the problems from the inside out first.  And as long as we keep putting ridiculous pressure on our schools to meet relatively arbitrary standards in an arbitrary period of time, where we measure each classes achievement like a new set of widgets, rather than measuring an individual student’s growth over time, we keep educators locked in Maslowe’s basement, where they are constantly distracted with worry about the “food clothing shelter” aspects of school, and never have the time or the security to have truly higher aspirations of themselves or their students.

I am an idealist about education.  We have all the potential in the world.  We just have to be willing to harness it, to let go of the substantial fear that exists, and feel free to dream and experiment, and be willing to be wrong and try again, all the while keeping the best interests of the kid’s at heart.  It is possible.  It can be done.  But we have to be willing to be idealists, we have to be willing to be disappointed from time to time, and we have to be willing to dust ourselves off and try again as need be.

But mostly, we have to stop seeing Idealism as a pejorative, and instead, embrace it as the thing we should all aspire to become.

Tags: education, education reform, educon, Gary Stager, idealism

All Your Expensive TV Advertising Does Not Help You When…

the website you are sending people to does not work.

This morning, while getting the kids ready fro school, a toothpaste commercial came on the TV, advertising free samples if you just went to their website.  This sounded interesting, so I went to the website in question.  However, if you click on the “Try it free for a week” button, the link just sends you back to the same page ad infinitum, even after clearing the cache and all those other good things.  Likewise, when going to the “contact us” page, I found a mash of some poorly designed pull down menus, and a “submit” button that gave no indication that the comment was actually received.  Being a web girl, I waited and called the company to tell them about this problem and let them know their website wasn’t working for the offer extended, nor for the “submit comment” feature.

While the gentleman on the phone took my information and said they would be mailing me a coupon to make things “right” for me as a consumer, the thing that was more concerning to me was how much money was being wasted.  An expensive TV advert was driving potential customers to a website that could not engage visitors as promised.  Visitors, and potential customers that the client is paying plenty to reach.  This doesn’t help the consumer’s opinion or trust of the brand, and from a technical point of view, it may be something as simple as a broken link.  Not only that, the Client may end up getting a skewed view of results of the campaign and engagement of customers/respondents, because it’s unlikely every person will take the time I did to call the company and let them know the links are broken.

I am sure that I am likely overly engaged here.  But my call, and any others they might get reporting broken links, could very well end up saving the company money, political capital with its new customers, and may even end up getting the web guy in charge of this in some hot water.

As we continue to urge clients and companies to link offline, traditional marketing strategies with online portals, we also need to make sure that all those online portals work as perfectly as possible.  I have no idea what the media buy the toothpaste company made, nor how much they spent to put their website together, but if, in the end, the site does not allow for conversion and collection of consumer data, it’s largely been a pointless waste.  Otherwise, the old fashioned slipping of samples into the Sunday paper, in store trials and samples in random mailboxes may be more cost effective, even if it doesn’t allow the all-important data collection feature.  And if those of us advising companies on web-based strategies can’t make them deliver any better than traditional campaigns because of something as simple as a broken link, we are doing our clients and the whole web-based consumer engagement ecosystem a disservice.

What do you think?

Tags: ads, arm & hammer, offers, products, toothpaste, TV, websites