Changing The Status Quo.

by tashmcgill | Feb 23, 2009 | god ideas, Uncategorized

Some Ideas From Seth That Feed The Process

Change
In down economies, the only thing that’s going to change things is changing things. This is hard for a lot of marketers who are used to defending the status quo, but it’s truly the best option.

If you’re not happy with what you’ve got, what radical changes are you willing to make to change what you’re getting?

The telephone destroyed the telegraph.

Here’s why people liked the telegraph: It was universal, inexpensive, asynchronous and it left a paper trail.The telephone offered not one of these four attributes. It was far from universal, and if someone didn’t have a phone, you couldn’t call them. It was expensive, even before someone called you. It was synchronous–if you weren’t home, no call got made. And of course, there was no paper trail.

If the telephone guys had set out to make something that did what the telegraph does, but better, they probably would have failed. Instead, they solved a different problem, in such an overwhelmingly useful way that they eliminated the feature set of the competition.

The list of examples is long (YouTube vs. television, web vs. newspapers, Nike vs. sneakers). Your turn.

Leading – Initiative, Intuition & Ignition
In a time of forecast and present economic recession – the temptation is too much to streamline, restructure and do whatever it takes to maintain the “status quo”. That is, rather than leveraging a time when people need a boost of inspiration, a creative new solution to a previously unthought of problem, a sense of confidence and hope… we “manage” rather than lead.

Obviously, a simplistic overview but still appropriate to consider – we manage our response to the changing market – creating our own focus on maintaining a steady approach- we aim for consistency rather than ebbing and flowing on the wave of economic tide.

However – at Solafida, our approach is a little different. Sure, we’ve streamlined and we’re looking at the future with as much wisdom as we can gather from places like here and here. But we’re also looking at what new opportunities (problems without current solutions) there are for us.

Our number one rule : if responding to the market with the status quo solution, simply results in the status quo – that’s not what we want to do. So we are looking for opportunities to lead, initiate, innovate, ignite and use our intuitive creative sense to propel us forward.

In this time of overwhelming fear of failure – we have the opportunity to leap forward with confidence, for if the expectation is failure, then what’s the worst that could happen?

For example; some of our clients are re-budgeting and trying to figure out how to get the same results with less money. In other words, how do we use the same solutions to get the same answer, but with less investment?

Our response : Let’s choose a different solution, to a different question.

The same here is true for our churches and social organisations as we face decreasing tithes, donations and a more localised view of poverty and economic crisis.

THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL TENACITY
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10

Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered. The greatest fear a man has is not that he will be damned, but that Jesus Christ will be worsted, that the things He stood for – love and justice and forgiveness and kindness among men – will not win out in the end; the things He stands for look like will-o’-the-wisps. Then comes the call to spiritual tenacity, not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately on the certainty that God is not going to be worsted.

If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience.”

Remain spiritually tenacious.

Airplane Service & Faithfulness.

by tashmcgill | Feb 17, 2009 | god ideas, Uncategorized

So, I was recently on a flight from Auckland to Wellington and back. What I was doing there doesn’t matter yet but I’ll tell you about it in a few days.

Point being, it’s been broadly publicised in my neck of the woods, how tight the domestic market for air travel has become.. blah blah, global recession etc etc. Read more here.

So, when your product becomes similar in cost to the other competitors in your market – all you have to build on, to generate return business, better loyalty and significantly better word of mouth sales.. is value.

I flew south with one airline and north with another. The first airline served a significant breakfast type snack, coffee, morning paper and inflight radio/tv entertainment. The second flight had no inflight music, nor tv, coffee/tea that was lukewarm and a ‘snack’ comprising of 2 pineapple lumps, 2 winegums and a jaffa. There wasn’t even a copy of the inflight magazine anywhere in our row.

The cost of each flight was the same within $5 dollars. In fact, the second flight was the more expensive one. Neither are advertising cut-rate travel options.

But I love to fly. So how I fly matters. The quality of service and environment. The provision of things that make the experience of flying worthwhile. The intangible, as well as tangible benefits.

So much so, that when on the same route today – I deliberately sought out the better flight. The pricing was still the same as the competitor, if not slightly cheaper. But my experience infinitely better. Similarly, had I wanted to go even further in the experiential goodness – the investment of a few extra dollars would have afforded me a slightly larger seat on a longer flight.

All this to say – it strikes me that we can so easily make the same investment in faith as we travel with Jesus. Full service, or lesser service .. the cost varies little – but the investment and commitment we make to the experience makes all the difference.

I do not want a short-changed experience – I long for the full service, faithful, accruing of airpoints that reflect a life of faith.

A message I heard recently about faithfulness and all sorts reflected on a significant passage of scripture for me = the words often said to the Israelites..
“Now, go up into the land that I have shown you and take possession of it. Do not be afraid for I go with you”. The speaker drew a parallel in our response to this call of God when it comes on each one of us, in each unique way… we either respond as Zachariah did, with disbelief… or as Mary did.. with eager and intrepid fascination at how God would go about fulfilling his promises.

The response of faithfulness to God’s promised land, and our required activity in that process is the scary frontline of purpose and pleasure. God does not need us, but He delights in us, as a friend reminded me yesterday.

Therefore, in the midst of all that is promised, all that is still becoming the fulfilment of God, we stand with two choices. The full experience or the lesser option. The cost truly, is just the same. A Christ who makes all things possible, made sin where there was never sin, for our sake, that he might become the fullness of God’s promise to us and we then, having the choice to respond in kind – might grasp hold of the fullness of His faithfulness to us, with our own meager offering.

Faithful, saying, Yes Lord, be it unto me as you have said! Only to be made more faithful by living and breathing in the full acceptance and experience of Christ at work in us and through us. By our very obedience and faithfulness becoming the delight of the Lord’s hand.

Hence, these were my thoughts at 30,000ft… as I enjoyed the fullest service and experience there was to be had today, and all the while wondering, “how Lord, will you do this thing in my life? yet, may it be to me as you have said.”