Netflix popularized binge viewing.

It’s a consumption model in which every episode of a show is released at once. Fans are encouraged to catch up on their favorite programs by completely immersing themselves in the universe of the characters, plowing through entire seasons in marathon sessions.
It’s cheap, easy, satisfying and completely reinvents the viewing experience. And as a result, Netflix now accounts for more than thirty percent of all web traffic during the week. That’s more than any other website in the country.
The genius of this strategy is, Netflix didn’t just give more options to their customers, they instilled new habits in their customers, and then positioned their offerings in alignment with those habits.
The best way to predict the future is to create it.

God bless the app store.

It’s fast to download, seamless to install, easy to use, convenient to have, fun to explore, simple to navigate and priceless to own.
But what’s truly amazing, what most companies probably overlook, is that the app store has created nearly a half million new jobs since its inception.
That’s a platform, not a product.
And once more organizations accept that there’s no market for their scarcity, once they give people the privilege to become part of their history, and once they build a platform that makes it seamless for those people to express their truest selves, their brand will become a source of infinite opportunity for the people who matter most.
Next time you sit down with your team, ask a few of these platform questions:
How does this give people another reason to stop by? How can visitors browse an entire collection of experiences? How can we directly wire this into an existing online ecosystem? How do we make an event happen beyond the walls of the venue? How do we curate situations that bring discovery of cool new things? How can we give people a huge digital sandbox to play in?

How can we let people engage with the project as it’s being produced? How do we create a system that makes audiences equal members of the stage? How does this give users an addictive reason to keep revisiting and refreshing? How can we build a soapbox open to anyone and everyone as a place to speak their minds? How can we create a project that grows incrementally with each online interaction and reaction? Surrender is the new control.
Let them express the magic in their hearts, not just spend the money in their wallets, and you’ll feel people power as wind at your back.

Storytelling isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.

And you can buy all the books, read all the articles, go to all the seminars, take all the classes and hire all the coaches, but unless you tell a story that people enjoy believing, none of that matters.
People enjoy believing a story that validates their worldview, makes them feel powerful and frees them from something.
People enjoy believing a story in which they recognize themselves and that expresses what they can’t do, think, say, find and feel on their own.
People enjoy believing a story that serves a purpose, stands as a truthful metaphor for life and gives them hope about what they can be.
People enjoy believing a story that offers evidence of what they doubt and makes them proud to take the first step.
People enjoy believing a story that gives them the power to march forward and convinces them that their life is worth living.
People enjoy believing a story that lets them unconsciously process their own life, put their own nature into accord discover the journey they’re on.
People enjoy believing a story that they can lose themselves in, superimpose their own meaning onto and spread to the people they care about.
People enjoy believing a story that sucks them in, takes them to a place they don’t want to leave and makes them a necessary part of the narrative.
Before you start telling yours, make sure it’s enjoyable to believe.
Otherwise the story is nothing more than another annoying interruption.

Strategy is a series of moves to get what you want.

It’s about approaching a task, project or situation in a logical, holistic, intelligent, creative and comprehensive way, understanding the why behind the what, taking into account all the relevant variables and asking tons of hard questions.
It’s about working every possible angle like a train hobo with a chicken bone, taking the world apart and putting it back together again, putting the process on a pedestal and knocking and knocking until the doors of ignorance have no choice but to open.
The hard part is, strategy takes time, commitment, endurance and grit. The word itself comes from the Greek stratos, or “expedition.”
And if we’re not willing to pay that price, all we’re left with is a pile of tactics and a few short-term victories.

When an industry starts to become cannibalistic and incestuous, it might be a good time to walk away.

We’ve seen it in a number of fields, from comedy to publishing to consulting to entertainment. 

People start feeding off and breeding with their own kind, inhaling each other’s fumes, building business models around each other, sharing the same stories, being guests on each other’s shows, living in each other’s pockets, swapping customers and saturating the market. And because these folks meet most of their needs inside the boundaries of their own family, playing nothing but inside ball, they eventually isolate themselves from the outside world and retreat into an effortless, airless, echo chamber stroke fest.
The result is an infinite regression, a dull blanket of sameness draped over an entire industry, where people’s willingness to listen and stretch and expand is muted.
That’s when it’s time to move on.

The best way to reach future customers is through existing customers.

That’s the chain of influence. Now that people have replaced their trust in traditional authorities with trust in each other, they don’t want to hear from the companies who make the products, and certainly not the experts who review them, they want to hear from the amateurs, the real people, who actually use the products.
Rotten Tomatoes, the world’s best film review aggregator, is a fascinating example. For every movie listed, they post two kinds of reviews. First, the ones from approved critics, usually certified members of writing guilds or film associations, who review movies for a living. And second, the reviews from registered users, usually film fanatics and regular people, who simply love going to the movies and sharing their experience.
Who are we more likely to trust?
Well, if I’m going to leave the house and part with my precious time and money, personally, I care less about critical acclaim and more about casual approval.
The balance of power has shifted. 

Here’s a generosity experiment worth trying.

Treat someone like a client, even before they become one.
No need to break the bank, give away the intellectual farm or collapse your entire agenda on moment’s notice. You still have to rational and realistic.
But just this once, just for fun, act as if the prospect you hope to land is already a paying client, someone who likes, trusts and believes in your value.
Not to create a sense of indebtedness. Not to crate social pressure to reciprocate.
Just to see how powerful generosity really is.
And yes, there’s always the possibility that potential clients will agree to meet with you, ask a thousand questions, take copious notes, act like they’re going to hire you, then have a staff person do the work instead and never call you back because they might need to exploit you again in the future.
But it’s also possible that prospects will be so floored by your ideas, so wowed by the generous spirit in which they were delivered, that they almost won’t know how to react to such a act.
Are you providing value in advance of a purchase?

It’s easier than ever to do it, but it’s harder than ever to make a living doing it. 

For example, there is more music being created than ever before, says editor Paul Resnikoff, but paradoxically, musicians are making less than ever before, thanks to a deflated ecosystem once primed by traditional major labels, massive changes in recording technology, trends in pricing structures, cultural shifts in taste, evolutions in genre and nonexistent barriers to entry.

And it’s not just music.
The same goes for publishing, performing, photographing, blogging, designing, consulting, coaching, crafting and coding.
When anyone can do anything, they will.
And when they do, when scarcity goes the way of the dodo, the value of the product plummets, and profitability becomes harder and harder to achieve.
Personally, this scares the shit out of me.
It this the end of the world, or the beginning of a new one?

Good brands are bought, great brands are joined.

Over the last few months, I’ve interviewed fifteen presidents of fifteen organizations with amazing culture. And upon revisiting each of those conversations, I’ve realized a key insight about belonging.
If you want more people to join your brand, you have to understand the human implications of why we join things in the first place.
People join where they can belong, make meaning and enjoy the company of others. They join to participate in a venture, a crusade that accomplishes much more than they ever could individually. They join to come alive in the role that was designed for them. And they join to do what they love in an environment that wants them to do it.
People join where their craziness and uniqueness will be embraced. They join where they will be understood. They join where they can pillage the playground of their minds and put their fingerprints on the things they love. And they join where reality is as big as their imaginations allow it to be.
People join where their real self can exist. They join where what they do is what makes them feel most beautiful. They join where they can use their own creativity to solve problems. They join where they’re not in competition for the right to be treated decently. And they join where they can be serious about their talent and their obligation to use it.
Build that, and they will come.

The wheels of online commerce run on positive reviews.

But there’s a shift.
In the past, online reviews were evaluations. How accessible is the place? How long is the wait? How crowded is the bar? How tasty is the food? How speedy is the service? How affordable is the price?
But now, online reviews vouch for credibility. Is the place sketchy? Is the experience worth our time and money? Do people even go there anymore? Are there better dining options available right down the street?
The lesson is, customers value context before content.
Before you start adding bacon to every item on the menu, start by changing the soft tissue about what you make, how you deliver it and where you promote it.