A moment in time...

As the languishing effects of COVID -19 continue, one of the habits I had fallen into was not blogging on a regular basis. The excuses, and there are many, would come easily but none would serve any real purpose if I wanted to change the situation. So my plan is to go into my file of half finished blogs and thoughts, figuratively dust them off, and change the habit from not blogging to blogging. I found this start to a blog from October 2020

Well here we are — Halloween. Or was that a month ago.

And then just a push to the middle of November, and as they say it will be a hop skip and a jump to Christmas; then ringing in the New Year — 2021. Spring is just a heart beat away (crocuses in the lawn); I believe it’s then the celebration of the Queen’s birthday* and couple of birthdays to celebrate the formation of sovereign states. And then, wait for it… tic toc… wait for it…. the availability of a COVID-19 vaccine — a logistical nightmare unto itself; but everything is then, finally back to normal.

Tic toc; tic toc.

I look back on what I do and it’s been months since I have written anything for myself — buried in work is my excuse and of course a pandemic; damn that SARS-CoV-2. A convenient excuse I suppose. What I call the sameness of the COVID-19. Was that yesterday or last month?

…

Six months later I still remember starting this commentary on COVID-19 and why I abandoned it. I was concerned that my previous blogs had been on the same topic and I was moving away from the tenets that ground what I write about. It is also quite possible I never meant to publish this and it was simply cathartic writing to help on my journey through the pandemic (although in the end it doesn’t really matter). I don’t have any interest in unpacking what I thought six months ago. What’s important to realize at this point is that, although we are far from having this pandemic under control, we do have vaccines, effective treatments and a global community that continues to work hard to put this behind us.

Tic toc; tic toc

This pandemic will come to an end, and if you listen to the pundits, there will be an over zealous desire to celebrate like they did in the roaring 20’s. Whether you raise a glass or review the history books, this pandemic will be a moment in time to seriously reflect on and ask yourself what you learned and what you would have done differently. Everything is a learning opportunity and knowledge does make everything a little easier — particularly in the tough times.

I’m not sure if this has satisfied anything other than me being able to say I wrote a blog (which is definitely better than saying I did not write a blog). What it has reinforced though is that action is better than non-action, and that definitely satisfies one of my tenets.

Because remember, and COVID has confused this concept, there is only so much time to get things done.

Tic toc; tic toc

iamgpe

*in Canada on May 24th we celebrate Queen Victoria’s Birthday (most likely pandemic style)

Striving for commercial excellence

Recently I listened to a marketing professional who offered a perspective on striving for marketing excellence (and I suppose commercial excellence by extension). I found it inspirational enough that I had this overwhelming desire to offer up a blog (something I haven’t been doing much of lately but in my defence I’ve been busy… I digress).

The proposed formula for marketing (and commercial) excellence came in the form of not one C, or even two, but 3 Cs.

Customer, Competitor and Craft

Customer — know who your customers are, know how they think, know what’s important to them, how to find them, and the best way to connect with them.

Competitor — know who your competitors are, what their value proposition is (particularly how it competes with yours), watch what they are doing, and identify how you can engage with your customers better.

Craft — identify those skills that are unique to you, your strengths, and get really, really good at them; develop and practice always.

This resonated with me, and although I really liked these core drivers, I kept thinking there was something missing. After a while it finally struck me — my issue wasn’t with the drivers themselves but with what actually fuelled them. Turns out there’s a fourth “C” and it fuels everything:

Curiosity [ˌkyo͝orēˈäsədē] NOUN — a strong desire to know or learn something.

So humbly, I would like to refine the three drivers slightly:

A strong desire to know or learn about your Customer

A strong desire to know or learn about your Competitors

A strong desire to know or learn about your Craft

So there you have it, another list to make you successful, and not even one I came up with myself — just something I “tinkered with”. This of course doesn’t diminish the importance of the three “C”s (or maybe four) but maybe “striving for excellence” also includes searching out smart people, listening to what they have to say, thinking about what they’ve said, and taking action.

After all, I wouldn’t have written this blog and “tinkered a little bit” if it wasn’t for someone who knows quite a bit about marketing.

iamgpe

365 days...

It has been a little more than 365 days since the World Health Organization announced a novel coronavirus had been isolated from a person in hospital, and it will be a less than 365 days when everyone will have received a vaccination for the virus that causes COVID-19 (at least in Canada). It’s a pandemic that will be (and already is) measured in the millions, and has involved governments, communities, and individuals attempting to incorporate the simplest of public health measures to fight the virus. Social distancing, socially isolating when sick, hand washing, and good hygiene — all in an attempt to stop the virus from spreading, which evolutionarily speaking, is designed to do.

On a daily basis, the news cycle offers up a tally of cases, hospitalizations, deaths, unemployed, closures, and now, the number of people vaccinated (it was pointed out to me recently that newscasters have it easy now. All they have to do is cite the numbers of the day). It’s a relentless bombardment on our individual and collective psychology, all at a time when our personal distractions and coping mechanisms have been stripped away. We lament there is nothing to do but what we’re really saying is we can’t do what we used to do, and we’re not happy about it. If not literally, we figuratively wait, and so does SARS CoV-2.

There is a long game when it comes to a modern pandemic: simply get vaccinated before you get sick. We’re 365 days into this pandemic and we’ve another 365 days to go; with each day that passes, get closer to what we remember as normality (at least we thing we can remember).

With this in mind, this is what I plan to do over the next 365 days to help get me through this crisis.

1. Work really hard to stay healthy and keep others healthy

2. Be there for family and friends, and help keep them safe (refer to #1)

3. Continue to be of value to those I work with

4. Don’t let all that practical “life stuff” slide just because I think every day seems the same and I just don’t feel like doing it (you know like — taxes, doctor’s appointments, blogs, getting my car licence, better rigor around my investing… stuff like that)

5. Keep running stairs, keep riding my gravel bike, stay mobile and don’t sit too much, keep eating right, and get lots of fresh air

6. Stay imaginative and try new things (even if they are small and seemingly insignificant). Keep the brain working and “relatively sharp”

7. Plan that next trip. You’re definitely gonna need it after this is all over.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in 365 days — I’m optimistic.

iamgpe

PS: Why the picture of a bike in the snow? Well this is a manifestation of me exercising, getting fresh air and being imaginative. Riding a bike in the snow is so much fun!

PPS: If you have gotten this far you’ve probably recognized I’ve put my 365 day plan down on paper ( I wanted to keep them broad because, in the time of COVID, i want to stay “nimble”).

Come on people, it’s the beginning of a new year — get it down on “paper”.