The method
Ideas. Ink. Execution.
One way of working, in five moves. Each has a test the work must pass before it moves on. The first two are ideas, the third is ink, the last two are execution.
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Ideas1Find
Listen across the business and gather the evidence.
I talk to leaders, the team, customers and partners, in confidence. I look for the stories, words and choices that keep repeating. And I keep an empty chair in every meeting for the customer who is not in the room.
The test Could a rival say it just as easily? If so, keep looking.
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Ideas2Shape
Turn the truth into ideas, and choose with reasons.
Positioning, concepts, products and formats. First widen the options, then narrow them with clear gates: who it is for, who will commit, and whether it depends on any one person.
The test Why would the tenth time matter more than the first?
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Ink3Tell
Give it words and form people remember.
Narrative, copy, identity, decks and reports. One audience, one direction, one decision, in words and design that hold a room or a reader.
The test Could it be said with less?
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Execution4Gather
Build the reasons people return.
Experiences, rituals, channels and recurring moments. Return before reach: the right two hundred people coming back beat two thousand who never return.
The test Would the right people come back?
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Execution5Keep it good
Listen to what comes back, improve, and hand it over.
Listen, respond, invite, learn, repeat. Then templates, decision rules and trained owners, so your team can carry it without me.
The test If it disappeared, who would fight to bring it back?
Ten principles
- Find before you make. The truth is already there.
- People before products. People are moved by people, ideas and beliefs.
- Evidence before adjectives. Every claim earns its place.
- Return before reach. The right two hundred over two thousand vaguely interested.
- Constraints are the brief. The answer usually uses what you already have.
- Less is the goal. In words, in noise, and in dependence on me.
- Keep an empty chair. Someone always speaks for the customer.
- A story, not a process. People remember stories.
- Test the mechanics, protect the belief. Try small, keep what works.
- Good is win-win. For the business, its people, its customers, its community and its environment. If not, we start again until it is right.
The Good Test
- Functional. Does it do its job for the person on the other side? Fails: Work that looks right and helps no one decide anything.
- Relevant. Would the people it is for recognise themselves in it? Fails: Work about the company, not its people.
- Responsible. Is every claim true, and fair to everyone it touches? Fails: Claims nobody can prove, or wins that cost someone else.
- Sustainable. Will it still be right in ten years, and can the team keep it going? Fails: Campaign thinking, or work that needs the consultant forever.
- Simple. Could it be said with less? Fails: Anything that needs explaining twice.
The rival test comes first. If a competitor could make the same claim just as easily, it is not yours yet.
Protect the belief. Test the mechanics. Keep what works.
