Kevin Hillstrom: MineThatData

Out of a Job

Over on LinkedIn, an analyst mentioned that his job was eliminated as a result of increased automation and organizational change.

As we approach Easter, I'm sure there were carpenters who lost their jobs back in the day as a result of increased automation and organizational change. Or for other reasons. It's not easy to find a job, do a job, keep a job, or create a job.

Back in the day, I gave attendees at a Shop.org session a choice. If they had to downsize one position out of the following three, with no knowledge of the skill level of the person in the job, which position would you coldly eliminate?

Digital Marketing Director.
Catalog Marketing Director.
Social Media Manager.

I recall maybe 10% of the audience voting for the Social Media Manager, maybe 20% voting for the Digital Marketing Director, and 70%ish voting the Catalog Marketing Director off the island. I recall a catalog professional stopping me after the presentation, stunned that his profession had so little value in the eyes of other professionals. "Don't they understand how valuable my work is?"

No, they don't understand.

Imagine being a coder, having a skill few others ever possessed, being paid more than many executives, writing the code that made AI happen ... only to lose your job to the software you wrote?

If you have opportunities for side hustles, separate projects etc., by all means, take advantage of those opportunities. When bad things happen, it's good to already have a head start on your next chapter.

ASIDE: A marketing manager reached out, asking me to volunteer my time to go through a maze of nonsense to "apply" for a consulting arrangement. He said I was "chosen among a small group of professionals they believed in". Well, if you believe in me so much, you've certainly learned from the 5,700 posts I've written over twenty years what I stand for and you already know if I can do the job you might want to underpay me to do for you. Or you just want my approach to a problem for free (most likely outcome). Long-term, this isn't how you do a job, keep a job, or create a job. It's how you cheat your own job. Employers see through this stuff over time. It's the kind of problem that automation will ultimately solve.

Brawndo

In the 2006 movie "Idiocracy" crops weren't growing.

There is a scene where Joe Bauers is trying to explain to President Camacho's Cabinet that crops were not growing because they were being given Brawndo (the thirst mutilator) when they should be irrigated with water.

This led to two problems.

One Cabinet member repeated that Brawndo has what plants crave, and was so thoroughly brainwashed that she could not articulate why plants crave Brawndo ... she just knew that "it has what plants crave".
Another Cabinet member suggested that it was stupid to give plants toilet water, insinuating that Joe Bauers was an idiot.

Of course this is what it feels like to spend a half-hour on LinkedIn.

But this also happens at your company. There is somebody you have to convince of something important, and that person simply isn't capable of thinking critically enough to even understand your argument. To put this into Idiocracy terms, I once had a department head who asked to see the electrolyte percentage in every report ... it did not matter that electrolytes were irrelevant, it did not matter that there was another issue (water) that he needed to pay attention to, he just wanted his reports to show electrolyte percentages ... to him, that was the story to be told. (the real story in this instance was how much one business unit cannibalized another business unit and the department head simply could not understand the concept of cannibalization - no amount of arguing mattered).

In the movie Idiocracy, Joe Bauers eventually filmed a field that he was irrigating, proved he was right (growing plants), and ultimately (though not easily) became President.

Don't be afraid to take chances. I once had a CMO who told me that one of my weaknesses was that I didn't take risks - she told me that I needed to do things without her permission ... without me telling her what I was doing ... show that the concept worked, then I had to make it impossible via sales/profit for her to tell me not to do it again. That always stuck with me. It should stick with you as well.

A New Category

Imagine the terror you likely have if you make computers and Apple creates essentially a new category with the Mac Neo (click here).

You'll do the same thing within your own company. I recall working at Lands' End in the early 1990s when we'd see a surge in mock turtleneck sales ... we had analysts who'd pour over the numbers, estimating the impact mock turtleneck sales had on turtlenecks ... they'd analyze if the customer changed behavior (the customer did not change behavior, the customer simply changed product preference) ... they'd argue whether turtlenecks or mock turtlenecks should be featured in the first twenty pages of the catalog.

Regardless of the debate / arguing, they knew the impact mock turtlenecks had on turtlenecks.

You probably deal with a similar situation at your "brand", right? What do you do to understand the issue?

Read This ... < 1,200 Words

Read this (click here) ... after reading this small amount of text, you'll have an understanding (not necessarily fully accurate but that's not the point) of the life of this shark.

I share this with you because this is what you'll have to do in the age of AI ... AI is going to write better than you. You and I have to clearly, simply, beautifully compete with technology. If we don't, we lose.

One can make a strong argument that as AI consumes jobs, an increase in artistic jobs fill the void. Writing is a noble artistic job.

Your Core Micro-Businesses

We're analyzing a business that has seventeen micro-businesses (categories).

I selected all customers who bought one time last year, and bought only from one micro-business. I then measured the micro-businesses that those customers purchased at least 67% of their sales from in the next year.

What did I learn?

Customers crossed-over into mostly two categories in the next year. Just two!

This is a mostly common outcome. It means that the two micro-businesses that customers cross over into are the core of your business.

When you don't have a marketing story? Make up a story about the core of your business, because that story should resonate with the most customers.