The Network Garden - Mark Sigal's Blog

How to Become the King of Your Domain

When you look at your life, the path that you've forged, and the direction that you are heading towards, do you feel like the King (or Queen) of your domain?

Or, do you feel like a serf; an empty vessel who is living someone else's dream (or nightmare), floating down a river whose current you don't control, carrying you to a place that has no clear beginning, middle or end?

Let me tell you a story that changed my life. Maybe it will help you get some clarity about your own life.

When I was in my last year of college, I had a burning desire to get into an industry that fit a narrative that I had about myself. So I reached out to everyone in my network to secure informational interviews with hiring managers at some of the companies that I was targeting.

In one of the interviews, I met with a gentleman who was a grizzled old veteran of the industry that I was targeting (advertising), and he asked me, "So why advertising? Why do you think that it's the right industry for you?"

I proceeded to chime off a littany of reasons, including how my mind sees a product, and instinctively constructs an ad; how it's in my nature to see what IS, to deconstruct it, and then reconconstuct it as something different; and how I love to sell ideas.

This nice man let me yammer on for a few minutes before stopping me, and putting forth a challenge.

"You've given me a bunch of reason why you are right for advertising, but I still don't have a clear picture on why advertising -- or any business -- is right for YOU."

I was confused, so he shared a simple idea, and challenged me to complete a simple exercise that's been one of my core recipes for happiness and success ever since.

Four Pieces of Paper

He had me set aside four pieces of paper, and on the first, he told me to write down the six things that I am really good at, and truly excel at doing. 

Then, he had me write down on the second piece of paper the six things that I really enjoy, that fill me with a sense of natural joy simply in the doing.

With the third piece of paper, he asked me to imagine a time far into the future, surrounded by friends and family at my funeral. What were the six things imagining that moment in the future that I would most want to be remembered for having accomplished, the things that I'd done that mattered most?

Finally, he asked me to think of the top two items from each of the three sheets of paper, and write them down on the fourth piece of paper. 

His sermon to me was that this list of six things was the roadmap for my life, for it built upon the things that I was most skilled at, got the greatest joy in doing and led me on a journey to accomplish the things that mattered most to me in life.

I have never forgotten this experience, and every time that I have faced a significant crossroads in life - and there have been a few such times - I have updated this exercise, and it's served me well.

My Sermon to You

Use the above excerise, as it's a simple, highly workable way of (re) calibrating where you are at relative to where you need to be.

To that, I'd add six simple wrinkles: 

1. What are you good at? Commit to mastering it. Become the best. 
2. What do you enjoy? Swim in that body of water. Don't be the right boat in the wrong ocean. 
3. What do you want to be remembered for? Make it your mantra, core to your narrative. Then make it your path. 
4. From here on out, think like the King of Your Own Domain. Once you know your truth, carrying it with pride and certitude is an essential step to becoming.
5. Don't make things any harder than necessary. Life is plenty hard. There are no extra rewards for doing things the hard way. Where you have advantages, take them. Where gravity is favorable, leverage it.
6. Choose the direct and most simple path. If you are not clear on your aim, and the road you take is muddled and mixed up, you may not recognize opportunity when it presents, nor arrive at the finish line in time to claim your prize. Be direct and keep things simple, wherever possible.

Peace, and may a good life await you. :-

(Sidebar: By King of your domain, I am not talking about the "master of your domain" punchline of the classic Seinfeld episode, 'The Contest.')

Related Posts:

1. On Life as Art, Poetic Truths & Getting Rich 
2. Metamorphosis: Change your Life

6 Takeaways from the Apple iPhone Event

“Every year I Retweet this, and every year it rings true... New Apple product X is announced. Pundits & analysts say X will fail. X breaks all previous sales records.” – Nick Bilton

There has been a lot of analysis of Apple's iPhone Event yesterday, and rather than regurgitate it, let me do two things.

One, let me suggest that you watch the video of the event, so that you can decide for yourself.

Two, let me attempt to shape your thinking by sharing the six takeaways that remained under my skin a day later.

1. Steak vs. Sizzle: In the world of experience-driven marketing, there is steak and there is sizzle. Steak is the tangible, enduring and utilitarian value that a product (or service) delivers. By contrast, sizzle are those “AHA” moments of delight that make you aspire and covet to hold this new-fangled bit of nirvana in your hands. One challenge in assessing Apple launch events is that they ALWAYS manufacture a healthy balance between steak and sizzle. Apple, after all, understands the seminal truth of infomercial king, Ron Popeil; namely, that product marketing and product management are part of the same 'It.' How the product is experienced is indelibly linked to the product, and vice-versa. But, this presents a bit of a conundrum in assessing new Apple products, for sometimes, the new feature is indeed a game-changer (touch, accelerometer, app platform, iTunes). But other times, it’s bells and whistles, but no song (Siri, Me.com, FaceTime, Panorama). Thus, one has to ask which bucket will Touch ID, M7 (the motion coprocessor) and the iWork bundle will fall into: Steak or Sizzle?
2. Apple is the Segmentation King: While many will grumble that Apple blew it by not chasing the low-end of the market with a “cheap” iPhone, one has to marvel at how consistently the company excels at segmenting their offerings based upon junction points between pricing, power and functionality. CONSIDER: FREE (iPhone 4S - 8GB); $99 (iPhone 5C - 16GB); $199 (iPhone 5C - 32GB); $199 (iPhone 5S - 16GB); $299 (iPhone 5S - 32GB); $399 (iPhone 5S - 64GB). This has been the Apple story dating back to iPod (I wrote about this here), and contrasts with the SKU-itis that defines companies like Samsung and Nokia. Put another way, the company groks the concept of the “job to be done” model espoused by Clayton Christensen, and slices and dices accordingly.
3. The Duality of iPhones: By breaking iPhone into two discrete models, Apple has created an interesting Koan. Does the existence of iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s make the former seem lower end, or the latter seem higher end? I’m guessing the latter, and the fact that Apple positions iPhone 5c as the default iPhone on their web site, seems to suggest that that’s their goal, too. Needless to say, it will be very interesting to see how this plays out in the market in terms of units, ASPs and margins. My guess is favorable on all fronts.
4. Age of the Sensor: Is there any company on the planet that has driven computing into the realm of sensors more so than Apple? On the iPhone, there are touch sensors, biometric sensors, accelerometer sensors, camera sensors, lighting sensors, and now a motion coprocessor to offload such functionality from the main processor, enabling the iPhone to continuously measure motion data, accelerometer, and gestural data, with negligible battery drain. No less, there are multiple radios and networking paths to shuttle such data into and out of the device. One only has to consider the work that Apple is doing with Bluetooth Low Energy and iBeacons, which you can read about here to understand the game-changing potential, if they see it through to its logical end. Moreover, part of Apple's halo effect is that they've historically taken such innovation from one class of device, and derived it into its own unique instance for another class of device, something one can see in the cross-pollination between Macs, iPods, iPhones, iPads, iOS, Mac OSX, iTunes and App Store. What if they do the same in health and fitness, or other realms of wearable computing? How might they change the retail experience ala 'Minority Report?'
5. Camera is a Gateway Drug: As someone who loves taking photos, and hates carrying around cameras, I can affirm how Apple’s ever-improving camera experience is the manna that keeps me married to my iPhone. No less, it’s one of those areas where the tight bond between hardware and software (including sensors) creates a serious wedge between Apple and the competition. For example, Nokia has a Lumia phone with 41 megapixels, but does anyone really believe that people will switch to Lumias for a great camera experience? Or, that Nokia even groks what it is to deliver a great camera experience? In the same way that iTunes and App Store were core gateways into iPhones (and iPod touches + iPads), so too is the great camera experience, which only gets better in the new iPhones + iOS 7.
6. Touch ID and Identity: Most agree that Apple has created a seamless 'it just works' experience with Touch ID. Thus, it begs the question. When does Apple go all in-on eWallet and Identity? After all, they’ve got a billing relationship in place (backed by a verified credit card) with hundreds of millions of users. They have trained users on a wide variety of transactions (i.e., music, movies, books, apps) and are the conduit for many more (eBay, Amazon, etc.). Now, they have biometric verification and one-touch transaction support. At some point they activate that Trojan horse, no?

In other words, where some see gloom and disappointment, I still see the kind of magic - and opportunity - that only an integrated approach can provide.

Related:

1. How Google vs. Apple is like a great NBA playoff battle (GigaOM)
2. The Pitch Man: A Must Read for Product Nuts
3. Apple's Segmentation Strategy, and the Folly of Conventional Wisdom (O'Reilly)
4. You say you want a revolution? It's called post-PC computing (O'Reilly)
5. Three Takeaways from the WWDC Keynote: How Apple Got its Groove Back

LABOR PAINS: Innovation, economics, and messy, complex truths (New Post @GigaOM)

Andy Kessler, whose take on things I generally like, recently wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal called, “Robots, 3-D Printers and Other Looming Innovations.”

In it he posed the question of whether the internet and other disruptive trends have destroyed more jobs than they’ve created. Could innovation actually be fueling the stubborn unemployment that has persisted in much of the country?

But Kessler was merely tossing some rhetorical “chum” into the waters to bait naysaying Luddites. Sure, people are hurting now, Kessler noted, and probably more jobs have been destroyed than created, but eventually things will more than even out, so suck it up!

Kessler then delivered his list of future job creating “game changers” with the certitude of a preacher sermonizing to his flock (it’s WSJ, after all).

But, Kessler’s truth ignores a messy paradox; namely, that while the innovations of tomorrow are most certainly worth working toward, that doesn’t obviate the parallel truth that the depth and duration of pain being experienced throughout much of the country is chronic, systemic, and arguably, must also be dealt with.

Reassessing the calculus of ‘value’

There is a Koan that is running through my head. Maybe you can help me suss it out.

In an era where cheap, commoditized and free are celebrated as democratizing virtues of plenty, when does a shirt for $6.99 cease being an asset, and when does it become a liability?

Read the full post at GigaOM by clicking HERE.

UPDATE: Fred Wilson of AVC (and Union Square Ventures) has blogged on my piece on Jobs and the Economy. 

Related Posts:

1. The Great Reset: Why tomorrow may NOT be better than today
2. The tyranny of the ‘All or None’
3. Assessing the Internet: Great Creator or Destroyer?
4. How Uber is like Southwest Air: The art of reinventing an industry