Wizard of Ads Monday Morning Memo

First it gets dark, then the air slaps you from every direction and the ocean falls from the sky. Laws of gravity have been repealed. Your thoughts reach up like flowers for sunlight but the sun cannot be found.I am darkness. I am the storm. And the witch rides her broomstick across my sky and is silhouetted against the moon. Swirling at your feet is the storm fear, icy poverty in iron handcuffs stirred by the witch’s broom.I’ve been thinking a lot about storms of late; 2009 will be a stormy year.And growing stronger by the hour is the devil witch that stirs her icy brew. Turn on your television and take a sip and feel your blood run cold.But I bring you a different sort of news:The opposite of life isn’t death. The opposite of life is fear.A young rabbi once said, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain.”Do you want to learn to dance? Dancing is easy when you know your life’s purpose. Do you know yours? If not, Sid Lloyd can help you find it.Wizard Academy exists to help people accomplish what they set out to do. We are the strangers you meet in the forest, the ones who give you what you need to continue your quest. We show you the pathway that leads to your prize.That first step is always a big one. The student looks down at their feet, then over at us as they realize, “I’m really going to do this, aren’t I?”And thus begins the only dance that will carry you happily through the rain.James Thurber said, “All men should strive to learn before they die, what they are running from, and to, and why.” Do you want to know the answers to Thurber’s questions?Let me be the stranger in the forest who gives you what you need. Are you ready to receive it?These 4 Common Fears are theIngredients in the Witch’s Brew:1. Fear of Decision.ANTIDOTE: Knowledge of Purpose“Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard ThurmanMark Twain said it more sharply: “I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want.”If Mark Twain were alive today he would teach at Wizard Academy. In Twain’s absence, we bring you Sid Lloyd.2. Fear of StruggleANTIDOTE: Commitment“Commitment means that it is possible for a man to yield the nerve center of his consent to a purpose or cause, a movement or an ideal, which may be more important to him than whether he lives or dies.” – Howard ThurmanShow me a person without commitment and I’ll show you a person bored out of their wits. “I have noticed that there is no dissatisfaction like that of the rich. Feed a man, clothe him, put him in a good house, and he will die of despair.” – John SteinbeckMost people think commitment is a consequence of passion. But it’s the other way around. Passion is a product of commitment. If your life is without passion, make a commitment.“When I hear somebody sigh that life is hard, I am always tempted to ask, 'Compared to what?'” – Sydney J. Harris    3. Fear of FailureANTIDOTE: Laughter and a Sense of Wonder“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder… he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in.” – Rachel Carson    “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist, that is all.” – Oscar Wilde    “Do not take life too seriously – you will never get out of it alive.” – Elbert Hubbard“But why think about that when all the golden land's ahead of you and all kinds of unforeseen events wait lurking to surprise you and make you glad you're alive to see?” – Jack Kerouac    4. Fear of DeathANTIDOTE: Celebrating the Ordinary“Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin.” – Grace Hansen“It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living.” – Terry Pratchett“And here's a secret I learned six summers ago, lying in a ditch beside the road, covered in my own blood and thinking I was going to die: you go out broke. Everything's on loan, anyway. You're not an owner, you're only a steward. So pass some of it on.” – author Stephen King, speaking to the graduating class of the University of Maine, May 7, 2005The young rabbi who spoke about dancing in the rain originally said it this way,“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble (storms.) But be of good cheer; (learn to dance in the rain,) for I have overcome the world.”Read it for yourself in the sixteenth chapter of John.Merry Christmas,Roy H. Williams

Run the following ad in any newspaper:2006 Honda Civic DX 4dr, White, 63,000 miles, $8,100. Call 555-1212These are the questions you’ll be asked by nearly half your callers:“What year is that Honda Civic? Is it a 2-door or 4-door? What color? How many miles on it? How much are you asking?”I know this because I bought and sold an average of 3 cars a month for the first several years Pennie and I were married. I’ve answered these questions many hundreds of times and in every instance the information was in the newspaper ad.I always wanted to ask, “Where did you get this phone number?”Then a few years ago Dr. Richard D. Grant taught me the difference between introverts and extraverts.Introversion and extraversion don't refer to shyness and boldness. They refer only to how you charge your emotional batteries. Introverts gain energy from internal contemplation, centering, and quiet time. Extraverts gain energy from external people, places, and things.I’m an introvert. Those car questions were asked by extraverts. Contrary to what introverts like to think, extraverts aren’t stupid. They simply prefer the spoken word to the written.Books are written for introverts. Audiobooks are recorded for extraverts.Introverts rarely say what they are thinking.They say only what they have thought. Introverts think to talk.Extraverts talk to think.When introverts get stuck, they close the door, turn off the radio, take the phone off the hook and go deep inside themselves to find the answer. When extraverts get stuck they strike up a conversation with someone. This gets the mental flywheel spinning again and sure enough, within moments, out pops an idea. Extraverts get their best ideas during conversation.Although nearly half our population is introverted, the US maintains a strongly extraverted social etiquette:Focus groups measure the opinions of extraverts.Churches plan social events for extraverts.Companies hand out promotions to extravertsand sales trainers teach us how to sell to extraverts. Do you remember the old sales adage, “close early, close hard and close often?” This may be a sure way to keep your extraverted customer engaged in conversation and “flush out” their true objection, but you’ll just as surely alienate your introverted customers. Good luck with that.Extraverts think introverts are socially inept.Introverts think extraverts are noisy.What extraverts call “reaching out to someone,” introverts call an invasion of privacy. Extraverts prefer to work in teams. Introverts do their best work alone.Given their polar opposite preferences, can introverts and extraverts work well together, become partners, be happily married?Absolutely.The key to showing courtesy to an extravert is to listen to them more than you think is necessary. Maintain eye contact, nod your head and smile.The key to showing courtesy to an introvert is to give them time and space for reflection and processing. Don’t bombard them with questions or subject them to a barrage of jabber when they’re “all peopled out.” Give them an uninterrupted hour to read the mail and they’ll soon be ready to hear about your day.Do it however works best for you,but keep your emotional batteries charged.Happy Holidays.Roy H. Williams

Ready to Play Leapfrog?The coming year will be fun, adventure-filled and profitable for people who have their wits about them.A number of small business owners are positioning themselves to overtake their much larger rivals.Will one of these companies be yours?Not many years ago, General Motors and Circuit City were the dominant players in their categories. Today they’re both on their knees, having made the same mistakes:1. They took their fingers off the pulse of the customer.When you believe your marketing pipeline will allow you to dictate what the customer will buy, you’re in danger of being leapfrogged. In 1960, General Motors sold nearly 60 percent of all new cars. Today, even though Chevrolet maintains 4,200 dealerships, Toyota sells more cars than all 5 GM brands combined through just 1,400 locations. LESSON: Having the right product is more important than heritage and convenience.2. They quit taking risks.When companies achieve success, they usually quit innovating and become guardians of the status quo. But yesterday’s perfect processes are obsolete tomorrow. Vinyl records were replaced by 8-track tapes. 8-tracks were replaced by cassettes. Cassettes were replaced by CDs. And now CD’s are being replaced by MP3 players. The same is happening with business practices. LESSON: Success, like failure, is a temporary condition. Never assume you've arrived.The leaders are going into hunker-down mode. They’re cutting back their advertising, assuming that everyone else will cut back as well.When a leapfrogger sees a leader’s brake lights, he hits the accelerator. Are you beginning to see what I meant when I said, “fun, adventure-filled and profitable?”Here are the trends to watch in 2009:1. Frivolous purchases are being delayed.We’re wearing our clothes longer and keeping the cars we’ve got. We'll buy what we need, but only after asking whether we really need it.2. We're buying fewer things, but better things.More attention is being paid to quality. Only the poorest are choosing by price alone. Information is king. Details are power. This is good news for makers of better products.3. “Sustainable” is a concept that will grow in power for at least 10 years.The lifestyle of the 80's and 90's was “upwardly mobile” and its leaders were marked by “conspicuous consumption.” But the chosen lifestyle of the next generation will be “sustainable,” meaning that we'll strive to live within our means and embrace practices that are environmentally responsible.Want to be a leapfrogger?Become one of the Magnificent Seven. I'll see you when you arrive on campus.Roy H. Williams

Chapter six in John’s story about the life of Jesus tells us how he fed 5,000 people with 5 loaves and 2 small fishes.I have no problem reconciling God and science, so the miracle bit doesn’t stumble me in the least. The thing that fascinates me – the piece I woke up thinking about – is what Jesus said when the meal was over. “Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.”Consider. This was a person of unlimited resources, a man who could create abundance from nothingness, yet he said to his followers, “Gather up the fragments.”Have you ever stopped to “gather up the fragments” of your life?We find ourselves at Thanksgiving and Christmas confronted with life-fragments we’ve been trying hard to forget. Encounters with uncomfortable relatives bring sharp fragments to the surface. Memories of past failures and embarrassments, hard times and weird relationships emerge from conversations with people who remember us differently than we are today. And then we have to visit places we’ve been trying to forget and recall events from which we’re still recovering.Am I the only person who goes into the holiday season with mixed emotions?“Gather up the fragments.”Unresolved fragments are shrapnel, cutting us deeply.Handled fragments are sandpaper, wearing off our rough edges.Softened fragments are building blocks, giving us insights to get things done.Celebrated fragments are nutrition, remembering past miracles in our lives.Bright mosaics are made from gathered fragments.Broken. Colorful. Unique.Just like the pattern of your life.Negotiate your broken places.They allow for new connections.Appreciate the weirdness of your past.It adds color to your future.Celebrate your personal heritage.It beats the hell out of whining.Happy Holidays.Roy H. Williams

Tom Wanek believes credibility can be “purchased” by risking one or more of six currencies. The more you put at risk, the more believable your message.Currencies that Buy Credibility:1. Material WealthOf the six currencies, we see material wealth risked most frequently in money-back guarantees and statements like, “Find a lower price anywhere and we’ll refund the difference plus 10 percent.” Can you think of a better way to increase credibility by increasing the customer’s perception of your risk?2. Time & Energy   Are you in a business that provides an in-home service? Imagine the power of an ad that says, “If we’re not there when we promised, we do the job for free. Unlike other companies, we would never waste your time, then ask you to pay for ours.” Variations of this classic example of risking time and energy to increase credibility have been used by the Clockworks group to build a number of America’s most successful in-home service franchises. How else might you risk time and energy to increase credibility?3. OpportunityLadies, when a man claims to love you but continues to date other women, is his statement credible? A self-imposed restriction on opportunity – dating you exclusively – adds credibility to his statement, does it not? Likewise, the manufacturer who gives access to just one retailer in an area is perceived as committed to that retailer’s success. Is there a way your business might risk opportunity to strengthen credibility?4. Power & ControlThe original purpose of Amazon.com was to sell books. But by choosing to allow visitors to write negative reviews, they increased the credibility of the positive reviews and quickly became one of the internet giants. Likewise, your company can gain power by giving it away and you can increase your credibility by giving up control. How many ways might you do this?5. Reputation & PrestigeIn a report released two weeks ago by CNN/Opinion Research, George W. Bush had an approval rating of just 24 percent. In a press conference held the following week, the President said he regretted saying he wanted Osama bin Laden “dead or alive” and that he had urged the Iraqi insurgents in 2003, “bring ‘em on.” He said he was sorry such language made the world believe he was “not a man of peace.” By putting his prestige at risk and eating a slice of humble pie, George W. Bush regained some of his lost credibility, don’t you think?6. Safety and Well-BeingYou're 12 years old. Your stepfather says he loves you as much as if you were his own, but you’re not sure you believe him. But when you fall through the ice while skating on a frozen lake your stepfather dives through the hole into the freezing water to rescue you. Do you believe him now? The president of Lifelock, an identity-theft protection program, runs ads that say, “My name is Todd Davis. My social security number is 457-55-5462. So why publish my social security number? Because I’m absolutely confident LifeLock is protecting my good name and personal information, just like it will yours. And we guarantee our service up to $1 million dollars.” By risking his personal well-being through the publication of his Social Security number and risking his company’s material wealth by reimbursing up to $1 million in identity-theft losses, Todd Davis has built Lifelock into the dominant player in its category. Are you beginning to see how embracing risk increases credibility?Fight the Big Boys and Win is a class taught by Tom Wanek, the discoverer of the Six Currencies of Credibility, and Mike Dandridge, the director of The American Small Business Peer Groups, a division of Wizard of Ads, Inc.If you own a business, this 2-day class is how you should begin 2009.We're looking at a brand new day.Are you up for it?Roy H. Williams

Most women can tell at least one funny story about a tragic first date. In most of these stories, a misguided man spends the entire evening saying,“Here's an example of how wonderful I am…”“Let me tell you what I can do…”“…and that's what makes me special.”Although we’re rarely drawn to people who begin all their sentences with “I,” “Me,” and “My,” this first-person perspective remains central to mainstream advertising.And it’s why most Americans detest mainstream advertising.“At [name of company,] we…”“Voted the number one…”“Why settle for second best?”This outdated language of self-promotion is known as “AdSpeak.”The new language of marketing is the language of Intimacy. Connectedness. Shared values. The sound of one friend talking to another. Intimate ads are believable because they confirm what the customer already knows. The fact that the advertiser knows it as well – and is willing to admit it – is what surprises and impresses the customer. Click. Connection.How to Avoid “AdSpeak” in Your Ads.1. Limit self-reference. Reduce the number of times you refer to your company or your product in your ads. (New York Times bestselling authors Jeffrey and Bryan Eisenberg offer a free, online analysis of ad copy at FutureNowInc.com. Their “We-We Calculator” scores ad copy instantly. Just copy and paste your ad into the text-block and the software does the rest.2. Don’t say it. Lead the customer to say it. Instead of saying, “We’re honest,” say something that only an honest person would say. Let the customer respond, “Wow. That’s honest.”3. Admit the downside. It makes the upside easier to believe. Imagine the impact of a jeweler saying, “A diamond is just a symbol. The important thing is not to forget what it symbolizes.”A behavioral scientist named Desmond Morris wondered why some couples stayed together for a lifetime while other couples divorced. What he found was that couples who stayed together had usually followed similar progressions of intimacy, allowing sufficient time before advancing to the next stage. His theory was that this allowed the couple to more deeply bond during the courtship phase of the relationship. Couples who rushed through these “stages of intimacy” usually didn't form as strong a bond and were far more likely to divorce.WHAT THIS MEANS TO BUSINESS:Customer courtship should begin long before your customer is in the market for what you sell. The customer won “quick and easy” will be lost just as quickly and easily.Let’s look at the 12 Stages of Intimacyas they relate to business:1. Eye to Body* general awareness.In Business: Name Recognition.2. Eye to Eye* each person knows the other has seen them.In Business: Targeted advertising is purchased to reach the customer.3. Voice to Voice* conversation. Can be one sided, or a dialogue.In Business: Your ads are read or heard by the customer.4. Hand to Hand* holding hands. Acknowledgement of possible relationship.In Business: the customer considers visiting your place of business.5. Arm to Shoulder* closer contact than holding hands.In Business: contact is made in person or by phone.6. Arm to Waist* indicates a growing familiarity and comfort level in the relationship.In Business: second contact, a repeat visit7. Mouth to Mouth* Kissing.In Business: a purchase is made8. Hand to Head* Touching a person’s head is highly intimate, a sign of deepening trust.In Business: contact through social media – MySpace, Facebook, Youtube, Blogs9. Hand to Body* This is the stage where foreplay begins.In Business: a repeat purchase. This person is becoming a real customer.10. Mouth to Breast* Foreplay continues, obviously.In Business: the customer begins to tell their friends about you. Referrals.11. Hand to GenitalsIn Business: the customer repeatedly sends business to you.12. SexIn Business: the customer becomes an insider, a trusted ally.The progression of courtship through these stages must be voluntary by both parties. Push too far, too fast, and you’re guilty of assault.A single stage may occasionally be skipped, but not more than one. You may go directly from stage 4 to 6, but not directly from 4 to 7. You might move from stage 7 directly to 9, but not from stage 7 to 10.If more than a single step is skipped, the recipient of your affection will feel rushed, hustled and pushed.Knock, knock. A salesman stands on the doorstep of your home, uninvited. He has skipped 4 stages and gone directly to stage 5. How rude!You’ve made your first purchase from a store (stage 7.) Now they’re leaping past 3 stages to offer you a reward for sending in your friends (stages 10-11.) How forward!The natural progression of human intimacy is well documented and easily observed. It is hardwired into our cultural DNA. Remember, the strongest relationships are those that allow sufficient time for each stage. The customer who moves quickly from first contact to first purchase is not likely to become a loyal customer.Old school advertising was “assault, subdue and conquer” through AdSpeak. “We are the best. We won’t be undersold. We have been voted the number one…” It was the language of a competitor, a warrior.The new language of advertising requires a wooer, not a warrior. Intimacy is patient and considerate, never pressing more on the customer than the customer desires. It's the language of seduction.In your ads, will you remain a fighter? Or will you become a lover?Roy H. Williams

Peter Wenders chooses stories and illustrations for children’s books.It’s 1954, and today is a day like any other; Wenders sits innocently in his office, believing that people are who they claim to be.And he assumes they’ll do what they say they’ll do.But today a man with round glasses and a large nose walks into his office wearing an overcoat and a fedora. The man offers his hand, “Hello, my name is Harris Burdick.”Wenders rises to his feet and shakes the hand. “Peter Wenders.”“I’ve written 14 stories and drawn multiple illustrations for each. Would you be willing to take a look?”“That depends,” says Wenders, “on what your stories are about.” Wordlessly, Burdick hands Wenders an illustration titled The Seven Chairs.  The caption beneath it reads, “The fifth one ended up in France.” Wenders looks at Burdick with a smiling look of surprise.Burdick hands him another image. Then another. And another. One for each story. Fourteen in all.“Yes! Yes! I’d be delighted to read your stories. Can you bring them in tomorrow?”Burdick says he’ll be back, then reaches out to retrieve his 14 illustrations.Pulling back a little, Wenders says, “Leave these with me, won’t you? I’d like to show them to my colleagues.” And with a quick smile, a nod, and a tip of his hat, Burdick was gone.And was never seen again.Wenders searched for Burdick more than 20 years, but no trace was found. If not for those 14 images, Wenders might have become convinced it was all just a false memory.But what talent Burdick had!In 1982, Peter Wenders, now 73 years old, met another gifted children’s author. “Sit down, Chris. I want to show you something.”Chris Van Allsbury dropped into an old leather chair in Wenders’ living room. A minute later Wenders came in with a dusty cardboard box. “What do you think of these?”Wenders saw the same smiling look of surprise on the face of Chis Van Allsbury that Harris Burdick had seen on Wenders’ face 28 years earlier.Startled by the images and spellbound by the story of Wenders’ fruitless search for Burdick, Chris Van Allsbury said, “Mr. Wenders, we have to publish these. The images, the titles, the captions! This man deserves to be remembered.”And that’s the story of a thin book titled, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Every home should have a copy.Like Peter Wenders, I, too, have met men and women whose stories deserve to be remembered. And like Chris Van Allsbury, I’ve said, “We have to publish these.”These special moments have resulted in Accidental Magic, People Stories, and now, just in time for Christmas, Dreams.Wizard Academy, high on a plateau at the southern edge of Austin, Texas, is an international gathering place for the talented, the brilliant, the unusual and the different.If Harris Burdick is alive, he’ll find his way to Wizard Academy.I know he will.Roy H. Williams

Humility and Simplicity are the New FrontierAmericans have always treasured independence and achievement. We’ve seen ourselves as fighters who stood tall after every victory, chin up, chest out, shoulders back. And to the victor go the spoils, right? Big houses, big cars, lavish vacations; these were the American dream.But we recently learned that America is not an only child. There is no American economy or American environment separate from the rest of the world. The wind blowing across Kansas today blew yesterday through Mongolia.Take a breath of Mongolian air. Clear your thoughts. Smile into the light. This story has a happy ending:We’re about to discover the joys of humility and simplicity. Smaller houses, smaller cars, a simpler lifestyle. We may even become the “kinder, gentler nation” Ronald Reagan's vice president believed we could be. (From the Republican National Convention acceptance address of George H. W. Bush, August 18, 1988.)Here’s an email I received last week from a friend who runs a hedge fund:This meltdown in our financial markets has been horrific. A friend of mine said, “The French invented democracy, the Americans perfected it and the CDOs killed it.”And that's how I feel. Our time as a nation has past and history will not be kind to us. The future now belongs to someone else, probably China. We privatize profits and then screw the tax payers with a bailout. Our corrupt politicians permitted an unregulated monster to grow out of control until it almost destroyed our financial system. So while Wall Street and Washington lined their pockets with cash, the American people got drunk on spending and spending and spending all the money they didn't have. Now those that enjoyed leverage are fucked, forever. Most people were broke to begin with, now they're really broke. Deleveraging hurts, ouch.Warren Buffet once said the only way to go broke is on borrowed money.For those that have heard your lesson on the pendulum of history, it would be an interesting time to have you revisit that lesson in light of current events. Thank you for your memos each week and for your perspective.Although I disagree with my friend’s statement that “the future now belongs to someone else,” I do understand how he feels. (My belief is that no one else can own your future. Your past and your future belong solely to you whether you take responsibility for them or not.)I first presented Society’s 40-year Pendulum in Stockholm, Sweden, in January, 2004. Since then, more than 100 trade associations and state governments have asked me to help them better understand the rumblings of societal change they feel beneath their feet. Perhaps you've felt it, too.Ten completed social cycles – 400 years of history – seem to indicate that in the 6 years following a 40-year tipping point, the majority of older consumers will choose to follow the younger consumers’ lead. Societal change during the next 34 years seems subtle and incremental when compared to the pace of change during the 6-year transition.The last tipping point occurred in 2003. You may recall that I wrote to you about it in December of that year. The memo was titled 1963 All Over Again:Forty years is how long a true ‘generation’ stays in power, during which time social change will be evolutionary, rather than revolutionary. But in the waning years of each generation, ‘alpha voices’ ring out as prophets in the wilderness, providing a glimpse of the new generation that will soon emerge like a baby chick struggling to break out of its shell.Baby Boomer heroes were always bigger than life, perfect icons, brash and beautiful: Muhammad Ali… Elvis… James Bond. But the emerging generation holds a different view of what makes a hero.Boomers rejected Conformity and their attitude swept the land, changing even the mindset of their fuddy-duddy parents. But today's teens are rejecting Pretense. Born into a world of hype, their internal BS-meters are highly sensitive and blisteringly accurate. Words like ‘amazing,’ ‘astounding,’ and ‘spectacular’ are translated as ‘blah,’ ‘blah,’ and ‘blah.’ Consequently, tried and true selling methods that worked as recently as a year ago are working far less well today. The world is again changing stripe and color. We're at another tipping point. Can you feel it?Then, 4 years ago, (Nov. 1, 2004,) I wrote,The Age of The Baby Boomer ended in 2003. The torch has been handed to a new generation with new ideas and values. Sure, we Boomers still hold the power at the top, but the prevailing worldview that drives our nation is completely other than the one we grew up with. Businesses that don't get in step are going to find it increasingly difficult to succeed…Being a Baby Boomer isn't about when you were born. It's about how you see the world…Baby Boomers were idealists who worshipped heroes, perfect icons of beauty and success. Today these icons are seen as phony, posed and laughable…Baby Boomers believed in big dreams, reaching for the stars, personal freedom, “be all that you can be.” Today's generation believes in small actions, getting your head out of the clouds, social obligation, ‘do your part.’The adoption curve of the new values by the mainstream of society began in 2003 and will be complete by mid-2008 or early 2009. You have plenty of time to get in step with tomorrow. But you need to get started today.The 6-year transition from an Idealist outlook to a Civic mindset will be complete in December, 2008.What this means to business:Purchases in the future will be less about impressing others, more about meaning and relationships. My partners and I are currently interpreting how this trend will apply to specific business categories. Do you know how it applies to yours?Tomorrow has arrived, right on schedule. Humility and simplicity will be our new adventure. And frankly, I think we’ll be better for it.Roy H. Williams

Part Two: If You've Got the Nerve.“The brain has three natural roadblocks that stand in the way of truly innovative thinking:1.    flawed perception2.    fear of failure3.    the inability to persuade others.”– Dr. Gregory Berns, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics at Emory University.Need a fresh perspective? Want to alter your perception, think new thoughts, create a whole new paradigm?1.   Look at a map of your city. Choose an area unfamiliar to you. Drive there, then get out and walk for an hour. Call a friend to come and pick you up.2.   Go into a restaurant you suspect you won’t like. Order something weird.3.   Sit at a bus stop for 30 minutes. Talk with whomever sits down next to you.4.   Attend the worship services of a faith that is not your own.5.   Read out loud to someone else The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.6.   Watch How to Hype a Black and Mild on YouTube. (7 min., 38sec.)7.   Attend ESCAPE THE BOX, the advanced session of Free the Beagle at Wizard Academy.“It typically takes a novel stimulus – either a new piece of information or getting out of the environment in which an individual has become comfortable – to jolt attentional systems awake and reconfigure both perception and imagination. The more radical and novel the change, the greater the likelihood of new insights being generated.” – p.58, Iconoclast, by Gregory Berns.If you’re like most people, you read that quote from Greg Berns last week and said, “I get it,” but then you didn’t actually do anything.James Michener won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for his book, Tales of the South Pacific. He went on to earn more than one hundred million dollars as the author of more than 40 novels.At age 88, Michener wrote, “When young people in my writing classes ask what subjects they should study to become writers, I surprise them by replying: ‘Ceramics and eurhythmic dancing.’ When they look surprised I explain: ‘Ceramics so you can feel form evolving through your fingertips molding the moist clay, and eurhythmic dancing so you can experience the flow of motion through your body. You might develop a sense of freedom that way.’” – This Noble Land, chap.10But it's unlikely that any of his students ever took those classes. They just thought, “Form and freedom. I get it,” and carried on as they were, unchanged. But I'm convinced Michener meant what he said. His advice to his students was to push themselves to do things that didn't come naturally to them. He urged them to stir the deep waters of the unconscious mind.Transformation happens experientially, not intellectually. James Michener knew this. Dr. Gregory Berns knows this. Dr. Richard D. Grant knows this. And now you know it, too.Two and a half years ago I wrote, “Humans are peculiar creatures. We are capable of much, yet do little. Doubt, insecurity, fear and ambition blind our wide-open eyes to the colors of meaningful life. We hibernate, deep in the bellies of our comfort zones… Do you want to expand your world? Meet interesting people? Learn about different cultures? Then get on your hands and knees, drop to your belly and squirm under the fence that surrounds your insulated life.” – from the preface and back cover of People Stories, Inside the Outside.Cognoscenti Dave Lofranco came to me recently and said, “Let's actually do what Michener said. If you'll find a dance instructor and a pottery teacher, I'll donate the money to buy a commercial pottery-firing kiln.” I presented Dave's idea at the next meeting of the board of directors of Wizard Academy. Clinical psychologist Dr. Richard D. Grant was energized by the thought and a whole new class was born. Check it out.Will you do the deed, take the action, pull the trigger and ride the bullet? Or will you, like those students of Michener, think to yourself, “I get it,” and consider the lesson learned?Roy H. Williams

On January 19, 1998, I wrote a Monday Morning Memo titled, Creativity is an Inert Gas. It was published as chapter 89 in The Wizard of Ads. These are a few of its paragraphs:     Moments of emotional recovery are the best times to think about problems you have not been able to solve. Great, creative insights follow times of great stress. It’s a law of the universe.Think of creativity as an inert gas, a substance unique. An inert gas cannot enter into compounds with other substances because, in each of its atoms, the outer ring of electrons is completely full. An inert gas is stable and cannot be changed.Unless you jolt it with too much stimulation.Pass a current through an inert gas and a single electron in the outer ring of each atom will be pushed into an orbit where it does not belong. But it cannot stay there. As the electron falls back into its proper place, the excess energy is released as light.This is a miracle witnessed nightly on ten million street corners in America. Without argon and mercury vapor streetlights, America would be a very dark place, indeed. Without the radiant beauty of neon, we would be a much less colorful people.Recovery from overstimulation is a magical moment. As each crisis dissipates and your emotional electrons return to their proper orbits, don’t close your eyes to the light.Use it for all it’s worth.Ten years after I wrote that memo, Gregory Berns, a neuroscientist, published the following:“Did you know that when you see the same thing over and over again, your brain uses less and less energy? Your mind already knows what it’s seeing, so it doesn’t make the effort to process the event again. Just putting yourself in new situations can make you see things differently and jump-start your creativity.” – inside front flap, Iconoclast, by Gregory Berns.Dr. Gregory Berns is a heavyweight: he’s a neuroscientist, a psychiatrist, and the Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics at Emory University. His research has been profiled in the New York Times, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal. His new book, Iconoclast, was published by Harvard Business School Press.According to Berns, the tendency of the brain is to take shortcuts through categorization. “Categories are death to imagination… Often the harder one tries to think differently, the more rigid the categories become. There is a better way, a path that jolts the brain out of preconceived notions of what it is seeing: bombard the brain with new experiences. Only then will it be forced out of efficiency mode and reconfigure its neural networks… The surest way to evoke the imagination is to confront the perceptual system with people, places and things it hasn’t seen before.” – condensed from pages 54 and 58Wizard Academy takes you by surprise.It’s a nonstop new experience. Aroooo!Do you remember how I was saying that moments of recovery from overstimulation are magical times for creative thinking? Now let’s look at Dr. Berns’ next statement:“It typically takes a novel stimulus – either a new piece of information or getting out of the environment in which an individual has become comfortable – to jolt attentional systems awake and reconfigure both perception and imagination. The more radical and novel the change, the greater the likelihood of new insights being generated.” – p.58, Iconoclast, by Gregory BernsLooking to make a change?Remember: transformation happens experientially, not intellectually.Come to Wizard Academy. Things happen here that can’t happen anywhere else.Or at least that’s what we’ve been told.Roy H. Williams