Plants gone potty!: Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice

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Hey there Potty —

This week, I'm in the Queen City—Cincinnati—where my son is participating in a goalie camp that's run by Mitch Korn, head goalie coach of the New York Islanders (and previously of the Washington Capitals).

I enjoy coming here for a few reasons. The first is that this is a camp that works on the kids' hearts and minds as well as their skills—where they learn responsibility, accountability, and other virtues.

Another is that the city is named after Cincinnatus, the Roman general known for his virtue. He left his farming life in old age to serve the Romans as a near-absolute authoritarian, then abruptly left his position of power and went back to farming. He was known for his service to the greater good, civic virtue, humility, and modesty. Not surprisingly, George Washington was called a modern-day Cincinnatus, given his similar story arc and his virtuous behavior.

The third is the Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, a classic example of Art Deco architecture and design. It's been lovingly and faithfully restored, and has exhibits for the whole family. If it looks familiar, that's because Taft Broadcasting, which owned Hanna-Barbera Studios (the creators of the Super Friends animated series) was based in Cincinnati. ("Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice...")

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Cincinnatus Leaves the Plough to Dictate Laws to Rome by Juan Antonio Ribera, 1806 (public domain)

Commentary
"Geniuses differ from ordinary men less in the character of their attention than in the nature of the objects upon which it is successively bestowed." – William James

Ever since the end of World War II, the western world has considered abundance to mean success and satisfaction. But that thinking may be changing.

You've likely heard that people are spending more resources on experiences rather than things. The younger generation is moving toward an increasingly minimalist approach, with subscription services becoming part of the culture (think Spotify over CDs, Netflix over DVDs, etc.) And Baby Boomers are finding it difficult to grapple with the flotsam and jetsam of their parents' bulging attics as life changes take hold.

At the same time, we're overwhelmed with brand extensions and beefed up news feeds, encouraging us to consume, read, and watch more than ever. Are the additional choices doing us any good? Quite the contrary. It's enough already. Too much choice can stress us out.

So ease off on the things you have control over. You don't need to publish every day. You don't need eighty-five product variations when maybe eight will do.

It's one of the reasons I backed off on a newsletter that had scores of links. The sheer mass of the thing intimidated people and actually drove engagement down, not up.

Figure out what people want, and deliver that. But if you over-index, make sure that the extra is what they want, not something that overwhelms.

Curated Stories
"I have gathered a posy of other men's flowers, and nothing but the thread that binds them is my own." – Montaigne

Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity was last week. (Oh, you hadn't heard?). As you've probably surmised, the topic of brand activism was on everyone's minds—the kind of stands that brands have been taking on social or political topics in recent months. But Alan Jope, the CEO of Unilever, seized on an important point: just as it always does, the ad industry finds a trend and then beats it to death. In this case, he called the inauthentic adoption of social causes "woke-washing," and cautioned brands to only support and promote causes that are part of their DNA. Let's ruin something with advertising, amirite?

Mary Meeker rolled out her latest Internet Trends Report at the Code conference. Some of the more salient points:

E-commerce is now 15 percent of retail sales. How's your online sales game?
Customer acquisition costs are going up. A great reason to focus on the customers you already have.
Americans are spending more time with digital media than ever: 6.3 hours a day in 2018, up 7 percent from the year before.
We're relying on visual communications more and more: images and videos. Are you using images in everything you do?
As more people get online, the Internet will become increasingly fractious and questionable content will proliferate.

Facebook announced Libra, its cryptocurrency solution. But for a company that has been plagued with trust issues (and that has violated trust at every opportunity), will crypto be a viable and trustworthy offering?

New data from Edison Research looks at why people are spending less time on Facebook. While they may not be leaving, they're choosing to spend more time in other places.

As teens look for different ways to connect (think messaging, memes, and smaller-scale interaction), you may get caught in their crossfire. Air-dropping photos in crowded public places is the latest trend.

An example of how attentive brands can make all the difference, as told through a very personal experience last week. How you approach the customer experience and customer service can leave you with raving fans. Or the opposite.

CMWorld's 9th annual conference and expo returns to Cleveland. Learn from and be inspired from some of the best brand practitioners and industry leaders. Spend up to four days learning new ways to amaze your audience! MONTY19 saves $100

For the Curious Mind
"Curiosity is the lust of the mind." – Thomas Hobbes

With summer finally here (in the Northern hemisphere—although it's been questionable in some regions of the U.S.), here's a look at the literary culture of Arctic explorations. Printing presses were originally brought to the Arctic to assist in the broad dispersal of messages in the decades-long search for the sizable missing British Northwest Passage expedition commanded by Sir John Franklin. Humans. You can't keep us down.

If there's one thing you need to know, it's how to write. It doesn't matter what you do or if you think voice, video or other media will be triumphant. Learn how to write. It's the key to everything.

Recommended Reading/Listening
"Let me recommend this book." – Arthur Conan Doyle

One of Cincinnati's hometown heroes is Neil Armstrong. At the Cincinnati Natural History Museum, we visited the Neil Armstrong Space Exploration Gallery. It was all the more relevant after we listened to a few episodes of the BBC World Service podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon on the way there. In the run-up to the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission next month, this show takes us behind the scenes of the 13 critical minutes of the descent to the moon just prior to landing.

In keeping with the theme from the commentary above, I recommend The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (Revised Edition) by Barry Schwartz. He helps the reader understand why choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. And this is why I'm recommending only one book per newsletter.

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