The Kismetic Strategist

After switching my majors at least five times, I finished with a BA in Philosophy in 2007.  Although initially afraid of the job prospects, I don’t regret my choice for a moment. Here then are seven reasons you should major in Philosophy:

1. Dr. Frankenstein was a philosopher. Yes he was also not real, but this illustrates a key facet of philosophy: it is the fountain from which sprang Biology, Math, Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology, among others; the ability to learn these disciplines, beyond rote memorization, is fundamental to philosophy.
2. Philosophers make more money than average, according to Payscale.com.   Among graduates who don’t pursue a higher degree (and many philosophers do), Philosophers make more than most other liberal arts majors, including English and History.  The lower number, relative to more technical degrees, is indicative of the additional training that may be required for philosophy students, and the higher variance in ability among liberal arts students (as opposed to technical majors.)
3. You plan to go to law school. Perhaps because philosophy majors don’t make a lot of money initially, they tend to head to more practical programs like law.  Philosophy is an ideal preparation for law school, because it requires dense reading, dense writing, logical analysis, and the desire to argue every minute detail.
4. You enjoy business/entrepreneurship. General business requires both the ability to logically analyze, and the creativity to guess the future.  Because Philosophy mixes the symbolic logic with the big questions, philosophers are better prepared to succeed in business than MBAs.
5. You plan to learn your whole life. Philosopher, literally translated, means “lover of wisdom”.  Do you love wisdom?  If so, you will probably spend your spare time reading, long after you get your degree.  Philosophy teaches you to read difficult materials fast, break down the arguments, and find the assumptions.  The knowledge you get from a technical degree can be learned on your own.
6. You enjoy Philosophy. Philosophy often requires fewer classes than science oriented majors, but these classes can be every bit as rigorous.  If you are lazy you can get through a philosophy degree without a lot of effort (there are plenty of classes not requiring intense analysis.)  If, however, you enjoy the challenges, philosophy offers a lot of high level, abstract material.
7. You want your kids to grow up curious. Faced with the choices of a computer science degree and a philosophy degree, I chose philosophy.  Why?  I thought about the day when my kids would ask “What did you major in?” and I smiled when I thought about explaining philosophy to them.

Source: shesnuckingfuts

Every Tuesday I offer up a classic proverb and decide whether it is relevant to modern business.

Today’s proverb:

“The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

For centuries, this proverb was an accurate reflection of culture: you were generally born to a family with distinct values, and you learned the family trade; your last name might even reflect this trade (Shoemaker, Smith.)  A family, then, was like a very large tree on flat land.

At some point, this changed: with more mixed races, last names that mean nothing, and the rise of the school system, we identify less with a family heritage and more with our consumer goods: I’m not the descendant of a Welsh immigrant, I’m an iPhone user.  I’m not the product of my hometown, but the product of my university.

The updated version of the proverb, today, would be: “The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree, but squirrels will gather them up all the same.”

What this means for your business: In the b2c world, customer profiles currently take into consideration age, ethnicity, and geographical location.  While age is still relevant as it relates to adoption of technologies, location and ethnicity are becoming less important: as Penelope writes, we have more in common with people of similar finances than those with similar locations.  With the mainstream adoption of Facebook, customer profiling should focus on the consumer goods the customers identify with – how would you market differently, for example, to an iPhone user versus a BlackBerry user?

In my early adult years, I was an IBO in Quixtar, now Amway Global.  Like so many before me, I failed, staying in only because of its cult like qualities. But I digress.  I want to discuss the great lessons I learned from the great MLM giant.

1. Sell people on the vision, and focus on the emotions. In those living rooms, the discussion started on the dreams of the prospect; by focusing on, and unleashing, this passion, we were able to associate our company with these aspirations; this despite lacking any evidence of real success (financial statements, anyone?)
2. Identify the real decision maker. The ideal prospect is a young couple: some of the reasons include their optimism, the doubling of efforts, and the effect of partnerships on business success.  But the biggest reason, in my opinion, is the ability to target the more emotional one: if the couple consisted of a breadwinner and a more emotional caretaker, targeting the aspirations of the caretaker made it more difficult for the breadwinner to refuse.
3. Look at the resources you have. The first thing a new Amway IBO did was make a list of 100 contacts.  What is interesting here is how many people we know: often a new Amway IBO would deny knowing many people, only to slowly realize they have a lot of weak ties (link to benefit of weak ties).  Applied to business, most of us probably don’t want to turn all of our friends into clients, but it is a great example of looking for gems in our own backyard (link to Jim Rohn?)
4. Help others first. Focusing a sales presentation on the dreams and aspirations of the prospects is a little conniving, but it also directs your own goals toward others: by encouraging and aiding your underlings to move toward their goals, you eventually improve your own position.  This is a fundamental idea in the book Never Eat  Alone, and it has guided me in most of my dealings.
5. You are a reflection of your associations. I resisted this idea for a long time, but in hindsight it was very accurate: spending many evenings with the same few business partners, I picked up some of their quirks.  Fortunately, I was mentored by someone who had a lot to offer, beyond his interest in Amway.  Applied to the real world, you should associate with those with whom you want to mimic: if you want a career in acting, why are you hanging out with those finance folks over there?

Overall, it was a valuable experience: I didn’t create my dream of financial freedom, and I burned some bridges, but I learned a number of lessons that continued to serve me later in my career. 

Readers: have you ever had an experience (Amway or otherwise) that failed at its intended goal, but taught you invaluable lessons?

Jean Baptiste Say

Every Tuesday I offer up a classic proverb and decide whether it is relevant to modern business.

Today’s proverb:

“Supply creates its own demand.”

Attributed as Say’s Law, this is often refuted in Economics as a complete mistake.  But there are some examples that may suggest it is true:

1. Before the Wii, there wasn’t a known demand for video games for those who didn’t already play (and they would often decry them as a bad thing.)
2. Before the iTunes App Store, was there a demand for fart noises on your phone?
3. Before Twitter, was there a demand for knowing what everyone is doing in realtime?

The truth of Say’s Law seems to be in the definition of demand.  If demand is defined as what people say they would buy, Say’s law seems to be accurate.  Or perhaps marketing creates demand.  Thoughts?

“Smart” seems to be a key position these days: Smart Water offers an intellectual beverage, Smart cars are perfect for the urban dweller, and Smartphones are cornering the market for cell phones.

This is a logical extension of the trend to favor smart in our society. Gone are the days when honor, valor, or strength was the treasure of society. Today we reward those who are smart. So what other products should come out with this moniker?

Smart wallet: As a typical white person, I don’t carry cash: I need a wallet just big enough for a credit card, my ID, and an emergency $20. Better yet, I want this to be hidden in the cover to my iPhone. The ultimate convergence device: a SmartWallet.

SmartShoes: Nike has taken a stab at the idea, if not the name, but they focused on the athletic side. What about some Smart Dress shoes? Perhaps these shoes would adjust traction to the type of floor, much like the average floor sweeper. This would allow you to golf 18 holes, then meet friends for a night of salsa dancing.

SmartCoffee: Coffee infused with essential vitamins. Never eat again!

SmartChair: A chair at the SmartCafe which remembers your preferred height and angle preferences, via your smartphone.

Readers: Are there any other items you would like to see smarter?

Every Tuesday I offer up a classic proverb and decide whether it is relevant to modern business.

Today’s proverb:  

“There are three things that matter in property: location, location, location.”

-Lord Harold Samuel

Today, this proverb is widely accepted as gospel in commercial real estate.  But is it still true?  For the answer, let’s consider the synopsis of Trade-off, a new book coming out in September:

“(A)lmost every decision we make as consumers involves a trade-off between fidelity and convenience.”

In this statement, convenience and location are basically the same; fidelity is something like quality.  So today we base our decisions on quality and location.  This is nothing new.  But here is the twist: location has always been certain, while fidelity is more ambiguous.  Today, however, Yelp offers more certainty in quality, while Google Maps and GPS systems lessen the strain of convenience (i.e. getting lost in a new place).  As a result, the desire for quality has and will increase, while the need for location will decrease.

What does this mean for your business?  If you own a retail business and you think location is most important, think again: while it still has value, the greater value is in creating a fidelity that renders location irrelevant.  In other words, if your cafe makes the best coffee, has the best atmosphere, and is open the best hours, it can be located in a strip mall and still have a strong customer base.

Conclusion: A better mantra (for retail businesses) is “Quality, Consistency, Location.”

(ht: Seth Godin)