Genius+Power+Magic

Influence Ecology - Membership

Influence Ecology - Membership

The health of the fish is given by the water
Healthy water, healthy fish; dirty water, dead fish
Human beings do best when tending to their water
(and most only tend to themselves)
'Water' for human beings takes many forms
This series is about tending to those many forms of water

Tending to the 'water' rather than simply tending to you requires an awareness of forces that shape and impact the you that you are.

That you were born in a specific place, time, country, race, culture, religion has obvious implications. The additional forces, or 'water' that shape your fish is a long list. 

     2.  Membership

Membership has it's privileges indeed.  You are part of a 'network of help'.  The cost of a meal is low because the hundreds of other people involved (from farming to packaging).  Without this 'help' you and I would spend the majority of our days gathering and preparing food.

Similarly, you are a member of a family, community, church, neighborhood or city, etc. Your identity and performance (network of help) is based on the groups with which you member. 

If someone asked you 'who are you?' and your answer was 'I am my network', that would start to get at the real truth about who you are in the marketplace - and the impact of your network and the available help within it for you to perform.

Being the leader of a network positions you in an even greater position of power as the ability to shape and impact the network is greater with you than with its common members.

The accumulation of this power increases the value of your offers in the marketplace.

Lead a 'network of help'. Start today by inventing a proposal or idea where you lead the way.

John Patterson

Apparent risk and actual risk

From Seth Godin.  I'm reposting as it illustrates something about uncommon offers.

There are people who I will never encounter in a restaurant.

That's because when these people go out for dinner, they go to chain restaurants. These are the tourists in New York who seek out the familiar Olive Garden instead of walking down the street to Pure.

That's fine. It's a personal choice.

But it got me thinking about the difference between apparent and actual risk, and how that choice affects just about everything we do.

The concierge at a fancy hotel spends her time helping tourists and business travelers avoid apparent risk. She'll book the boring, defensible, consistent tour, not the crazy guy who's actually a trained architect and a dissident. She'll recommend the restaurant from Zagats, not from Chowhound.

Apparent risk is what keeps someone working at a big company, even if it's doing layoffs. It feels safer to stay there than to do the (apparently) insanely risky thing and start a new venture.

Apparent risk is what gets someone who is afraid of plane crashes to drive, even though driving is more dangerous.

Apparent risk is avoiding the chance that people will laugh at you and instead backing yourself into the very real possibility that you're going to become obsolete or irrelevant.

When things get interesting is when the apparently risky is demonstrably safer than the actually risky. That's when we sometimes become uncomfortable enough with our reliance on the apparent to focus on the actual. Think about that the next time they make you take off your shoes at the airport.

Seth Godin

Influence Ecology - 'Moral Landscape'

Influence Ecology - Part 2

The health of the fish is given by the water
Healthy water, healthy fish; dirty water, dead fish
Human beings do best when tending to their water
(and most only tend to themselves)
'Water' for human beings takes many forms
This series is about tending to those many forms of water

1.  City/Town/Village - Moral Landscape

As social beings, you and I live by moral codes; a set of fabricated (yet very real) rules that dictate what is good or bad, right or wrong.

The power of the 'moral landscape' is powerfully illustrated by John Truby in his education on screen writing. 

In his classes he uses the movie "Its a Wonderful Life" to illustrate.  George Bailey, from the TownScape gives up his dreams to save the Baily Savings & Loan, make sure his brother succeeds and argues that he has no life and no riches.  In the end, he discovers his riches in his relationships.

This is classic TownScape morality.  It is a maternal order. A system of that thrives on guilt (Bailey always chooses to give up his dreams for the guilt of being selfish). A system that states that true happiness is about relationships.

Mr. Potter is classic CityScape morality. All for yourself. "Immoral". A system that states that true happiness is about getting as much of the pie for yourself as you can.

We get to see these two scapes played out as characters - and it is obvious which scape is 'better' in the eyes of the Film Makers.  In truth, neither are better or worse, good or bad.  Both have flaws and benefits and neither is 'The Truth'.  You could equally make a film about the poverty and isolation of a townscape vs the excitement and wonder of the city.

The point is that you are not separate from a city, town or village scape and these systems or contexts are forces that shape yours and others actions regardless of your awareness of that fact.  Knowing these background moral landscapes are shaping you - vs - you shaping them, is powerful and allows you a choice.

I was brought up Catholic in the townscape of Richardson, TX in a family of eight and spent a good twenty years working on behalf of the benefit of others at a cost to myself. Guilt is my middle name.

John Guilt Patterson

Influence Ecology - a Primer

Influence Ecology - a Primer

The health of the fish is given by the water
Healthy water, healthy fish; dirty water, dead fish
Human beings do best when tending to their water
(and most only tend to themselves)
'Water' for human beings takes many forms
This series is about tending to those many forms of water

Tending to the 'water' rather than simply tending to you requires an awareness of forces that shape and impact the you that you are.

That you were born in a specific place, time, country, race, culture, religion has obvious implications. The additional forces, or 'water' that shape your fish is a long list.  Below are a few I'll be discussing in this series.

1. City/Town/Village scape
2. Membership
   
3. Architecture
4. Dwelling
5. Situation
6. THE environment
7. The human dialog
8. Society
   

The point of these discussions will be this: when you are aware of something, you can now be responsible for it, shape it and tend to it.  When you are not aware of it, you can't impact it (purposefully).

As an example that illustrates the potency of this; I'm in my home office typing on a Mac. My unscreened opened windows allow the cool Pacific breeze to share the scents of the earthy garden just outside and the tropical flowers that inhabit it. A not too distant church bell welcomes the hustle of cars and their journey down Hollywood Blvd.

That is my morning 'water' and all the ways my senses and ambitions are 'activated'.  Accidental? Hardly. Lucky? Nope.  A purposeful well-tended to experience that connects me with the city, the ocean, nature, my work and my community.

Why purposeful? To fulfill all my ambitions (and I have more than one) I have crafted an environment that perfectly nurtures it. 

Your environment (water) and you are inseparable. Given this is the case, what water should you construct?

John Patterson

A Potent Observation

This is a blog post by Seth Godin and is a potent observation about the long tail

Less than zero

The long tail is real, but sometimes the longest parts reach underwater. When there's enough choices, it means that some things will never get picked.

Charles Blow reports in the NY Times that:

"A study last year conducted by members of PRS for Music, a nonprofit royalty collection agency, found that of the 13 million songs for sale online last year, 10 million never got a single buyer and 80 percent of all revenue came from about 52,000 songs. That’s less than one percent of the songs."

The internet has allowed ease of entry into the market. You can advertise anything, any service, any good, any piece of junk in your garage--essentially for zero. You can go into business effortlessly, telling yourself you'll just hang out on the long tail and do just fine. Understand that zero is a very real probability, perhaps even a likelihood. Derek reminds us that 0% of a really big number is still zero.

What direct marketers have always understood is that you must make something work in the small before you bet the farm and market it to the masses. If you can't sell to 1 in 1000, why market to a million?

Influence Ecology - Part 1

Influence Ecology - Part 1

The health of the fish is given by the water
Healthy water, healthy fish; dirty water, dead fish
Human beings do best when tending to their water
'Water' for human beings takes many forms
This series is about tending to those many forms of water

Sit-u-a-tion (noun) a set of circumstances one finds oneself in; synonyms: state, condition, environment.

Everyday I walk an hour or more in Runyon Canyon with my greyhound Jake.

I notice that some people I make eye contact with, some I avert my eyes to and some I diss by purposefully not looking at them. There may be other variations, but for simplicity, I'll use these three.

This varies with the variety of interpretations I have of the other person.

Eye Contact = I like them or see them as friendly
Eyes Averted = I interpret a threat of some kind
Purposeful Diss = To communicate 'I am not interested' or 'I disapprove'

All three are correlate to an interpretation that is reactive in nature.  I see them, have a biological response, find a previous interpretation to assign to them and let auto-pilot do the rest. They are now in an unexamined category, assessed as such and are now in a dance with Automaton John.

When I make it my job to make them smile or make contact as if to say "Hello, I acknowledge you over there - I see you - I appreciate you", something remarkable happens.

My walks when I am on auto-pilot are mostly spent in my head; a noisy dramatic chatter.  My walks where I make it my job to impact the mood of others are glorious, satisfying and fulfilling.  Which walk I prefer is obvious, but not easy.  I have to remember to experience life outside my own head. I have to remember to tend to the community I experience my own life in.

The water, in this case, is the situation I cause to be present for myself by causing it first to be present for another.

John Patterson

Hollywood & Mine

As of Sept 15th, I am no longer employed at Pixel Brothers and am an independent producer working in Los Angeles. 

Pixel Brothers stated in a recent article in ReelChicago.com “We have not closed our doors,” says Andrew Ryan, who acknowledged the relocation of the Jerry Springer and Steve Wilkos daily syndicated shows to Hartford, Conn., which impacted virtually all of the company departments.

While the company was dealt a blow, it does continue to grow (business is actually very good) and as I had recently moved to the west coast the company opted to some layoffs which included me.

I thought it time to announce my new relationship with the company and to let you know what is happening with my life.  I have had enough questions about this, and thought it time to write one of those letters you get around the holidays - a "state of the union".

I live on Hollywood Blvd (5 blocks from Grahmans Chinese Theater) in a duplex with eight bedrooms, six baths and eight people. We all work in television & film and one works in Fashion as a stylist to celebrities.

I am doing a variety of things.

I develop reality and scripted television shows and sell them to production companies & networks.

I also work with my friend of 25 years, Kirkland Tibbels, an independent producer, who has been involved as an investor, advisor, and producer on 25 motion picture and other entertainment projects for the past 9 years. I met Kirkland in Austin, Texas.

Kirkland founded the independent motion picture production company Funny Boy Films in 2004 and has financed, produced and co-distributed more than 10 film projects under the banner to date. Funny Boy Films boast more than 120 best picture festival awards and has been recognized throughout the industry for their seminal films including LATTER DAYS and ADAM & STEVE, both currently seen on The LOGO Channel.

He and writer Justin Ware founded a new production company, Hollywood Farms, a comedy production company.  I am working with Hollywood Farms as an Executive Producer to develop and finance motion pictures.

Justin Ware is a recognized and highly sought after comedy screenwriter. His script AMERICAN SUMMER for producer Warren Zide (AMERICAN PIE) is currently in postproduction. Ware was hired to rewrite Nickelodeon’s centerpiece musical comedy SPECTACULAR that aired in 2008 and is penning the movie BEST PLAYER for the network, which just began production this September.

Ware and Tibbels collaborated on entertainment projects including live stage productions, improv comedy shows, new media, television and motion pictures for over twelve years before launching Hollywood Farms in 2008. The pair began working together after meeting at the famed Second City in Chicago in the mid-90’s before moving to Los Angeles in 2000. 

Ware and Tibbels collaborated on their original pitch WAKE UP CALL that they developed with Production Company Millar/Gough and sold to FOX studio in 2008. Ware penned the script, which is in development at the studio.

Gersh, one of Hollywood’s oldest and most successful talent agencies announced the formation of their packaging and finance division with the pair’s original comedy ADRENALINE. Actor/Producer Matthew Lillard (SCREAM, SCOOBY DOO) will produce with Tibbels.

Producer Ian Bryce (SPIDERMAN, HANCOCK, TRANSFORMERS I & II) optioned the pair’s superhero romantic comedy AMAZING GIRL in 2008. Bryce and Tibbels will produce the Ware written script and are in negotiations with lead cast and directors. Bryce is also attached to Exec Produce the Ware penned comedy AMSTERDAM that Tibbels will produce and I will Executive Produce.

With a variety of projects in varying states of development, Hollywood Farms is working to harvest a dozen comedy writers and has their eye on being a predominant comedy production company.

Lastly, I am the Founder and President of The Chicago Convergence, an annual conference and movement "to ignite the collective genius of Chicago's digital minds. The Chicago Convergence celebrates digital ideas in every form, in every place and in every person. Its' where the energy between your ears is cultivated and grown, and then let loose into the world".

The Convergence Board is meeting in October to define the strategy and plans for 2010.  Cramer-Krasselt is doing a brand make-over that will launch this month and plans for the future will be shared.

John Patterson