Genius+Power+Magic

...and a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!

This is a letter to me from a colleague. I was at work on a similar letter and could not have said it better

Everyone,

As many of you know I have had the incredible opportunity to partner with some very exceptional organizations and people this year which hold the same ethics around education, trust, integrity, and uncommon knowledge as I do. 

I'm very fortunate to be surrounded by many people after living a good life.  

Due to these new relationships I have also been given the opportunity to incorporate the science, philosophy, art and engineering of business studies, I have been working at for the past two and a half years, into my own organizations and business.  

As I plan for the new year I thought it important to share how I’m doing it with everyone I thought would value the process as well.  I want us all too may have the best opportunity to grow, succeed and flourish during the next several years as things in our world continue to change at an increasingly rapid pace. 

For us to produce the results in our careers that will enable us to earn sufficient incomes, to live good and free lives, it is imperative that our offers, practices, narratives and strategies are superior,  powerful and intentionally designed as well. 

In a rapidly changing knowledge based economy those who are simply just working hard will continue to be marginalized - as we have seen during the past few years - and commoditized to the point of suffering and despair.  We – unlike our parents and Grandparents – will not be rewarded or honored for our hard work; but will be valued only by our knowledge and ability to design more effective and efficient strategies, tactics, and practices for ourselves, our employers or our businesses.  

As the New Year approaches I know many of us begin to think about what we would like to accomplish in 2010.  

This is our first opportunity to either follow the "herd" or break loose and achieve something different, valuable, special. 

I think we can all agree that nothing exceptional really just happens without effective and clearly defined goals, strategies, and tactics.  We need to take time to plan!  

If you have made goals in past years and failed to achieve them please consider this: How you think about and define these goals is the base of our plans, and if there is something weak, missing, incomplete, or flawed then we are in trouble before we even get to New Years eve.  

Simply making a resolution doesn't mean your entitled to it!

So this year I invite you to “NOT” make a typical, ordinary, or common New Years resolution list. 

I invite you to professionally take the time and care to sit down and “On Purpose” define your lifestyle ambition holistically and with integrity.  Do this as if your life depended on it because it does.

Unfortunately by the time we suffer the consequences of not planning it is too late to do anything about it. 

I realize that this kind of rigor is not for everyone, but for those of you who are going to be "getting after it" this year, please feel free to call me to discuss this.  It is also okay to pass this all on to anyone else you know whom is after something more than normal.

Do it - and have a great 2010.

For more information, you may reach me at john@influenceecology.com

John Patterson

Will a tiger eat you today?

The modern world doesn't have the threats of the old world. You are certainly not concerned with walking out of your cave to get eaten by another animal; gone are the days when the stranger you pass is likely to hold you up at gun point and steal all your possessions (although this still happens); it is rare that people settle disagreements at 20 paces with a revolver.

Yes, there are exceptions and yes these are still threats of harm; but modern threats are primarily marketplace threats.

Peace of mind may lie in a plan to remove modern day threats:

Do I have enough money to retire?

Am I going to be able to take care of my family?

Will I be able to keep my house?

Do I have enough money or power to hold the upper hand if my job is threatened?

Will my ability to transact in the marketplace still be powerful as I get older?

Most people assume that a good job and a little savings is all they need to remove the threats, but the recent economic downturn proved that the fantasy of security is...well, a fantasy.

If you are not currently fulfilling a long-term strategy to remove all the modern day threats, you may find your self unarmed to deal with the threats that are, in fact, coming.

Perhaps the only way to remove the threats is autonomy; working for yourself and building wealth that distances you from the changes in the marketplace.

What is autonomy and how do you produce that? It requires a whole new way of thinking and a keen understanding of the fundamentals - and - the opportunities of modern day transaction.

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology

You hear only 7% of what is being said

7% of what is verbalized is heard, the other 93% of any communication is expressed in tone, body language, inference and housed in a context that is many times utterly misunderstood.

I was leading a training where a recently divorced couple was tricked by their son to attend at the same time. They were not happy about it.

They sat on opposite ends of the room; him in silence and she at every opportunity speaking bitterly about him.

At some point, I stopped her rant and stated, "you must be profoundly in love with this man to be so upset".

Shocked by my statement and heard in a profound way, she burst into tears...then he. 

How did I hear this? Because, people aren't upset about things they don't care about. I don't care about basketball and don't get upset if the Knicks beat the Bulls; its irrelevant.

Every communication has an intention behind it. If you listen to that (versus only the words), you will hear most of the remaining 93% of what is being said.

Performative speaking begins when what is being said and what is being intended are a match.
Powerful transactions begin when what is being communicated is fully heard by you.

The couple? They are back together.
They just didn't know how to listen and thought they did.

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology

Is what you do for a living like breathing?

You don't notice that you're breathing until attention is called to it, but it is happening 24/7.

You are also always providing help that for you, is like breathing. Perhaps it is creativity or organization or listening.

If you are trying to make a living doing what is unnatural to you, perhaps there is a better way.

Breathing for me is about leadership and performance disciplines; specialized knowledge which helps people exceed in their primary personal, lifestyle and financial ambitions.

I used to ask the question of myself, "what can I do to make a good living?"

I now ask the question "where can my specific knowledge help you get what you want?"

The first question is labor thinking and limited my options. The second blew the doors off.

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology

Don't you just love a little mischief?

In the absence of a constructive purpose, your will create drama to justify your existence.

If you have not invented a worthy problem, you will conjure up a worthy opponent; any will do - an employer, you spouse, your own mind, the market, etc.

Without knowing it, you've stopped working towards loftier aspirations and find yourself indulging in mischief and drama.

IDLE HANDS ARE THE DEVIL'S TOOLS is a maxim traced back to Chaucer's 'Tale of Melibee' in 1808. It is still true and completely rooted in our biology.

Your brain is a complex prediction machine and is always constructing possible futures you might encounter to keep your body out of harms way. In the last 100 years, the day to day danger to your body has almost been eliminated. 

Leaders create grand futures. Without one, you will create a problem to solve because they simply aren't up to anything.

The brain does not care which problem it must tackle, it just needs one to solve.

Give it a worthy one.

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together: The Autonomy of We.

The following is an excerpt from a paper in a series called The Masters Course on Autonomy.

Influence Ecology is an ecosystem that trains you in what it looks like to transact powerfully while including you in a network designed to foster new ventures, ideas and autonomies of power.

Autonomy requires a specific physiology or structure to facilitate and perpetuate a desired strategic intent to operate at top levels.

In its healthiest incarnation, it is an entire ecosystem whose architecture forever evolves and remains, not only relevant, but integrated into its member’s ecosystem of development, ethics and power. 

Influence Ecology is this insurance of autonomy. It not only provides the physiology, but it also multiplies the prosperity of the individual, whose identity is not simply his/her own, but the identity of the ecosystem itself. The identity of the ecosystem is carefully considered by its own membership, given that the identity of one is the identity of all.  It is this ‘us’ identity that multiplies the real and perceived value of all of its members.

For example, a Marine, is an individual, but is also an ecology of individuals with ‘honor codes’ that dictate the responsibility to represent the entire body of Marines, past, present and future. Being a Marine is vastly different that being someone who is not a Marine, but is simply committed to the acting in the same way.

The Marine ‘honor code’ is a potent physiology of fulfillment for the Marines and has the power to keep all Marines in check at all times with themselves, each other and the public at large. It is not easy to become a Marine and, those that do are held in high regard.

Not only is it hard to become one, but the phrase ‘conduct unbecoming a Marine’ is known by the public at large. If you want to put yourself into an ecology of honor, loyalty, service and discipline there is no smarter place to do so. The narrative of ‘what it is to be a Marine’ is itself, the structure for its own fulfillment. This narrative is a very intelligence invention indeed.

Putting oneself in this type of structural ecosystem is genius if are courageous enough to admit that, left to your own biology, you will only apply a highly rigorous structure and press upon yourself when you know others are negatively impacted, your own laziness may cost you the opportunity to participate or the mission of "We" is more meaningful than the mission of "I". 

The marketplace (a financial ecosystem) will reward you well when you transact with it powerfully. Knowing if you are or not will get measured in dollars. Influence Ecology is an ecosystem that trains you in what it looks like to transact powerfully while including you in a network designed to foster new ventures, ideas and autonomies of power.

I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob (I couldn't resist).

John Patterson

*Blog Title from "I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon

© 2009 Influence Ecology

When I meet Brand You, what is my experience?

Since you are no longer coming out of a cave to go hunt for dinner, every thing you experience happens through some kind of transaction with thousands of people.

Then: If you don't learn how to hunt, you die.
Now: If you don't learn how to transact, you die.

You transact for food.
You transact for shelter.
You transact for health.
You transact for love.
You transact for money.
You transact for membership.

Not only is your ability to transact your keys to Nirvana, but it matters that you do it very well.

As the information age gives way to the age of autonomy, you are your own brand.
You are a personal brand always transacting for help, trust, knowledge, membership and money.

When I meet Brand You, what is my experience?

If you are not thinking of yourself this way, you will very soon wonder why all the other autonomous individuals around you are gaining huge amounts of trust, power and money.

This blog is published every day, no matter what, before 11am PST.  It is one transaction that builds trust, power and money.

There are thousands of ways to transact - and since you are doing it all the time, it might be useful to realize that today...right now...in the next interaction with another human, there will be a transaction that either builds help, trust, knowledge, membership and money or destroys it.

PS. Indifference is on the side of destroy, not on the side of build.

You are reading this, using my help and transacting with me too. Should you rate it or comment? Should you share it with others? Should you subscribe to it, Digg it, etc?

The answer is YES if you are thinking of this as a transaction that builds my help to you, my trust of you and your power to impact your own transactions now and in the future where I am concerned.

This age of autonomy is powered by an ecology of influence, power, trust, knowledge, wealth and membership. Brand You is driven by your capacity to transact.

Future: If you don't transact really well, you die.

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology

Everyday commonsense knowledge is too abundant to hold scarce value

The holidays are upon us and I was thinking about Furby. Parents waited for hours to purchase the must-have toy of 1998.

This happens when demand is high and supply is short; economics 101.

The same goes for knowledge or ideas. Yes, knowledge is power - but if everybody knows it, it has little power or value in the marketplace. 

In the digital and social media space, the battle seems to be for eyeballs, followers, friends and views - yet at the same time, your contents' scarcity can also hold better values.

There is a balance to hold.

In your quest for world domination (or niche domination) begin to study the successes, not just for 'how they got eyeballs' but for how they held the value with scarcity.

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology
We assert that a fundamental instinct you embody as an adult is to live a healthy, happy and prosperous life and that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being. Therefore the degree to which you are able to recognize and be responsible for the FACT that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being determines the measure of your health, happiness and prosperity. We teach you how to exploit that FACT.

The biggest social experiment of our time

Geoffrey Canada is the president of a nonprofit charitable organization based in Harlem called the Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families, and he has set out trying to improve the world, one poor child at a time.

"Harlem is one of the biggest social experiments of our time...none are as comprehensive as the Harlem Children's Zone, and none of them hold as much promise.'' ¹

The question: how to end poverty?

The answer to this question has been found, not in all the traditional answers thrown at it, but in the understanding of brain development.

"There are missing skills...how is it that these skills get formed?"  To reach almost every child living in every block - to make sure they all graduate high school and finish college, he has created an entire ecology of preparation.

"This structure challenges many assumptions about what is and isn't possible...that there is a solution to poverty." On brain development Canada summarizes "Singing, talking and reading...The more you introduce language to them, the more they grab it!" ²

Tough reports that a 1980s Kansas City pair of psychologists studied homes of those on welfare and those with professional jobs.  The the biggest difference found in the different homes was language. It turns out that the children in professional homes were introduced to 20 million more words in the first three years of their lives than the kids on welfare...and that this has huge effect on their verbal ability. It was stunning news that the most profound effect in determining later success wasn't money, it wasn't parental education or race - it was the sheer number of words your parents spoke to you as a child.

The Answer: "It was the sheer number of words hear by children in the first three years of life has a profound impact on their future", says Tough

As linguistic beings, who facilitate our survival by inventing language, this is not surprising. A WORD is itself an entire WORLD...a world that you can think or you can not. It is not understanding, but language that gives rise to new meanings, new viewpoints, new futures.

Many studies on talk, social theory and talk ecologies point to the same thing: we are the language we speak

The following phrases have all become part of our human vocabulary. You don't need a reference for them because they have found their way into your speaking. The ecology of language has found you.

One small step for man...
Where's the beef?
D'oh!
LOL

This linguistic virus has the power to infect you with worlds you have not yet dreamed.

As for the kids involved with Geoffrey Canada, Harlem is banking on it.

John Patterson

¹The Harlem Project by Paul Tough, New York Times 2004

²This American Life, 'Going Big' by Ira Glass and Paul Tough

© 2009 Influence Ecology
We assert that a fundamental instinct you embody as an adult is to live a healthy, happy and prosperous life and that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being. Therefore the degree to which you are able to recognize and be responsible for the FACT that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being determines the measure of your health, happiness and prosperity. We teach you how to exploit that FACT.

Who should you be listening to?

This depends on what you are trying to accomplish.

If you intend to satisfy your customers, listen carefully to their wants.
If you intend to stay ahead, listen to where the market is headed.
If you intend to out-perform, listen to those at the top.
If you intend to fit in, listen to everyone.
If you intend to produce common results, listen to lots of sincere mediocre performers.
If you intend to be happy, listen to advertising, television and movies?

You are likely aware that every marketing campaign is intended to get your dollars and perpetuates the desire for looking young, living for now and purchasing whatever you want, whenever you want (the baby boomer narrative).

That does not stop you from succumbing to it.

This narrative is not interested in making you painfully aware that all this borrows from your future - an account that is well overdrawn.  Spending money you don't have or going into debt to purchase what you can't afford borrows money from the future and leaves a pothole you will not avoid.

The market is not interested in having you ask the question: is that purchase going to add happiness or real value to my life? Or, what is this going to cost me in the future? The majority of the country lives well beyond its means, especially in consideration of savings, capital at work or retirement investments.

The average American has $8K in debt and less than $50K in savings. As you get older, your ability to earn more decreases. So...where is the cash coming from to keep you afloat well into your old age?

Right...you're screwed. You've always sensed it...and yes, it is true.

There is nothing wrong with advertising. In fact, if you are going to out-perform, you best understand it better than others.

If you are the target of it, understand that it feeds on robbing you of your future. 

What should I do? 

Stop pretending the marketing narrative is 'how life is'.  The commercials, television shows and motion pictures will perpetuate the fantasy that in the end it will all turn out, especially for a good, hardworking person like you. 

Your different, your special...right?

John Patterson

© 2009 Influence Ecology
We assert that a fundamental instinct you embody as an adult is to live a healthy, happy and prosperous life and that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being. Therefore the degree to which you are able to recognize and be responsible for the FACT that you are a biological, linguistic, transactional being determines the measure of your health, happiness and prosperity. We teach you how to exploit that FACT.