Exploiting Chaos - an interview with author Jeremy Gutsche

The great thing about reviewing books on the Post2Post Book Tour is that you get to meet some very interesting people as well as get a chance to delve into some juicy topics. (If you are not familiar with the tour, it was started by the brilliant Paul Williams over at Idea Sandbox). This month's topic is about trends and innovation.

What? Does the world need another book on innovation?

I'll let you, the reader, decide that. In the meantime, I'd like to introduce you to Jeremy Gutsche. He's 31 and is the founder of Trendhunter.com. What makes Trendhunter different is that it's a crowdsourcing site where over 28,000 trend spotters contribute emerging or different "trends" from around the world. The premise of Jeremy's book, Exploiting Chaos, is that instead of retreating in times of chaos, companies should exploit trends to spark innovation and creativity.

Jeremy is a gutsy and creative entrepreneur. He's also an impressive PR machine and promoter. (In many ways, this book's core purpose is to drive traffic to the Trendhunter website - in fact you can download the first chapter by visiting it here).

Each page challenges the reader to think differently. Some headlines are smart "Fight the confidence that you know your customer" and some rather cliche "Cross-pollinate your ideas". For those who prefer more structure, there's also an Exploiting Chaos model.



While none of the ideas or approaches in the book strike me as being that unique or new (my belief is that most companies look at social, economic or even political trends to inform strategy or spark new thinking), the book still has merit. One way I could see using this book is as a thought provoker. One could, for example, pick a concept from the book and use it as the lens by which you view your brand, company or leadership challenge from a different perspective. If you do pick up the book, I'd love to hear your opinion and how you've benefited from reading or using it as a tool to spark innovation.

Okay. Now on to the interview with Jeremy.

KK. What was the goal of writing this book? Who do you think will benefit most from reading it?

JG. People get all absorbed by the doom and gloom of the current recession, but some of the most iconic companies were founded during economic downturns, including: Microsoft, General Electric, HP, Apple, Amgen, Hyatt, EA, and Fortune Magazine. The book was written in a way that it could help to inspire anyone with an idea, from those stuck in large organizations to entrepreneurs alike.

KK. Your book is packed with ideas and images – what’s the best way for the reader to approach your book?

JG. Our reading habi ts have entirely changed in the last decade. Driven by media clutter and our shrinking attention spans, our world has become headline obsessed. Hence, this book is visual and action packed, offering two ways to read:

1. Consume the content front-to-back


2. Just read the headlines on each page. They flow together and will help spark your next big idea.

KK. You quote Jay Handleman; “Through cool hunting, marketers are able to identify cultural meaning of trends ahead of competitors” With over 50,000 ideas on trendhunter.com, how do you differentiate between a trend and a fad? Should marketers care?

JG. Trend Hunter differentiates between micro-trends and clusters. The front page of our site features 50,000 globally crowd sourced micro-trends or ideas, and then on our research side we crowd filter the best micro-trends and group them into more meaningful clusters of opportunity. If you are looking for bold new idea and inspiration, our front page can help to keep you on the cutting edge, expecially if you are a marketer, designer or innovator. If you are looking for deeper knowledge and trend research, our trend reports offer greater insight into the pulse of pop culture.

KK. Do you believe that innovation spark trends or do you think trends spark innovation?

JG. Both. New technologies and creative ideas enable new trends to exist. Those trends then give birth to new platforms for technological research and creative endeavours.

KK. You write “culture is more important than strategy”. This is certainly bucking the trend from what they teach you at biz school. Can you provide some context for this bold declaration?

JD. Very few CEOs would disagree about the importance of culture. The point of this statement is to illuminate the idea that even if you have meaningful direction, cultural alignment and execution are paramount to success. At the end of the day it doesn't matter how sexy your powerpoint strategy slides are if the organization isn't ready to embrace change, obsess about the customer and pursue an aligned goal.

KK. You have created the “Exploiting Chaos” framework as a key component of your approach. How is this different from other innovation frameworks?

JG. The EXPLOITING CHAOS framework teaches readers how to reinvent SPECIFICALLY during times of chaos and change, whether in an area of growth and bubbling opportunity or periods of downturn and dismay.

KK. For the launch of this book you dressed up in a hotdog suit and had a flashmob high-fiving 5000 people in 5 minutes in downtown Toronto . Can you explain how this event ties in with the message of your book?

JG. The stunt was a fun way to generate extra exposure. On several levels the stunt was meant to exploit chaos. Our experience on Trend Hunter teaches us that flash mobing is hot, high fiving is culturally interesting, Kanye West is the most controvercial guy in pop culture and Ashton Kutcher is the #1 most followed guy on Twitter. At the same time both Kanye and Ashton have sourced Trend Hunter in their blog and twitter respectably. So we combined all of this together and popped out a publicity stung that for $5,000 generated us 320,000 views on Trend Hunter and about 80,000 views on YouTube... And we did it by taking a chaotic event and making it creative, which ties nicely with the title of the book. Through this and other social media campaigns we were able to generate 150,000 downloads of the book's first chapter, and propel it to become the #1 Most Popular book at CEO Read.

p.s. Here's the launch party

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Being Strategic - a visit with noted consultant Erika Andersen

Being Strategic is a book that will reside front and centre on my book shelf. Written by Erika Andersen, it's probably the most practical approach I've ever come across on how to both plan out your personal success, as well as how to get a group aligned around a vision and strategy.

What I like about Erica's approach is that she provides a clear framework and excellent examples that help you visualize the learning. She then provides exercises at the end of each chapter to put your knowledge into action.

As part of Idea Sandbox's Post2Post Book Tour, I had the chance to ask Erica about the genesis of her approach and how it might be put to brand and marketing strategy development. Enjoy!

p.s. if you haven't visited Idea Sandbox yet, check it out. You'll find inspirational ideas and more interesting books that have been reviewed by Post2Post participants like me.

My Conversation with Erika:

Me: Most courses on strategy focus on solving a business issue. You start by focusing on the reader - helping them think through their personal goals or challenges strategically in order to build strategic thinking as a skill. How/why did you develop this approach?

Erika: I wanted people to know they can apply the skills and mindset of being strategic to any aspect of their lives. I’ve seen that the more traditional “case study” approach tends not to accomplish this; it implies that strategy is something that only applies to business – and often, only to large complex business. I feel strongly that being strategic is an important capability that can be applied almost universally – to businesses, careers and lives.

Me: Your book seems very timely. Many people are re-evaluating their priorities and goals due to lost jobs and diminished investment portfolios. How have individuals or families used your approach to face these new challenges?

Erika: Over the past few years, my colleagues and I have helped many people – from mid-level folks who’ve been laid-off, to high-potential young women leaders wanting to create a great career, to senior executives re-thinking (as you say) their life priorities – to use this approach to create a vision of the future they most want for themselves.

I was honored that one of our clients, Bonnie Hammer, who runs the USA Networks, ScyFy, and the Universal Cable Production Studios, has said of this work that, “it’s a clear, powerful, practical approach for navigating through tough times.” I truly hope that individuals and families who read my book will be able to apply the skills and process to navigate through these times and create the lives they most want. That was an important reason for writing the book – to make this approach available to a larger audience.

Me: The readers of the Essential Orange are interested in how brands come to life. Do you have an example of how you’ve used your approach to develop a brand strategy?

We often work with clients around brand (although we certainly don’t consider ourselves brand strategists) using the being strategic approach. First we help them define their challenge - which usually sounds something like: “How can we establish a brand that expresses our unique value and is truly compelling for our core customer?”

Then we help them clarify their current reality relative to their challenge. After that, we help them focus on two aspects of “what’s the hope,” that is, of their hoped-for future relative to the challenge: 1) who do you hope to have as core customers, and 2) what 3-4 brand attributes best express the experience you want your brand to promise to those core customers? Once they’ve defined their core customer and selected their brand attributes, we generally hand off the client to a branding consultancy to create the “path” – the strategies and tactics to build and implement the brand.

Me: Getting a group of people with competing agendas to agree on a marketing strategy is like herding cats. What advice would you give to a marketing leader faced with this challenge?

Erica: That’s why I wrote the second half of the book! Getting a group to agree to approach their challenge strategically, and then actually to work together to craft good, solid vision and strategy, requires some specific skills and understanding. So, my overall advice is – read the book.

But seriously, one tip; defining the challenge first is a huge step in the right direction. “Competing agendas” often simply means that people are trying to solve different problems, and so will simply devolve into “dueling solutions.” If you can get the whole team to a shared understanding of the key problem they’re trying to solve, then they’re at least at the same starting point.

In the book, I use the example of the marketing group at a mythical company called “greenbambino.com.” Their challenge in the book is, “How can we define ourselves as the primary authority on “greenness” for parents of young children?” starting with that clarity is hugely helpful – even for made-up marketing people. ;-)

Me: When developing a strategy with a group, it’s hard to be a facilitator while having a stake in the outcome. What tips do you have for managing this process without appearing to have “an agenda”?

I agree that’s difficult. I have two ideas to offer, one more strategic, and one more tactical. On the strategic level, it’s important to enter into the facilitator role only if you are truly open to the group’s conclusion. If you as the leader enter into the process pre-committed to a particular outcome, it will be disastrous. I feel very strongly about this: if someone is pretending to facilitate a group process while trying to move the group toward a pre-determined outcome, he or she will completely lose credibility and forfeit the group’s passion and commitment to the outcome. So, if you as the leader are going to attempt to facilitate this process, reflect deeply beforehand to decide whether you’re going to be able to be a true facilitator for the group.

Now on the tactical level. It’s completely legitimate, as the leader, to go back and forth between the facilitator role and the participant role. The key is letting people know which role you’re playing at any given moment. For instance, during a discussion you’re facilitating, when you believe you have something of value to add as a participant, you might say, “I’d like to take off my facilitator hat for a minute here, if that’s OK with everyone: I have a comment to make from my own perspective.” Once you’ve gotten the group’s OK, say what you have to say and then note that you’re returning to the facilitator’s role. By doing this, you can maintain the integrity of the facilitator’s role and still participate in the discussion.

Thanks Erika. If you want to read more reviews on Erika's book, check out:

Thomas H. Magness, Leader Business

Phil Gerbyshak, Slacker Manager