Everybody reading this is at risk of becoming stagnant with their thinking, and it’s not their fault.
It is easy to fall in to the motions and do the same nine to five, (or eight to eight in the advertising/media game) every day. There is a certain comfort in the usual and the known, but that comfort is also counterproductive.
You wake up, go to work, get your coffee, check Buzzfeed, send some emails, and finish your day with a nice argument over whose responsibility the latest red-flagged email was. You then leave the office and enjoy yourself up until that moment of diminishing return where all of a sudden you are closer to going back to work than you were to finishing it.
There is a cure for this ‘existence’ and it’s a simple formula that can be applied to everything you do.
It’s the 70:20:10 rule. 70% Proven, 20% Innovation and 10% Experimental.
Different businesses have theories about 70:20:10 when it comes to innovation. Coca Cola’s marketing investment strategy is 70% investment in the ‘now’, 20% in ‘new’ or emerging trends and 10% future goes to ‘next’ ideas that are completely untested. Google is the same with how it works - 70% of their time is dedicated to their core skills, 20% to related projects and 10% to working on new products.
It’s quite obvious where this theory can apply in a large organisation and agency sense, but where I think this can be extended is to the little decisions and tasks you undertake on a day-to-day basis. Yeah, it’s fine to plan a media buy with 70% tried and tested publishers, 20% on ones tested previously and 10% trialing something new, but what about every day?
I believe there is a need to make 70:20:10 more granular. In a brainstorming session, within your team, within your interactions with your clients, in a boring performance analysis throw a new idea in.
And this isn’t just people who work in creative departments in advertising or media agencies. It’s also for the suits and the traders. It’s the cure that fights monotony, it can also inspire you and others to do better work, because you are actually excited, and they are more excited, and when people are excited and inspired, the best things happen. We’re not accountants where being ‘creative’ can get you jail time, so try it.
It’s also important to reward this kind of thinking. At MediaCom we have a ‘Brave’ award given to those that push back, test things and most importantly back themselves, and when you do this, you start to notice that more interesting things happen.
You can only change your actions by being conscious of them. Look from the outside in at what you’re doing every day and if from that perspective you’re playing it safe and just getting by, then it’s time to shake it up with the 10%.
Most importantly, I’m not just talking about work. Work is one of the smallest worries you should have. You can apply it to friendships, apply it to relationships, apply it to love or apply it to your sandwich at lunchtime, you won’t regret it.
Otherwise you are in danger of going to work or, worse, living your life in the same way every day.
David Toussaint
Assistant, Innovation & Technology
MediaCom
The AdNews NGen Blog: 70:20:10 your work and life
21 October 2013