If your idea is everywhere, you win.

The hard part is, millions of people around the world are
trying to make their ideas more popular than yours. And with the exception of
the few that hit a run of dumb luck, most of the ideas you want to spread, won’t.
Most of your marketing attempts are reminders of just how deaf the world really
is.

Even the big guys, the companies with the most brilliant and
expensive marketing campaigns out there, fail to attract more than a modest
amount of attention.

But don’t let that be another excuse not to try.

They might not make you any money, but if your ideas make you excited to get up in the morning, if
they help you find a home for all of your talents, and if they make meaning in
the world to the people who matter most, you win too. 

We don’t need scare tactics, we need care tactics.

Organizations brave enough to interact and connect with
customers holistically, in a way that actually engages the whole self, and not
just the small part of it the company finds interesting and important.

The perfect venue for this type of innovation is your
company’s signup process.

What if registering for your product involved much more than
simply submitting your name, age and social security number? What if you let
customers pick from a collection of lifestyle images to express their whole
personas? What if the signup process was a canvas for people to talk about
their futures, goals and dreams? And what if the data from the registrations
was aggregated anonymously to help the company listen loudly and give people
more of what they want?

That’s care.

Nothing overly personal, just something with more
personality. Nothing too private, just something that commends people for engaging
in the journey of life.

Like the doctor who treats you beyond the disease, it’s time for organizations to treat customers beyond the niceties, beyond the
pleasantries and beyond the techniques, and more like a whole person.

It’s time to actually start with the customer, not just
with the customer in mind.

Tell people you care about the whole self, and then do
something to prove it.

Twelve million of us are unemployed.

And in addition to the obvious downsides of financial
hardship, fear of the future, loss of control, boredom, lack of momentum,
feelings of humiliation, decline in motivation and lack of human contact, perhaps
the hardest part about looking for work is the devastating affect it has on the
human psyche.

Offices are where we do some of our most important existing.
Work informs our identity more than most things, so it’s a primary means to
express our sense of who we are. And if we lose our daily expression of that,
if we don’t have a consistent platform for being creative, passionate and
personal in our interactions with other human beings, there’s a noticeable
emptiness that starts to grow.

Eric Maisel calls this a meaning
crisis, in which meaning has leaked out and unhappiness has leaked in.

The secret is to take action on something meaningful.
Anything. By deciding to bite into something and do it really well, by making
the most of our talents and inner resources, we feel more alive. It’s a form of
living our principles and values.

Even if it’s a tiny step, as long as it helps us create
meaning in our lives, at the end of the day, it feels like we’ve met our quota
of usefulness. Besides, it’s only one part of a larger repertoire of activities
that are pretty much guaranteed to provide us with the experience of meaning.

The point is, without asking ourselves what tiny steps we
can take, today, that will help us create meaning in our lives, it’s going to
be an empty journey.

You can only do the dishes so many times in week.

Loneliness is a permanent feature of the human condition.

If you can find a way to remind customers that they’re not
alone, that they’re not the only ones having an experience, and that the roller
coaster isn’t as scary when you have other people to scream with, it will be
hard to keep your name a secret.

Connecticut
Working Moms wants the members of their community to feel more empowered, less guilty,
less isolated and to realize that someone else feels the same way they do, so
they built a digital confession booth. A destination where users can
anonymously share the raw truth of their struggles, as their lives really
are.

Dove
Lewis Animal Hospital offers free support groups where owners can share stories
to cope with the loss of a pet, along with art therapy workshops where first
timers can learn from veteran members who have navigated, survived and even
laughed about the grieving process.

Greenpoint Coworkers holds jellies, free coworking days where freelancers can
leave their den of solitude and join a community of fellow independent
professionals to work together for a day, bounce ideas off of, and have a
structured, professional workday in a beautifully designed, naturally lit work
environment.

How are you connecting the disconnected?

Every couple needs a common enemy.

Some force to fight against together, some adversity to
triumph over together, some experience, that’s bigger and stronger than the
couple itself, that forces them to stand at each other’s shoulders, and with
tears dropping like stars, bring their collective will to bear.

Whether it’s moving across the country, starting a business
together, having children, fighting illness or grieving the loss of a family
member, every great partnership needs a good low. Something to call upon their
resiliency, test their spirit and remind them that they’re alive and real and
human and imperfect, and by depending on one another, they will come out on the
other side.

Otherwise they’re just roommates.

Here’s to year one, baby.