So, in the last few weeks I've seen my share of airport security lines.

Not until now have I been accused of being a frequent traveler by one of the security dudes.  My life is complete.

I've learned effective habits and practices for successfully navigating the security line and I didn't even realize it until I got two comments from airport workers this morning.  For example:  

- I hold down my shirt when going through the drug-test machine that shoots air at you.
- I grab exactly two plastic bins to put my stuff in - one for my laptop and one for my bag and shoes.
- I know when to put away my license.  
- I get out my flight number and know which screen is next on the Delta check-in kiosk.

Without an outsider's perspective, I wouldn't have realized the adjustments I've made to make it through the system.  That's part of ethnography - I've learned to look at consumers' lives with a new lens, seeing things that they don't realize that they do, behaviors they've adapted, habits they're doing.  

Where have you adapted to a system?  Could that system be improved?  I sure know the airport security system could be (enough said...but then again, who's even asking?).  How can you innovate to make the system better?

These are questions we're constantly asking at Seek, externally AND internally.  Hey, there's always room for growth!

When's the last time you read something that altered your perspective a bit?  I did this morning...I've heard/read a proliferation of thoughts on global warming...scientific debates, what's causing it...stop doing this.   Regardless of the cause (which needs to be addressed), have you ever stopped to consider the implications of this climate change on people?  2007 UN Climate Panel findings to chew on:

• Between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa could suffer stress on water supplies by 2020.
• In some African countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 per cent by 2020.

Regardless of the cause.  Regardless of the solution to climate change.  Who will address the implications on people?  The people most affected and vulnerable.

So there we were, doing some ethnography in the form of an in-home interview in an affluent area of town.  My role was to be camera guy (filming on a mini-DV video camera), as it was my role at Seek at the time.  Another QRC (qualitative research consultant) is leading the interview with two client team members taking notes.  We were in this respondent’s home talking about her habits and practices as it pertains to how she cleans her home.

The lead QRC tells the kind woman who has allowed us in her home, “So, as you’ve been told, we would like to observe you clean your home in the exact way that you normally clean it.  We might have some questions for you along the way, but for the most part – please function as if we were not here.”

This lovely woman looks right at me through the camera lens, glances at the two client team members (who also happen to be men), smiles at the female QRC and says, “Well, I usually clean my house in the nude.”

I checked the bag to make sure we had enough film.  The two client team members sharpened their pencils.  The lone female QRC never missed a beat, “Well, maybe not exactly the way you normally clean your home.”

Needless to say, we shot a lot of film at the respondents home that day – all of it “G” rated.  Whether you are doing global market research in Singapore or ethnography in Columbus, you never know what you are going to hear or see!

Every culture has a creation legend...and I'm listening to Seek's creation legend now.

Over my shoulder, our founder, Tim Urmston, is telling a potential new Seeker the story of how he went from being an upwardly-mobile P&G product developer to, in one day, walking away from a sure-thing career with killer retirement benefits to launching a bizarre boutique qualitative research firm hell-bent on changing research paradigms through empathic ethnography, real-life-truth-based ideation, and learning the real stories behind the real people who drive every business decision.

I won't tell you the story...that's Tim's story to tell, and he tells it better than I do.  But I will tell you this...I think of that story often, and usually when I need to decide something groundbreaking for this company.

As I listen, I am reminded of the importance of a creation myth.  In his (for me groundbreaking) book Primal Branding, Patrick Hanlon talks about the creation myth as a critical part of every brand.  I'm going to push it a little further, and tell you that I believe that the creation myth is essential to every group, every community and every person alive.  I think much of our lives is a quest to understand the purpose of our existence, and this question inevitably leads us to question the intention of our origin...a question which requires a creation myth in its answer.

In his watershed interview with journalist Ken Moyer, philosopher and folklore scholar Joseph Campbell seems to continue to return to this point...without a collective sense of our creation, we aren't able to understand our purpose for being.  As companies (including our own little experiment in contrarian market research) continue to write mission statements, as married couples in a tough time continue to remember why they tied the knot in the first place, as churches and synagogues struggle to focus their benevolence or theologies, and as individuals search for some kind of sense of direction for their lives...we have to remember our creation myth.  Not just the biological creation story of the human; not just the vows shared at the altar, not just the 10 commandments carved in stone out in front of the temple...but the story of why...that narrative that you have shared, internally or externally, thousands of times but perhaps have never spoken as sacred or revered as critical to your understanding of your own existence.

So, I encourage you to consider...what is your creation myth?  What launched your company...what is the story that needs to be shared to your staff of why you exist?  What is your relationship's creation myth?  What brought you together?  How did you find love, and how can you retell that story to your partner in a way that will remind you of why you found something powerful in each other?  What is your personal creation story?  Where was the you that you know today invented, and why?  How have you chosen to create you?

Tell the story.  Write the story.  Learn the story.  Teach others the story.  Celebrate your creation myth.   At Seek Research, we are learning more and more to celebrate ours.

Cheers,
Justin

Some great media consumption trends from a recent BusinessWeek article that are definitely worth taking a look at and understanding...

The average American (age 12 and up) with Internet access spends more than 6 hours a day watching movies, shows, news, and sports—or playing games—on screens of one sort or another. That’s up from 4.6 hours in 1996, says Solutions Research Group, which predicts a rise to 8 hours a day in 2013. The group, which studied the viewing diaries of 1,014 people, found that on average TV accounts for 4 of the current 6 viewing hours. The other 2 hours involve the Web, DVDs, gaming consoles, and mobile devices. (The ratio is roughly reversed for the 12-to-24-year-old set.) By 2013, the group forecasts, Americans will spend an average three hours daily viewing or playing with PCs and mobile devices. “Wherever you go,” says Solutions Research President Kaan Yigit, “you’ll be bathing in video content.”

At Seek Research we do way more than any typical Qualitative Research firm would do in the arena of Ethnography or Ethnographic Study, Global Market Research, Qualitative Research and Ideation...we offer and do so much more including...having on staff Hornetball's first ever MVP, Jason "The Assassin" Hauer.  We are so proud of him!

Have you considered what it might look like for your company or brand to practice creative capitalism?  We're wrestling with this right now...trying to figure out how our passion for this stuff might be useful.  Found this in the August 11th issue of Time...maybe some ideas to inspire you:

CADBURY
The British confectioner is investing millions of dollars in small farming communities in Ghana that provide tin-cocoa beans for one of its lines of chocolate.

GRAMEEN BANK
The Bangladeshi bank makes small loans to impoverished people keen to start their own business. Since its founding, Grameen has disbursed more than $7 billion to the poor.

SUMITOMO CHEMICAL
The Japanese company bought a stake in Tanzania's A to Z Textile Mills to produce up to 10 million insecticide-treated mosquito nets a year.

SAFARICOM
The Kenyan phone company does well by serving the poor. Customers buy prepaid phones, paying for the amount of time they can afford and avoiding hefty monthly fees.

TOMS
The program from the company, based in Santa Monica, Calif, is simple: Buy a pair of our shoes, and we'll give a pair to a needy child. That helps the poor and attracts altruistic shoppers.

TECHNOSERVE
The U.S. nonprofit gives business and agricultural advice to coffee farmers in Africa and Latin America and links them to buyers such as Starbucks and Peet's.

BRITANNIA INDUSTRIES
The Indian food company teams up with an NGO to provide children with vitamin fortified biscuits that are served after a donated midday meal.

GAP
A sexy PRODUCT (RED) T shirt is appealing on its own, but advertise that half its sale profits go to African women and children affected by HIV/AIDS, and you've got a real hit.

The Beautiful Losers film opens this weekend in NY. 

Last night, I drove to Indianapolis to see Wilco.  Wending their way through a swarm of gnats, the band straight up owned it for 2 hours of inspired performance emitted from  evocative shadows of a misty Hank Williams Sr. to raging blasts of unfettered Sonic Youth delirium.

After the show, my dear brother-in-law worked some magic to get us back stage, where we met the band and boarded their bus.  They were as laid-back and easy-to-be-with a rock band as you can imagine.  We talked music, baseball, places of interest in cities of interest, and got some in-depth perspective on some mutually loved artists.

Their trombone player, Nick Broste also blows for a band called, Herculaneum.  Their guitar player is the inimitable legend, Nels Cline.  John, Pat, Jeff, Glenn and Mike were patient and delightful.  Ultimately, we had to leave in order to get home at a reasonable hour.

I asked Jeff (singer/guitarist, for the uninitiated) what he thought of the evening's performance.  He said he felt like it was a "great show, but the audience seemed a bit listless."  I didn't get into it with him, but I think an audience's emotional response sometimes isn't carried into their physical response.  I, for one, hadn't moved a whole lot but largely that's because I was transfixed by the performance.

In a previous post, I discussed how I'd been unable to verbalize a strong feeling about CCR.  Now, here I had been unable to physically express a strong response to an amazing performance.  My dysfunctions aside, these are very human responses--and it's easy for an observer to get the wrong idea.  I was in that audience.  I can tell you (as I told him), our response was genuinely euphoric.

So, we study people. Their habits, practices, why they buy this, why they buy that...

This is the first of a new series about my dog Cocoa...a lovely, lively 15 month old chocolate lab (hence, the name...which my 4 year-old chose!)...







Lessons on life from Cocoa #1:  Don't be afraid to show your feelings.
This morning, I was getting ready for work and Cocoa came in to hang out with me in my closet during my frustrating decision making process about what to wear (doesn't it seem like summer is dragging on a bit now...I'm a bit sick of it and ready for the new set of fall clothes...but, that's another post)...anyway, I looked down at her and blew her a silent little kiss.  Have you done this to a dog?  Her tail went CRAZY wagging so fiercely that it could hurt a small child.  Then it struck me...dogs have never learned to "hide their emotions":

• When you're happy, wag your tail. 
• Lavish kisses on people when you see them after a long (or even a short) absence. 
• Whine or cry when you're upset. 
• Bark when you're scared. 
• Hang your head when you realize you did something not-so-smart.

Somehow I've learned over the years that sometimes when I want to laugh hysterically, I should keep it to myself.  Sometimes when I'm sad, I need to hold it in.  Sometimes, when I'm scared, I have to "be brave"...  I'm learning and growing here...and, I have to say, since I've been at Seek, I'm becoming more and more comfortable with transparency and really experiencing my own emotions. 

If we're going to be in touch with people and really "do" ethnography, we've got to look beyond the words and find the emotion that people might be covering -- even if they don't mean to...

What have you learned from your dog today?

So, a question came to mind the other night while chatting with a friend.  One of those dangerous questions about myself -- the kind that you know you have to ask every once in a while -- that you know will reveal something deeply moving or deeply disturbing about yourself -- and that you have to take the time to answer if you really want to grow. 

The question was this:  How can I call myself an "in touch" person, who loves people -- as my profession in qualitative research and ethnography would imply, and I'm not REALLY in touch with how people communicate these days.  Tell the truth, I was a little scared of all the hype and kinda talked myself into believing that I was too old for facebook or flickr or myspace, etc.  (Okay, maybe I am a little old for myspace!)

But then, I decided to take the leap!  A few weeks ago I created a flickr account and now keep my family photos there.  Wow...So cool!  Have you been to flickr?  It's so easy, and fun and safe!  I'm loving it!

The really big leap was setting up a facebook account.  Several of my friends have been bugging me about this for awhile now.  So, I did it!  How cool is facebook!?  I reconnected with high school friends, posted pictures, wrote on walls, gave hugs.  And now, I'm starting to "get it" -- as I always do when I "live it" versus just reading about something.  So, from time to time, I hope you don't mind reading my observations...obvious as they might be...

Observation #1:  the paradox of today's communication systems -- I've not before felt so "open" and "vulnerable" with every current and long lost friend and cousin able to see pictures and read my discussion with other long lost friends or cousins.  It makes me feel more "known"...but then again, un-known...whatever I post or write is all people can see...they don't see the look on my face when I write it; they can't see my home or how I interact with my kids...hmmm...known and unknown all at the same time.  I'll have to think about that some more...but in the meantime, "friend me" if you'd like!  I'll see you on facebook!  ;-)

Seek Research has never ceased to provide me an abdominal workout in the form of laughing.  I get to travel the world with friends (also known as co-workers) and meet new people.  There's always a funny story.

As a Qualitative Research Consultant at Seek Research, I'm finding more and more that I thrive in adversity.

How many of you are out there?  There are 304,721,675 people in the U.S.
How many have your name?  While watching a fun little vodcast (Internet Rock Star) from revision3, I learned of a very cool website that searches the U.S. Census database for names.  Here's how I fared...

So, today was a great day for me. 

I'm not really sure what set it apart from any other day.  We are working on a proposal for a large global market research/ethnographic study that is a big challenge!  What I loved is that we really came together as a team -- Tracy, Sara, Greg, Renee and several others have played a key role in pulling together a very cool learning experience design.  Our client is a true business partner with us as we've worked to create the right balance of deliverables and cost efficiency. 

Sound boring?  Not to me...I so enjoy the camaraderie between Seek and the client, and across our team.  I so appreciate the ability that I have to bring my best every day and really work in a way that leverages my strengths!

Anyway, kudos out to the Seek team -- great work today!  I'm so humbled to be part of this team!

"Innovation" is a word that has been overused and overplayed nearly as much as a Hannah Montana hit pop song.  However there is a lot of value still left in what we have been referring to "fighting gravity". 

The term "fighting gravity" came about after a staff meeting.  I remember hearing the word "innovation" used so many times I couldn't keep count.  So when the floor was opened to questions, I asked... "Can we use a different word than "innovation" to describe what we're trying to accomplish?"  I wasn't making an attempt to be difficult or add another word to "Buzzword Bingo", I was just trying to wrap my mind around what exactly we are doing and what this "buzz" word (innovation) meant to us at Seek. 

Jerry, our passionate CEO at Seek looked at me curious for only about 2 seconds when the words, "fighting gravity" came from his mouth.  Instantly, I understood exactly what he was trying to communicate in this four syllable "buzz" word (innovation).  So from there the term, "fighting gravity" was born.  

I believe "fighting gravity" is important not only in qualitative research, global market research, ideation sessions, ethnography, etc. but it is equally important in our lives.  Over the next few weeks or months I am challenging myself to think about ways to "fight gravity" not only with Seek research projects but also in my personal life.
 

I was naked in New York City this week...well not entirely naked in the literal sense, but I found myself basically naked in the city that never sleeps..."The Big Apple".  Let me back up and rewind a little.

Over the weekend I flew up to the great northern city of Minneapolis.  "Minnie" is one of my favorite cities in the U.S.  It has a lot of very fun and eclectic places to shop, hang out, grab a drink or dine on some incredible food...and then there's of course the lakes.  Oh my gosh the lakes are amazing and beautiful.  God truly kissed the ground where these lakes formed. 

I traveled to Minneapolis to see my niece's first baptism.  The baptism was at a beautiful Basilica in downtown Minneapolis.  (This is where the story's foreshadowing comes into play...)  While walking across the street to "Joe's Garage" (a little bar) to grab a drink before entering the Basilica, a young man walked out of an alley wearing nothing but a small brown leather "Daisy-Duke-Cut" shorts that laced up the back very loosely.  His outfit would make Times Square's "Naked Cowboy" appear over-dressed.  The laced area of his shorts exposed his entire back-side and his "cheeks" peaked out the bottom.  Oh wait...it gets better, he was a ethnographic study segment that has yet to be categorized.  This barefoot, leather & lace-undergarment wearing individual was covered in a slimy film of body paint and something clear that had all smeared together.  In his hand however was a small step ladder and in the other was a high-end digital SLR camera.  He turned and looked at us and then at the young man walking next to us with a wild eye look.  He yelled at the young man next to us, "what the hell are you looking at?"  Obviously an answer wasn't necessary to provide.  That marked what was the be the "weirdest" moment of our trip.  The rest of the trip was relitively uneventful until we tried to fly back home. 

We got up early and arrived at the Minneapolis airport at 6:00am.  We were flying stand-by and had planned on flying out on the very first flight to Cincinnati at 7:00am.  However the "god's of commercial airline flight" were not so kind to us that day.  The aircraft experienced mechanical issues and was postponed indefinitely and then sent to Cincinnati empty.  This set a domino effect of over-sold ticketed seating into motion.  We ran back and forth literally from one end of the airport to the extreme other end trying to make alternating flights on two different airlines every 60 minutes.  Unfortunately we missed the "Cleared Stand-By List" always by just a few names.  After 12 hours of racing the airport courtesy shuttle carts a decisions had to be made. 

We had checked our Minneapolis bag back to Cincinnati and it was on its way back home.  I had a bag packed with clothes and toiletries for my upcoming New York City trip along with my MacBook Pro and all my qualitative research supplies, but it was also in Cincinnati awaiting me.  The plan was to fly home early Monday morning to Cincinnati, grab my NYC bag with my Mac and catch a flight to NYC from Cincinnati.  It sounded like a good plan at the time.  However, I had to decide whether I risk / attempt to make the next flight to Cincinnati that would give me less than an hour to deplane, take the shuttle to my car, grab my NYC bags, grab the shuttle back to the airport and make the last flight to NYC....or take the last flight from Minneapolis directly to New York City, without any thing but the shirt on my back.  Where's my Magic Eight Ball when I really need it?

After studying the pros and cons, I made the decision that it was more important that I be present rather than not be and have all of my clothes, computer and supplies.  What is qualitative research without the researcher?  And what city would be the best city to have an excuse to go shopping than New York City? 

So long story made just a little bit longer... the qualitative research went perfectly, the client was very happy with the design and the findings and I got to shop in New York City.  Life is good.

Welcome back to Thump Thump Thump.  This is the 3rd installmentation of our Ideation Hurts series. 

To recap Ideation Hurts, Pt. 2, we laid out the 5 degrees of the Isolative Sequence, a behavioral function that can obstruct our creative flow:

Let's talk about how to interrupt the different degrees of the Isolative Sequence.

1st Degree: Discomfort
Not all discomfort is bad.  Spicy food, a roller coaster, a scary movie, a stand-up comedian, or cramming into an already-too-full car with your friends after a night of debauchery can be uncomfortably enjoyable.  Or enjoyably uncomfortable, or whatever.  You get the point. 

It's about how you frame it:  What kind of expectations are set;  How high the stakes are.

If you bite into a muffin and it's unexpectedly spicy, that could be not-so-enjoyable discomfort because you didn't expect that kind of heat from your muffin.

If that spicy fire leads to an allergic outbreak, well, the stakes just got too high.  Now, you'd experience even less agreeable discomfort.

It's the same way in ideation. 

Set forth reasonable expectations.  Keep the stakes low.  For example: "until 11 AM, we're simply going to look at the insights from last months' ethnographic study and other qualitative consumer research to hand-pick seeds we can develop into more complete ideas later this afternoon."  Now, everyone knows what's happening and the feeling of must-be-brilliant-right-this-very-moment can go away.  And you did it without silly rubber toys that make everyone feel like they walked into a kindergarten classroom.  Nothing against kindergarten, of course.  More on that later.

Solution to the 1st degree (Discomfort) of the Isolative Sequence: Dropping the anxiety barometer allows perspective-shifting activities to push everyone into a new space--with anticipation, rather than apprehension.

Next up: the 2nd degree (Can't Articulate)