Q> What do information-age consumers want and how do you give it to them?
A> "Diversity has been driving our culture for the past three decades and
isn't about to let up. People are clustering into networks by function and
by fancy. Companies are becoming more important than countries. Networks
make things happen. It's not where you work or live but who you know.
The reason people lend themselves to 'clustering' in market research is
that they wish to differentiate themselves. You just draw a circle around a
bunch of dots on your market segmentation map and proclaim that a target
market. They don't like one another and they won't like you for tying them
together.
Political correctness is a by product of diversity, not it's antitheses. As
people cluster out of fear, greed, need and entertainment, they tend to
enforce conformity within their electronic micro'hood. They develop a
language. If you want to be different, join some other cluster or start
one. 'Dualism' will not be tolerated. Diversity demands aggregates of
conformity.
Time is compressing. the guidelines for the use of the word 'new' used to
be six months. Now it should be six days. Your voice mail is filling faster
than you can empty it. Overnight vans are squashing pizza delivery trucks.
All our problems today tend to fall between functional disciplines. The
solutions, if they are to be found, will come from 'combined expertise.'
Combined expertise is, of course, diversity working together. If you can
locate a group of people who normally wouldn't even speak to one another,
maintain decorum, and have fun, you will inevitably produce a breakthrough
product. You have to combine technical understanding with negotiation and
persuasion. You have to be as broad as you are deep. You have to become
something akin to an orchestra conductor. You have to be a maestro."
--There are no incurable ills | There are no believable Gods There are no unkillable thrills | There are no unreachable goals There are no unbeatable odds | There are no unsaveable souls . . Osbourne e-mail tbyars@earthink.net | http://home.earthlink.net/~tbyars ---------------------------------------------------------------------