THE DEMANDS OF GEN WHY NOT: GET CRACKING BEFORE THINGS FALL APART.

If a horse racing club, and not ready to really RIDE, it just might have run its race before it’s even started. But it’s not only horse racing that during these tough times need to progress beyond the obvious, need to be about multimedia and multi tasking and multiplying one’s assets- and, more importantly, knowing where to stop and become effectively frugal.

It’s not about putting all of one’s already cracked eggs into one Humpty Dumpty basket and creating oversupply when there’s not enough demand for so much irrelevance.

It’s a cautionary tale from someone who went from being a crappy copywriter in advertising to becoming Director of Creative Services for DDB on the McDonald’s business for over two decades to running two major music companies and being part of the team involved in launching STARTV and selling that wok in the sky to Uncle Rupert and News Corp.

It really really really is about understanding the importance of mobility and interactivity in today’s constantly changing world plus trying to guide consumer behaviour to what they might think they find interesting.

This is something that can be, but also can’t be researched. Research often takes away the soul and excitement of any new business model and makes it lose its competitive edge.

For me, it’s about understanding the need for two and three pronged strategies or business streams and the flexibility to change with the times and realise that one team cannot do everything and how something like an “app” is no longer what an app was and how “lifestyle” is more about “life change”.

No one is saying that one shouldn’t hang onto and respect tradition, but, well, less and less people appreciate or are interested in anything from a past that might as well be about the knights of the round table and cowboys and injuns.

If part of this past and with blinkers on, something like “fantasy racing” is nothing new. It’s been around for almost two decades and various people have tried to make this happen- including two high profile music executives and recording artists.

Where it’s not really progressed is by too often being allowed to be derailed by bringing in bureaucratic thinking which, without really knowing the answers, trip up and sap the energy and optimism of young entrepreneurs.

Maybe the bureaucrats were scared of Change and would rather embrace the perception of change whereas those young entrepreneurs start to question themselves?

A few, like some college kids named Mark Zuckerberg, and especially Sean Parker who created the file sharing music platform called Napster did not relent.

They and Napster pushed the boundaries even when being sued by the major music companies, because they knew they had the music fans on their side plus artists like the very indie minded Radiohead.

When private equity fat boy Guy Hands and his Terrarists from Terra Firma moved in and took over EMI Music, the artists began looking after their assets with Radiohead basically opening the doors for Daniel Ek and Spotify by offering their “In Rainbows” release to fans for free.

The tail start to wag the dog and the music industry as we knew it morphed overnight into what it is today- a music streaming service and brands like MTV were suddenly dinosaurs from Gary Larson’s Far Side.

Where we in the music companies failed was clinging onto corporate cultures and executive roles that had run their course and believing that research companies had all the answers and Human Resources knew the executives we needed in fast moving digital times.

Research is good to have, but it’s all about vision- not, for example, focusing on where the money is now, but who’s going to inherit the family funds for tomorrow and invest this on…what?

The What question cannot be researched because most of this is not yet here or is an emotion that can be a product built around something oblique like Hope and Happiness.

The season and reason for What is a feeling and it’s seeing how and where the pieces fit from a global perspective for there to be a touchy feely product and who you want to come along for the ride and help make this happen.

This is where the new thinking Next Generation of entrepreneurship comes in.

They will not follow trends handed down to them, because they have the ability to create them and keep fine tuning ideas and pushing the boundaries of creativity like Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett have always done with their Gorillaz project.

They are so way ahead of the curve that they are their own arc and curve- but not a circle.

I still remember meeting up with Lady Gai Gai- the timeless and ageless lady horse trainer Gai Waterhouse and husband Rob at the Sheraton in Hong Kong some years ago. I love the infectious spirit of Gai and for whom the glass is never half empty but always half full.

In her wonderfully theatrical way, she kept going on and on about how she was wanted to create a “GaiApp”.

She was way ahead of the pack.

I knew what she wanted, but I didn’t know enough about the Australian horse racing and wagering landscapes because I was tinkering around with something similar for my Racingbitch hobby horse while still running EMI Music in the region.

But I never forgot her vision and how everything is about timing.

Everything happens for a reason and in this post pandemic world where old is not new again- just older- it’s about holding on to those customers already on side, and enhancing their holistic experience.

It’s also about looking at those 2-3 new business streams led by travel and new destinations and cuisine, fashion, technology, the environment and culture and sports OR all of the above.

It’s about being around those content creators with something new to offer and THE LINK that brings everything and everyone together that excites you and inspires you to look beyond the obvious and delete those who slow you down.

Me, I’m ready to RIDE- more on RIDE soon- and inspired in knowing how and when to pass that baton and to whom.

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