PPPPath of Non-Linear Progress (Four Ps #219)
A bumpy beginning, a reassuing middle, and a persistent end.
“How long did it take?” “How much longer will it take?” “How much longer do I have?”
In a world captivated by the relentless march of progress—social, financial, technological, even personal—time is the only true metric that matters.
From the resurgence of blockchain technology to navigating midlife's non-crisis, and from practical lifelong learning to the age-old debate surrounding elderly politicians, this edition of the Four Ps takes on the intricate dance of time and progress.
THE PROFESSIONAL: The Beginning of the ‘Chain
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but “we're still early” when it comes to blockchain technology. While much of the media and social hype has shifted to (and may already be irritated with) specialized artificial intelligence, blockchain developers and marketers are getting more things right… making the solutions more accessible and the experiences better.
And yet the totality of the Web3 expert community has become akin to a power strip plugged into itself as opposed to a relay and amplifier of power. After 5 years of crypto, NFT, and Web3 lingo, even the most curious and engaged Web3 enthusiast is feeling burned out.
Skepticism is high. Miseducation is rampant. And both have reached the point where the next phase of progress requires separating the technology from the terminology. New, better marketing will be just as important as the tech over the next year. So let’s get back to basics, and reframe the ABCDEs: Audience, Benefits, Communication, Data, Experience.
🅰️ AUDIENCE: The Web3 community needs to stop talking to each other, and talk with others.
Blockchain marketers have to find new ways to connect with B2B2C marketing audiences. Last week, a consortium of companies and experts published a great white paper on The Future of Web3 Loyalty. Dozens of people in my network shared it. A few weeks prior, a trusted expert in the space wrote and shared this article on the future of brand growth in Web3. Content like this is both great and challenging.
On one hand, it makes these concepts easy to understand. On the other hand, it can feel like shouting into the abyss, talking to the wrong audience. Right content, wrong place. The people who will see that content already understand and likely agree with every point made here, the same community of like-minded advocates… sharing the same information, POVs, and case studies within the same echo chamber as a year ago.
🤝 BENEFITS: Companies, brands, products & services must lead with benefits to survive.
Blockchain technology provides very real benefits to both brand and consumer beyond collectability and speculation. It proves ownership, authenticity, and identity. It is secure. Today's email addresses are tomorrow's tokens: the next generation of interactive experiences and applications beyond websites and apps.
There's a reason why big brands are shifting the narrative (here to here) and product marketing to “loyalty and rewards.” Platforms like Kazm are turnkey, offer solutions, and are highly accessible. Yet the benefits go beyond just loyalty and rewards. We're seeing an upgraded foundation for brands' customer relationship marketing and management needs. It's about retention.
🗣️ COMMUNICATION: Time to change what we say and how we say it.
Educating and scaling this game-changing tech requires talking to a marketing-savvy audience with a jargon-free communication style. Transparency about the tech will be important for some, but new terminology is key for consumer-facing messaging.
- ❌ No more use of "Web3." ✅ From now on = “onchain.”
- ❌ No more “NFTs.” ✅ Meet “Consumer (or Community) Tokens.”
- ❌ No more Metaverse. ✅ It’s now “3D Internet.”The recent release of ERC-5169 smart tokens got a very small number of people very excited. They will make it easier for the next billion users to join Web3 without even realizing they're using tokens. And yet, our “echo chamber” still communicates this way:
"The ERC-5169 token allows creators to attach executable scripts to tokens or NFTs, turning them into smart tokens. These smart tokens have their logic and behavior, allowing for various possibilities on the internet. It's akin to having a decentralized app (dApp) within a token."
Sorry, did you fall asleep reading that last bullet? Here's what I'd say:
"Make your CRM better. There's a set of new and simplified tools that make the engagement model better for both your brand AND consumers. We can build with, and on TOP of, your current channels (social, website, ecomm, stack).”
This is the future of blockchain connects with your existing platforms and solutions, layering on more adaptable loyalty and rewards programs, smoother commerce experiences, safer digital security and privacy, and better connections to everyday things.
📊 DATA: We need ACTUAL proof that it's working.
Many leading global brands have embraced or experimented with consumer-centric blockchain activations. But we have very little data or insights that they're working. Marketers are savvy enough to understand the difference between activity and achievement... outputs and outcomes. It's not about who's doing what. It's about what it's doing for them.
Discussion about the Lufthansa program recently indicated that 20,000 consumers have claimed 200,000 tokens. But that's the only data point we have. Is that good? Is it driving retention? Who knows?
▶️ EXPERIENCE: Improving blockchain programs and marketing will increase adoption.
The UX of interacting with tokens is still too complicated, cumbersome, and non-sensical for the average user. Improving the UX of the aforementioned projects means creating onboarding solutions that allow users to create wallets without private keys or passwords, integrating token-gated experiences into existing brand front-ends, and simplifying the process of acquiring and interacting with tokens.
If we can make this entire ecosystem more accessible, user-friendly, and well-communicated, we will be able to reach a wider audience and finally think about mass adoption.
THE PERSONAL: Navigating a Midlife Non-Crisis
I ignored my 45th birthday earlier this summer. Instead of organizing the 90s-themed karaoke party that my wife and I promised ourselves 5 years ago, we kept it low-key, instead opting only to share a small cupcake son and scheduling a colonoscopy.
For many, these “middle years” come with professional pondering (“I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up”) and increasing health hiccups (guess who can now make recos for good physical therapists in our neighborhood?). Almost all data and surveys say that people are most unhappy in their 40s.
While society often dubs this phase a "midlife crisis," I see it as a chance for personal growth that should be embraced rather than feared, and have drawn inspiration from the classics. Philosophers and artists have provided us with a comforting notion - the world is teeming with countless paths, each with its allure. The yearning for unlived lives and parallel existences is an inevitability as we confront the divergence between our aspirations and realities. Instead of dwelling on the lives we haven't lived, we can embrace our choices as a tapestry woven from the threads of various experiences:
During the Renaissance, middle age was often transformative for individuals. Dante and Michelangelo expressed this period of their lives with a sense of dissatisfaction and unfulfilled dreams, coupled with a heightened awareness of mortality. Yet both were most prolific and productive in the second half of their lives. The revelation lies in accepting these challenges and reshaping perspective.
John Stuart Mill's youthful struggles are insightful: The relentless pursuit of personal happiness can ironically lead to misery. Mill's realization that genuine happiness stems from pursuing interests beyond oneself speaks to the truth that finding purpose in hobbies, passions, and connections elevates our spirits.
Arthur Schopenhauer, the harbinger of pessimism, advises us to forsake desires and find fulfillment in the process itself. By focusing on the journey, we can derive meaning from the present moment rather than seeking fleeting satisfaction from attaining goals. Embracing the uncertainty inherent in every choice underscores the importance of making peace with the roads not taken.
Lucretius' counsel to treat death, an unwelcome but undeniable companion in middle age, with indifference urges us to confront our mortality with equanimity. Recognizing the bias we exhibit towards our future selves, we can aim for a temporal neutrality that bridges the gap between past and future.
As many of us navigate these midlife waters, I find comfort in these insights, as well as in the connections I've formed with others of similar age and circumstance. The age of 45 is not a crisis; it's a challenge, an opportunity to redefine my narrative, reshape my perspective, and embrace the complexities of existence. Dante may have taken a few years to emerge from his dark woods, but I'm prepared to journey through mine with wisdom, philosophy, and a determination to live a life rich in experiences.
THE PRACTICAL: Getting Smarter Even Faster In These Middle Years
I joked last week that I should be starting 39th grade this year. While work, side projects, and busy family life often get in the way, being a lifelong learner is easier than you think. I’ve been a member and subscriber of Blinkist for nearly four years now, and try to ingest and digest the summaries of at least 3 books per week in 10 minutes or less.
Blinkist boils down the key essence and bullet points of thousands of non-fiction books and makes my LinkedIn content smarter every single day. If only this was around back when I used to go to parties… it would have up-leveled my small-talk game significantly. This is like Cliff’s Notes for grown-ups.
So yeah, this is as practical as it gets. Annual membership gets you access to over 5,000 book titles… but you can start with a free Blinkist trial now.
THE POLITICAL: End of the Line for Elderly Politicians?
If we live long enough, we’ll experience many “ends” throughout our journey: the end of a relationship, the end of an academic career, the end of a lease, the end of a job, the end of our lives... It's nothing to be ashamed or embarrassed about. Sometimes it even happens without our approval or understanding. We just keep going until the ultimate “end.”
Here in the United States, our Constitution, state laws, and even local regulations impose minimum age requirements for several activities and higher offices, including voting AND service eligibility. Yet age maximums were not considered because few people 250 years ago lived past age 60. Now that we're living longer. Physical and mental deterioration happens at different paces for each of us.
But when you are an elected official or in a prominent position of power, the stakes and impact are even greater. This is why it's time that we put cognitive testing requirements in place for lawmakers once they hit age 65 (even earlier than Nikki Haley’s suggestion of age 75). This after we've just witnessed two shocking incidents of Senator Mitch McConnell momentarily freezing up in front of the cameras TWICE at the spry age of 81. Sure, age is just a number, and doesn't guarantee wisdom or even competence, but it does guarantee a slow and steady decline in physical and mental abilities.
So what do we do when our elected officials seem a bit past their prime? Technically, we can kick them out, but only 15 Senators have been expelled since 1789, and most of them were booted during the Civil War. Of course, older folks might take a tad longer to process things, but that doesn't make them less competent. It's like saying your grandma is losing it because she can't figure out Snapchat – it's just not a fair comparison. For the record, I feel the same way about drivers over age 65. Get tested... at 70, then 75, then every year after that until... well, your final drive is in the back of a hearse.
Testing our elder statespersons is downright logical, even if the tests do often have a built-in bias against the elderly. But with critical roles, like President, Supreme Court Justice, or Member of Congress, competency matters. So let's test them all for critical thinking skills, understanding of American government and laws, and maybe even IQ. I love that the Democratic Party is getting younger, but the same rules should apply equally to all...
I know it's never a good idea to judge a book by its cover or an elected official by their wrinkles, and many will argue that we should leave competence up to the voters. Yet most voters are incompetent for different reasons.
THE PROMOTIONAL: Partnerships I’m Sharing
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