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Hi, it's Michael and welcome to this week's useletter.
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It's the newsletter that's useful. Focussing on your future not my past.
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I hope you're well. I'm feeling refreshed after hiking in the Warrumbungles last week.
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It was wonderful, but not perfect.
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First morning out. As we stood atop an ancient tor, lightning staked into the landscape beyond the next volcanic ridge. Thunderously declaiming its territory. A spectacle to be consumed only briefly in its dangerous delight.
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Once out on the trail there’s little to be done about a drenching. Shelter is pretty much out of the question. So we embraced the joy in its contrast with our usual comforts. The beauty of the basic and intrepid. Raindrops falling on our head.
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That’s the thing about camping and hiking. Whilst there’s no right or wrong way to do it, there’s pleasure in simplicity, in distinction to our daily life. If it were the same, it wouldn’t stand out as worthy of our interest.
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It has our attention because it’s a different experience. It’s not for everyone, but for those that embrace it, it’s a difference that’s happily memorable.
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This fortnight's useletter is not a lesson, or insight, or challenge, or provocation. It’s simply a wonderful pithy story I heard recently. A story that ended reframing the world just a little bit differently for me.
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PS: I've developed a new kit of parts professional development workshops. More news very soon in my Updates & Events emails. Make sure you're subscribed HERE.
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Be bitters
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This might be a little random, but have you ever wondered why the Angostura bitters label (pictured below) is too big for the bottle?
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Have you ever read it’s label?
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My guess is most people answer ‘yes’ and ‘no’, in that order.
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The answer, why the oversized label, is a quirky family story.
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In 1870 Angostura’s founder, Dr Johann Siegert, dies, leaving the company to his three sons. The brother’s, in a marketing push, entered their bitters in a competition at the World Trade Fair. In preparation, they repackaged. One brother was charged with designing a new bottle, another the label. And, as you may now have anticipated, neither consulted with the other. When they did, they found the label was too big for the bottle as designed and manufactured. Too late to change, they went ahead entering the competition with the mismatched label and bottle.
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one of the judges advised them to keep their design exactly as is. It would ensure they’d stand out from the crowd. It's unlikely anyone else would look or do the same with their packaging. They heeded the advice.
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It became a feature, not a bug.
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Standing out by not standing by convention. In contrast.
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Over 150 years later, Angostura Bitters hasn’t changed.
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There’s something magical in it.
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How are you or might you become more happily memorable?
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PS: Whenever you’re ready,
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Workshops to elevate your leadership
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Master a more creative model of leadership.
Build a more adaptable and efficient practice.
Unleash the collective energy, passion, and capabilities of your people
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Free 45 minute leadership clarity consultation
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recent useful blog posts...
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It might be time for the architecture profession’s leaders to starting learning form the ground up.
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There’s two main ways to stand out. Be different. or Be better. Copying is the route to unexceptional.
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Or…
do architects do too many of the wrong things?
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"The only way to be indispensable is to be different.”
- Seth Godin
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