On Saturday, while everyone else in Chicago was at the U2 Concert, I went to see Regina Spektor. You may have heard her brand of folk music (the songs, Us and Hero) in the hit movie, 500 Days of Summer. What struck me about Regina was that she was a true original. Unlike many performers, shhe was in a frumpy dress with little makeup on. Outside of belting out her songs, she had little to say except blushing her appreciation. When she sang, she closed her eyes and give it all to the music. At times, she played the piano with one hand and pounded the beat out on a chair with the other. While Regina played guitar and keyboards, she was packed up only by a violin, cello and drums. To me, who she was and her music, just burst out of her and we as the audience were just there to witness it.
This got me to wonder in business, how much of our message is original us and how much is pre-packaged. For me, I have for a long time said what I passionately thought hoping it would resonate with other people. I ranted against the pre-packaging of my message as “the 5 steps to success”. Recently, however, I have come to realize that people want things in bite size chunks. People want you to identify the issue and give 3 ways to be helpful. I struggle with this. So I compromised, especially in my upcoming book, BAM! which is much more prescriptive than any of my other books.
We all so messages every day about how to use business formulas to sell more of almost anything. When I see people using these prepackaged methods, it makes me want to puke. It doesn’t mean that your message should not be focused, easy to understand and to the point. At the same time, you need to be an original. You need to stick with your passion. Present who you are. Leave it up to others to see whether it moves them or not.
How much packaging of your message do you do and how much do you let the original come out?
