One of the coolest classes I had in college was "Light Horses & Ponies". The lab work there was so much better than Organic Chemistry. You see, at the start of the lab they'ld hand us a halter, point to the corral and say "You see that Bay, about 15 hands? That's yours." Then we'ld learn to ride Western, English and Parade riding. (o.k. getting them groomed after rolling in the mud wasn't quite so fun)
What does this have to do with marketing?
One thing we learned was how to move our horse into a canter (or lope for you Western types). But in doing so you either had the horse left lead or right lead. 
Even if you had a perfect canter, if everyone else is left lead, and you're right lead, it just doesn't look right.
We're building out our new web site. We've got great value propositions on both the business and the technology side. The first pass, we lead with the technology. Everyone was uncomfortable but couldn't put their finger on it. As we were going down another rat hole discussion it occurred to me we did a right lead when we should have done a left lead. And that was the business discussion.
And a word to the wise. Don't be swayed by comments like "We need to be professional and sophisticated". As Kathy points out, conversational mode is the best for engaging people. Maybe you're leading the wrong way. And that's easy to fix.
[Kathy, bet you've never seen horses and marketing in the same post]
"Kathy, bet you've never seen horses and marketing in the same post"
Nicely done! And I thought I was the only one accused of trying to twist and map *anything* to a horse metaphor ; )
This is a good one, too -- I've never thought about non-horse things from the perspective of lead changes... although in my case, I have gaited horses so it's not even a matter of right or left lead, it's, "can I get them to take the SAME lead in the front and the back?" Sometimes, I'll take *any* lead as long as it's just one...
hmmm... so your metaphor holds up. I've definitely felt like I was bent in two opposing directions at the same time -- the perfect example of a cross-fire at the canter!
Cheers
Posted by: Kathy Sierra | 03 February 2007 at 02:19 PM
When I took English riding lessons I quickly learned you had to make sure the horse knew you were the boss - after all, you're sitting on a handkerchief with stirrups atop a very large animal with a mind of its own.
Which is my long-winded way of saying make sure every participant in the endeavor (web sites, product development, etc.) are all focused on th same objective (moving down the trail - versus standing and grazing.)
Posted by: Mary Schmidt | 05 February 2007 at 08:41 AM
Then, of course, this assumes the people actually know how to ride a horse to begin with. Talking of leading to someone who doesn't know a stirrup from a bit is pretty pointless! ;-)
Posted by: Mary Schmidt | 08 February 2007 at 02:59 PM
Then, of course, this assumes the people actually know how to ride a horse to begin with. Talking of leading to someone who doesn't know a stirrup from a bit is pretty pointless! ;-)
Posted by: Mary Schmidt | 08 February 2007 at 02:59 PM