Tag: Angelina Jolie

On being an influencer

Like it or not, we all are either on the receiving or giving end of Influence.

But few understand what constitute sphere of influence.

A study on the subject, by Cialdini , lists below elements:

– Like (ability). This is self-explanatory. When you like someone or are liked by someone, nothing can go wrong.

This explains the “a priori” principle: we read into a situation or person due to our early imprints (trust that face that resembles mother’s – Oil Olay commercial uses “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face ” to resonate and resurrect that trust). Charismatic personalities, cinematic and telegenic figures all got our vote of confidence (Kennedy-Reagan).

– Social proof. The majority get to decide and have the final say (free election, trial by jury). We took this at face value (in experiment, a decoy looked up to a highrise. After a while, a huge crowd gathered to look up to the sky as well.) Conformity principle is a sub-set of this: pagelink, youtube, McDonald (billions burgers served).

– Consistency. We need that congruence between past choices and new ones. That way, we can live with ourselves.

e.g. membership fees and bulk buying (Costco and other Reward cards). Ultimate antidote to “buyer’s  remorse” (Zappos free-shipping for returned merchandise – relies on people’s resigning to a faith accompli).

– Reciprocity.  “loss leaders“: they first scratched our backs, then, we scratch theirs. Customer life-time value is worth much more than an initial and temporal “loss”. This is where brand and habit buying takes over ( path of least resistance ). Casinos give out VIP free rooms and/or buffet.

– Scarcity. How many times have we seen an ad, then rushed to the store, just to find out the item was no longer available. Then, with a rain-check , we are more convinced (influenced) due to scarcity. Right now, investors are worried that I-phone 5 are in short supplies.

– Authority. The ultimate pair-association in advertising: Angelina Jolie , Sean Connery and the Gucci bags.

We want to identify with and project ourselves onto these icons. After all, 007 has ducked the bullets for 50 years.  What if we can be like them (immortal), in some ways? Well, they travel light and high on Gucci. That purse got cloud.

It got their endorsements. Their “Likes”. After all, 007 must know how to choose his “gadgets” .

Now you know. We influence and be influenced by others. A test: put your parents through this check list. See if each and every single item fits the bill. I bet you they did. Our parents: our ultimate influencers. They first gave us life (reciprocity), then they sustained us (sorry, I have to use the past tense in my case) – commitment and consistency, from cradle to the grave.

Then when they were gone, there are no replacement (scarcity). Of course, they were the authority (I still wanted to buy those sesame-seed cakes my Dad and I used to eat after our weekly noodle  breakfast or mom’s fermented rice for snacks).

And I like them. They liked me. Social proof: everyone likes and loves their parents. Period. Case closed.

Knowing these principles, you can improve your sphere of influence, or be innoculated against unsubstantiated claims of social proof, or build better resistance against those who initiated reciprocity cycle (Hari Khrishna free roses at the airport).

Be the best influencer you can be. It’s a world-wide web in need of good and selfless influencer like yourself. Keep feeding the network, pay forward. When good men just stood by and did nothing, we would end up with the wild wild web.

Art expressions in most unlikely places

You would have never thought of running into people ballroom-dancing in the park. But here in GoVap new park, where the young trees are still being nursed, and the lights barely lit up, people came out and did just that. Young and old, male and female, they came out when the heat started to ease. Reminds me of a line in Saturday in the Park, by Chicago (people dancing, people talking, a man selling ice-cream).

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister said 42,000 people still died from unexploded land mines (see Huffington Post).

Perhaps the late Princess Diana would have grieved in her grave.

That’s amount to a lot of dancing feet, had they remained above ground.

Someone was practicing the violin tonight . Last night, I heard a flute (which reminded me of my daughter). It’s soon be time for me to pick up the guitar again.

Survival instruments.

When it’s hot, crowded and polluted, you just don’t go out and buy Friedman’s book.  You learn how to cope with realities.

Young students got used to taking the bus. It saves time and money, although in this culture, or even in the US, when you wait for the bus, you are either homeless or down-and-out on your luck.

Public transit somehow was played down by the likes of Ford and GM, when gas was still cheap and the streets spare of traffic.

Those dynamics have now changed, especially here in Asia.

People had resisted the helmet law for a while, until they became convinced by the saved lives. Brad Pit and Angelina Jolie were here to adopt their Vietnamese child.

They had ridden the streets of Ho Chi Minh City right before the law took effect.

The last of the Mohicans.

f it weren’t for the computers, we would see more youth troubles on the street. As it turns out, they are sitting right next to me, and behind me.

I am staying out of trouble too, even at my age.

Social media, blogging, and gaming.

Some companies (French ones) went ahead and forbade employees from using email. They prefer instant messaging for quick results.

Facebook was prescient on this, when its CEO announced the death of email as we knew it.

Young people communicate instantly without format and formality.

Just a quick question.

Here is a quick answer.

Boom!

Hurry up and get to the park, where people are talking, people are dancing, a man selling ice-cream.

Any day in the park.

A platform, a boombox, a partner and there we go.

One and two, one and two.

Dancing under the stars.

The good Lord rains on the field of both the good and the evil.

He gave each a longing for beauty that transcends place, politics and power of the purse.

Who says poor people are boring? I think the opposite is true.

Oil and Water

Oil price backed down as tsunami water gushed up to Japanese shores.

The two shall never mix.

Middle East rising. Pacific falling.

News of a thousand deaths abroad eclipsed news of petty thefts at home.

Statistically, street crime is down while cyber-crime up.

I admire Net Gen’s speed to mobilize relief efforts e.g. People Finder by Google,

Gaga’s wrist bands.

Celebrities should leverage their popularity, from being trend setters to thought leaders. Jet Li has been outspoken about one’s mission in life (has been sighted to give blood etc…), Angelina Jolie as UN Ambassador and Robert Redford pushed the Green button.

It turns out that while Oil and Water don’t mix, celebrities can take up a cause without damaging their brand. Charity actually can deepen their personal growth, give them more satisfaction as human being, and stretch their empathic fibers.

We are “born this way” i.e. to feel others’ burden.

I saw a photo of an old Japanese lady (the graying demographic) in front of her house-turn-rubble due to Earthquake, and I couldn’t continue with the evening news.

9/11 and Katrina added together.

Ocean view turned nightmares.

Beautiful water gushing in the wrong place.

CNN kept reporting that on that only road leading up North, they couldn’t spot military or emergency vehicles. Perhaps they cut down on first responders,

or they used choppers more than four-wheels.

Whatever the case, there is no play book when it comes to disaster-handling.

A nation can only go so far in emergency preparation.

Just like our personal act of locking our doors at night.

Mostly for assurance. When hit with 8.9 magnitude that, according to an eye-witness ” buildings stray back and forth like trees in the wind”- people froze.

Video footage from the 2004 tsunami showed people ran away from gushing water. Japan was on the verge of building world’s tallest cell tower.

I am not sure this catastrophe will cause them to reevaluate earlier stress estimates.

In my earlier blog, I referred to the warmth of human comfort and bonding through crisis.

I hope nature-causing suffering be relieved in part by human relief efforts.

I hope world rally to rescue won’t turn too soon to compassion fatigue.

Strike when the iron is hot. But don’t burn it out.

And you don’t have to wait until you have fame to start sharing a piece of yourself. In “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” we find the Native American character offers his bunkmate some chewing gum.

(Jack turned mischievous when discovering that that supposedly deaf and dumb man could actually talk).

I understood now that while the taste lasts much longer than the gum, it’s the first step that counts. And the comfort of strangers often times warms the other-wise hardened heart. Soft healing power of shared empathy in random disaster. Oil and Water don’t mix, but can co-exist. As close as the elements are allowed to.