D. Wibisono

Sejak Dede Jusuf dan Rano Karno sukses menjadi wakil Gubernur Jabar dan Wakil Walikota Tangerang, terjadi eforia di kalangan artis untuk menjadi eksekutif. Tak kurang dari pedangdut Syaiful Jamil, Dewi Persik, Ayu Soraya, juri talkshow dan pemrakarsa Kuis Helmy Yahya, Pemain sinetron Primus Yustisio dan mungkin akan segera disusul dengan deretan artis lain beramai-ramai mencalonkan diri menjadi walikota, bupati, atau gubernur. Walaupun mayoritas masih malu-malu kucing dengan 'hanya' menjadi wakilnya.

Fenomena di atas adalah untuk kesekian kalinya, masyarakat Indonesia, termasuk saya, melepas tanggung jawab dan menjerumuskan negara Indonesia ke jurang yang lebih dalam lagi setelah sebelumnya menjebloskan Indonesia ditangani oleh orang-orang yang juga tidak berkompeten selama 32 tahun plus 10 tahun terakhir.

Dulu artis beramai-ramai menjadi vote getter dan kalau beruntung akan menjadi anggota legislatif dengan dalih akan ikut menangani perbaikan sosial budaya: ada Rhoma Irama, Nurul Arifin, (alm) Edy Sud, pelawak Komar, Aji Masaid dan banyak lagi dan toh kondisi sosial budaya kita tak pernah beranjak maju juga, walau saat itu orang merasa menaruh sebuah sektor pada 'ahlinya'.

Di kalangan profesional pun terjadi alih profesi yang saling silang sengkarut. Para alumni sipil yang piawai lebih suka menjadi ahli perbankan dan politikus, jagoan elektro lebih tertarik menjadi pialang saham dan bermain di perusahaan sekuritas, dokter lebih tertarik menjadi artis dan penyanyi.

Terlepas dari bahwa pilihan profesi dan mengejar rejeki adalah hak azasi individu, kita tampaknya telah menyalahi aturan umum manajemen yang telah sama-sama dipercayai kebenarannya: Put the Right Man in the Right Place on the right Time. Alih-alih kita menerapkan jargon itu, saat ini kita sedang melaksanakan pendekatan put the wrong man in the (ir) 'own nice place. Jadi ingat sebuah hadits yang kurang lebih menyatakan: Jika segala urusan tidak diserahkan kepada ahlinya, tunggulah kehancurannya...

Oooo.....Kita sedang berjudi untuk masa depan anak cucu kita sendiri.

Normally I would only rejoice in this, but you try to hold it for 2 1/2 hours after drinking 54 ounces of Diet Coke.  I considered using the cup, but Ken wouldn't anty up any dare money; and with no cash award, the risk of imprisonment was too great.

But that is beside the point.  What I wanted to talk about was after the movie.  We were headed for our vehicular transportation when a woman with two children stopped us.  The right place.  She asked if her tire was too flat to drive on.  The right time.  And she had no idea what to do and couldn't reach her husband.  And we had the right skills to help.

I can't explain why I cherished this so much, it was a just flat tire.  It was in the rain, t kids were scared and she didn't have a jack and thus no way of releasing the spare, but still it was just a flat tire.

Here's the thing though, I've spent my life searching for the right place at the right time with the right skills.  There always seems to be one or more missing.  As silly and small as it was, it was 45 minutes (Ken plugged it and we had to go fill it with air, did I mention that it was in the rain) that I absolutely knew that I was where God wanted me to be.

Kid: I don’t like tomatoes.
You: Well, you like ketchup, don’t you?
Kid: Yeah...
You: Well, ketchup is made from tomatoes. They’re good for you.
Kid: <groan>

How about this one?

Husband: I don’t like buttermilk.
Wife: Well, you like ranch dressing, don’t you?
Husband: Yeah…
Wife: Well, buttermilk is used to make ranch dressing. It’s good for you.
Husband: <groan>

Ever think that as food marketers we try to do the same thing? At home, we’re trying to get our loved ones to do something that’s healthy for them. In the marketplace, though, the old push strategy is quickly being supplanted by radical consumer choice. It’s all about what they want, when they want it.

On-demand is about more than movies on cable and satellite television. People want messages about the products we’re selling available for access. And those messages have to be relevant.

If traditional marketing methods are “tomatoes” and on-demand messaging is “ketchup,” stop wasting time and money “buying tomatoes” they won’t “eat.”

Essentially, what they’re telling us is:

"Of course, I like ketchup. That’s because ketchup is a pleasantly-proportioned blend of tomatoes, corn syrup, salt and vinegar pureed and prepared into a delectable dipping sauce and spread for my favorite ketchup-delivery vehicles, such as burgers, fries and chicken strips.”

What consumers have a tougher time articulating is this:

"I don’t like tomatoes because they’re a cold, waxy, semi-bitter, watery eating experience with those gelatinous seed wads that make them even more unappealing. You can’t even compare that to ketchup. Please!”

But instead of telling us, they just ignore us or walk away. It’s simple. Give them what they want when they want it.

Fimo clay whale made by me

Update 6/20/08 - Hrishikesh pointed a very crucial point here... that you got to know (the awareness) that it IS the right time and the right place!!!

Eleanor Blakely Dickinson's poem, 'Forget me not' ends with these words:

....Like thoughts of home in climes afar;
Like evening's still returning star;
Like tears which fall when the heart is sad,
Almost as sweet as that heart were glad;
Like friendship found where we sought it not;
In bower and garden, in field and grot,
Spring thy fair flowers, Forget me not.

It's not an original thought to wonder who decides which things are weeds, and who decides what 'the right place' for them to grow is anyway... maybe something beautiful always finds itself in the right place?

Earlier this week we were in Indiana Dunes State Park and National Lakeshore which was beautiful. We camped out 4 nights in a row, 3 in the park and once at a campground we found along the highway on our drive up to Indiana.

We’re actually in Chicago now (I know I keep complaining about big city life, and yet, I can’t pull myself away!). We’re really just here to refuel and restock (not that I’m defensive or anything…). We already went to The Plaza Shopping Center in Evergreen b/c I needed a new watch and Ryan needed new pants (haha—I’m laughing thinking about it. When we went white water rafting, he jumped out screaming “watch this corkscrew” but all I heard was “watch this – ” b/c then he splashed so hard into the water and when he popped up, his pants must’ve gotten stuck on a rock and ripped all the way down his leg. He’s been wearing them for the last week with a makeshift sewing job (done by me!) and he looks ridiculous.).

Tomorrow we’re going to the Museum of Contemporary Art and then we’re gonna get back on the road for a loooong time and go to Lake Maria State Park where we’re finally going to see Aly, Tess, and Greenie (more Rainbow friends)! They don’t have internet and since we’ll be staying with them for a week or so, you may not hear from me for a while…

Wait I was about to sign off, but I just want to say that things with Ryan are going so so well. Not that I was worried at all, but I know that other people were, saying things like, “Once you travel with someone you learn all about their dark side” or something like that, so either Ryan just doesn’t have a dark side or he’s doing a damn good job at hiding it from me. Obviously he’s got one, but it’s nothing I can’t handle!

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What happened? Simple. The Giants did not give up hope in their quarterback and just as everyone had made this game a winner for the Patriots, Manning stepped in for the team, fought, and made a wonderful play.

And then it hit me. Isn't this just like God? When we usually think that everything is lost and just as we think that hope is gone, God steps in and lifts us up. My message to you is this- Never give up hope. God is faithful to provide. He will never let you down. He is never to early and never to late. He is there at the right place, and at the right moment. When you are facing the biggest problems and battles of your life, God is faithful to stand up for you and fight the battles for you. God can turn your situation around in a matter of seconds.

The only thing you have to do is believe. The Word of God declares that without faith it is impossible to please Him. Why? Because He wants you to believe in Him. Believe that He can do it. Trust that He has your world in His hands. Trust and believe that He has your best interest in mind for you. Never give up hope. The Bible says in Matthew 10:29-31 (NLT), "What is the price of two sparrows- one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.". Wow! God cares about you so much that He knows how many hairs on your head. Go ahead and trust your heavenly Father, He won't let you down- I guarantee it.

The truth is that any advantage I have developed over my peers has come from simply engaging in conversations with someone a typical student wouldn’t bother interacting with. Pick the right topic, with the right person, at the right time and it’s amazing how far you can get – and if your rolling your eyes like “great I need to go searching for the right place,” don’t be fooled, these “right times” constantly surround us.

Take the other night for instance; having decided that we were tired of the campus bar scene and wanting to take a one night break from it, two friends and I decided to head to the bar at The Westin Hotel. Within minutes the three of us were completely engrossed in a conversation with the vice president of a software company in Chicago. Turns out, he happens to not only use the same financial services company my buddy is going to interview with next week, but he is familiar with top management who could easily secure the job for my friend.

With just a generic knowledge of the current state of the economy and emerging trends in marketing we were able to maintain the interest this gentleman had in us long after the shock of us being undergraduate college students wore off.

This is a great example of what I have done for years now. The key is to jockey yourself into places that foster the kind of environment and conversations crucial to your success. And once you get there, don’t stop introducing yourself and talking to everyone in the room.

Of course this comes with a caveat; you have to know what you are talking about. I can assure you this knowledge does not come from playing video games or getting drunk at the corner bar five nights a week. The key is to have a working knowledge of as many topics as you can possibly discover. Read the newspaper regularly, read business blogs, read business magazines, read the trade magazines of your choice, and talk with career professionals and business executives. Once you have this knowledge, connect the dots and formulate your own unique opinion about all of it.

After you have created your own analytical encyclopedia, share it with the world. Then get the hang of searching for and being in the right place at the right time. The continuing conversations that you will have will become right here, right now, and anytime you want.

I look at the walls, and nothing is where it should be. The lights are mounted at a tilt. The lightshade leans to the left, no matter what I do to try and fix it. The TV is permanently set in a position where it's partially hanging off the side of the little table it sits upon. The curtains don't fold like they should. It's too messy.

That picture on the wall bugs me most of all. It's of some sort of lake, reflecting trees, reflecting a mountain, reflecting a sun. It's too gray. I'm not sure why it's here, and it's making me feel awkward.

The hallways here feel bigger than the last hotel, but I don't think they are. They're even more unnerving. All the emergency lights have long since died, but there's one in the corner that continues to flicker. Three seconds off, one on, three seconds off, one on. The heater pulses in time, the noise ebbing and flowing in eighth note slurs. The ripples in my watter bottle are awfully staccato.