The Challenge Dividend

Props to my Pop

One of my inspirations for this book and project is my Dad, Robert Gilbreath.

My Dad has written 7 books over the past 25 years. I remember as a kid watching him toiling away on the typewriter or Epson computer in his upstairs office. And I’ll never forget his jubilation after getting a publisher to take his book, receiving that first copy in the mail, seeing that his books had been published in Korean, and hearing that Bill Clinton had his book in the Oval Office.   

I know it drove me to do the same some day. There is something special about having your thoughts published and read by hundreds, thousands or millions. It’s a legacy of knowledge left for mankind when you are no longer around. And it’s rare air that few have reached. 

I am happy to be the first “reporter” to announce that my Dad’s latest book, Compelling: Getting Others to Think and Act Differently, will be arriving in stores soon. I am about half-way through the book and find it to be a pretty powerful tool to help you craft messages that convince others to take action.  

I hope to follow in his footsteps with The Challenge Dividend. And, for the author record, he gets to use “Robert” and I’ll stick with “Bob”. We’ll work on the junior vs. senior thing later…

Here's the links to Robert Gilbreath's other books:

Endless Echoes - His first fiction. Resurrected 150 years after his death, Nikola Tesla, the most creative mind of the 20th century, helps the world rediscover its history with a bold journey through the past.

Escape from Management Hell - Business Ethics magazine says: In this work of supremely funny fiction, Gilbreath takes the reader on a fanciful trek through hell with twelve managers.

Save Yourself!: Six Pathways to Achievement in the Age of Change

Forward Thinking: A Pragmatist's Guide to Today's Business Trends - as I recall, this is the one on Clinton's book shelf.

Winning at Project Management: What Works, What Fails, and Why - 14 other books cite it.  'Nuff said.

Managing Construction Contracts - Still one of the best textbooks in the field.

 

Archive: CPGs As Online Torture Test

Last October I wrote an opinion piece for Brandweek in which I wrote that marketing consumer packaged goods is possibly the toughest challenge in general, and especially when it comes to the web.

CPGs are challenged by the fact that they are low-involvement, low-price, low-differentiation, and low-research products.  This is part of the reason they have been slow to migrate to the Internet.  However this ultimate challenge has led to some innovative marketing - especially Relationship Marketing, in which the "ad" is actually value-added content.  This represents an innovation that is more profitable for the marketers, and builds a better experience for the consumer.  Again, an improvement resulting from huge pressure.

Here's a link to this article on the home page of Bridge Worldwide.  My thanks to the folks at Brandweek for the support.

Archive: U of Cincinnati Article

As I'm getting this blog up to speed, I will be posting a few articles that I have written in the past.

First up is an article I wrote for the Cincinnati Enquirer back in January 2004 in response to the University of Cincinnati raising tuition at a time when student applications are down.  This article is no longer to be found online, so here it is again.  This is my first published piece that relates to The Challenge Dividend.

UC has a perfect chance for reform 

---

 Your voice: Bob Gilbreath

Last week, four months into her term as University of Cincinnati president, Nancy Zimpher declared "an economic near-perfect storm." Editorials called for more state funding, and university officials planned a 9.9 percent tuition hike. While challenging, this could be the pressure needed for Zimpher to revamp the school to meet economic realities.

Two facts are particularly disturbing for UC. First, the state has reduced funding by almost $1,000 per student since 2001, but tuition at UC is up from $4,998 to $7,623, a net $1,500 increase. Second, UC is experiencing a decade-long "enrollment shortfall." UC is reacting to less student interest by increasing prices for those who do attend.

Imagine if any other business decided to raise prices in response to falling market share. It would not last long. This points out the central problem in university economics: It is not a free market that compels innovation and efficiency.

Remarkably, government aid aimed at making college affordable actually drives costs up and insulates universities from market pressure to improve. In a recent study, Bridget Terry Long of Harvard University found that a 1997 federal tax credit for college ($4.5 billion in 2000 alone) did nothing to boost middle-class enrollment, but did spur accelerated tuition hikes.

These increases have supported inefficient expansion. Sprawling sports complexes and niche academic departments stand as monuments to unrestrained spending. Such expansion creates new bureaucracies fighting for funding, as well as higher security, transportation, parking and maintenance costs.

Meanwhile, innovation in college education is virtually nonexistent. The Internet has reduced costs and improved service across most industries, but has led to little more than an online syllabus and wired dorm rooms on campuses. College is an information business, the kind best fitted for the Internet revolution, yet real innovation is mainly coming from for-profit schools like the University of Phoenix.

Innovation will not come to public universities until the government stops underwriting inefficiency and competitive pressures force them to innovate or fail.

The current system will not last long without major change. Parents and students are reaching their debt limits, governments are paring support, and new competitors salivate. Zimpher has a unique opportunity to embrace this challenge and use it as a mandate for change.

---

Bob Gilbreath, a Hyde Park resident, is a marketing manager for a Cincinnati manufacturer

Free Music a Positive Force

One of the topics I am most passionate about is the importance of music sharing/pirating as a positive force of pressure on the recording industry.

For some time, a few music businesses have held monopoly power over the artists signed, music played, and prices charged.  They forced us to buy $15 albums to get two songs we like.  They forced us to buy those same albums in record, 8-track, cassette, and CD formats.  And, worst of all, they forced to hear & see Britney Spears everywhere. 

But now the rise of digital file sharing has made "free music" a viable competitive pressure on the industry. 

Today I read that the recording industry of Canada has sponsored research that shows music pirating does not hurt record sales and may actually improve them.  One important piece of data shows that the biggest pirates are also the biggest purchasers.  Why?  Because free music is a "sample" that opens their mind to new artists and eventually leads to new sales.

Meanwhile, the amount of innovation and improvement in the market is unmistakable.  Albums now come packaged with concert DVDs.  The amount and diversity of popular music is at an all time high.  Unknown bands like the Arctic Monkeys are making it big from the underground.  And people are falling in love with music again thanks to the iPod and iTunes.

Pressure, in the form of music downloading, is forcing all sides to abandon monopolistic practices and start innovating.  The winners are the music listeners and the musicians and companies that offer better experiences.

Welcome to The Challenge Dividend

Welcome to my new blog! 

The main purpose of this blog is to promote a revolutionary idea that is actually pretty simple: Challenge Leads to Improvement.

From the success of democracy and capitalism to the origin of the species, improvement mainly happens when there is significant competition or challenge.  We do not know what the innovation will be, but we see over and over again that the right mix of pressure will cause people, businesses, organizations, countries and cultures to experiment and improve.  Meanwhile, state-sponsored innovation or monopoly markets prove the reverse - lack of pressure or competitive challenge breeds inefficiency and deterioration.

For several years, I have been taking notes and collecting examples of when, why and how challenge leads to improvement.  And my career in consumer packaged goods and advertising has provided me with extensive real world experience and insights.  With more than 700 pages of research on the laptop, it is time to start spreading the word broadly.  I hope to turn this idea into a book, and I see this blog as a tool to sharpen my writing and begin recruiting believers.

My day job is Chief Marketing Strategist at Bridge Worldwide - a leading Interactive and Relationship Marketing Agency in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The job keeps me pretty busy, so no daily blogging for me.  But the job provides some great experience - as we help more than 50 clients compete in tough markets and survive pressures of change in the advertising industry.

Thanks for reading and I encourage you to please send or post any feedback.

Bob