Mastery, Mystery, Mr Rea...

Following a recommendation from a remarkable head of R&D, I just finished Adam Gopnik's, The Real Work - on the Mystery of Mastery... What a great book - essentially, the 'real work' is the craft that goes hidden in mastering a subject - true masters can make it seem effortless, but anyone who is just 'good' at it knows exactly what separates the masters from the great practitioners.

The elegance of Gopnik's prose can be seen here (after a short piece on how Ringo Starr had never, until the very end, played a drum solo...)

Having watched a good friend play drums at his own 50th birthday party this weekend, despite having taken up the drums a few short years ago, I was reminded of the sheer joy that craft can bring - but more, perhaps, that without the craft and the diligence of hard work, the magic (and the joy that it produces) can't happen.

When done well, as I discussed in my book, Deep Positioning, positioning can seem magical, and simple - a creative endeavour. Its outputs are simple - intentionally memorable, purposefully surprising. However, it cannot be simple to produce - it cannot, for example, be the product of market research, which can seem a simple hack. This is perhaps the mythology of the template - it can produce something with all of the parts, but none of the substance, of a positioning.

I'm lucky enough to have been involved in some of the best positionings of all time - certainly many of the most successful launches of all time. At their best, there was usually a 'moment', a breakthrough, that occurred after the deep work. Without the deep work - the reviews of existing and potential segmentation, insights work, scientific investigation and more - there would be no set up. Like any good magic trick, without the unseen practice, and the hard work, the final effect would be a trick, a superficial artifice without any sustainable power.

If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well. Mastering positioning remains a craft - there are techniques available to us today that weren't possible 20 years ago, and tasks for positioning that need to be borne in mind that change every year. Being great at positioning 10 years ago would leave you exposed in 2023... But it makes as much (or more) difference today as it ever did - we still see products outselling direct competitors 5 to 1, an advantage that started early in development.

The reality of mastery is that there is no mystery. Its origins are seen in the deep work, the deliberate pursuit. Finding people who enjoy the craft is critical.