[DECODED] Polymaths and Philosophers

05/14/24 • 41 min

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was much more than Isaac Newton's rival. He was a polymath who dabbled in everything from music to metaphysics and embodied the spirit of true deep generalism. Modern marketers can connect the dots, even if you didn't know they exist, by studying continual change: from calculus or clicks.

"Absorb what's useful, reject what's useless."

{00:10:04} - “A lot of people think that there are these tried and true tactics for this and that and the other thing. And there's just so much nuance to our businesses, and then there's so much nuance to the scale that you're at. There's so much nuance to the context of the company.” - Rabah
{00:19:38} - “Every part of a digital experience, perhaps your website, every product recommendation, every marketing message, could be tailored in the future to reflect the unique needs and desires and the context of the individual consumer. What Leibniz teaches us through monadology is about our interconnectedness: to a brand, to a purchase, to a product, and each other.” - Phillip
{00:34:27} - “The way I define or bifurcate marketing from sales is marketing is selling one to many. Sales is selling one-to-one. And now you're seeing a blurring of the lines with technology. Now I can market almost one to one, not in the actual literal sense, but in that persona, jobs to be done, where that person is on their customer journey, and what I know about them.” - Rabah

Associated Links:

Learn more about Rabah Rahil and FERMÀT
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Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in commerce.
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"Absorb what's useful, reject what's useless."

{00:10:04} - “A lot of people think that there are these tried and true tactics for this and that and the other thing. And there's just so much nuance to our businesses, and then there's so much nuance to the scale that you're at. There's so much nuance to the context of the company.” - Rabah
{00:19:38} - “Every part of a digital experience, perhaps your website, every product recommendation, every marketing message, could be tailored in the future to reflect the unique needs and desires and the context of the individual consumer. What Leibniz teaches us through monadology is about our interconnectedness: to a brand, to a purchase, to a product, and each other.” - Phillip
{00:34:27} - “The way I define or bifurcate marketing from sales is marketing is selling one to many. Sales is selling one-to-one. And now you're seeing a blurring of the lines with technology. Now I can market almost one to one, not in the actual literal sense, but in that persona, jobs to be done, where that person is on their customer journey, and what I know about them.” - Rabah

Associated Links:

Learn more about Rabah Rahil and FERMÀT
Have you checked out our YouTube channel yet?
Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in commerce.
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Previous Episode

Are we Post-“Point-Solution” in eCom?

Ro Trivedi joins the show to discuss founding Pietra, a modern infrastructure platform that helps entrepreneurs start and operate eCommerce businesses more profitably. Listen now!

Nobody Wants to Tinker on a Commodity

Key takeaways:

The ability to build billion-dollar businesses with small teams is within reach, thanks to technological advancements and the reallocation of resources toward high-value activities.
The future of commerce lies in quickly bringing concepts to market, allowing businesses to design and manufacture products in a matter of weeks.
The integration of AI-driven marketplaces will revolutionize the process of finding the best suppliers and factories, simplifying negotiations and streamlining production.
The future will see businesses effortlessly selling on multiple sales channels, seamlessly connecting websites, social media platforms, and marketplaces for global reach.
Efficiency and automation will become paramount for eCommerce businesses, enabling entrepreneurs to focus on differentiation and storytelling rather than spending unnecessary time on operations.
{00:36:28} “So I think the future looks a lot like [integrated services]. Pull in data from the market, figure out the trends, and start designing great products very quickly.” - Ro
{00:24:06} “Everyone's just running a business at the base level. And then very quickly, a creator who might have a really awesome handle on content marketing meets a counterpart who's excellent at paid ads. And when you zoom out over a 12-month period, guess what? They are the same business” - Ro

Associated Links:

Book a call directly with Ro Trivedi from Pietra to learn more!
Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
The MUSES Journal is here! Grab your copy of our latest annual journal today at musesjournal.com
Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!

Next Episode

Building Culturally Intelligent Brands

Phillip and Brian sit down and have an enlightening conversation with the author of Cultural Intelligence for Marketers: Building an Inclusive Marketing Strategy, Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel. This book is the “How It's Made” for building culture-shaping brands, providing more understanding of how boardrooms, researchers, and foresight professionals think about their work. Listen now and join the conversation!

Not a burden of some, but a responsibility of all

Key takeaways:

{00:07:39} - “When we think about resonance, naturally, I think we ought to ask, "Well, how do we actually shift our attention on the customer, understand their experience in regards to issues of equity, or just generally their unique lived experience within the category in relation to the product?" And start there rather than start with the question of how to make the brand appear more inclusive or more culturally fluent.” - Anastasia
{00:18:22} - “It all starts with research. If we cannot understand the cultural landscape fully and comprehensively and the role that the brand plays at the intersection of category and culture, then it becomes challenging to actually execute strategy that is attuned to those realities and to execute effectively.” - Anastasia
{00:27:10} - “When we think about what is driving consumers at a deeper emotional level, I think we can often move away from some of those biased perceptions of what people care about based on how they look or what they read like on paper.” - Anastasia
{00:34:58} - “The way that I propose to think about culture is really it invites us to think about culture as a set of practices, a set of values, as a set of beliefs that are guiding us to determine what is normal, what is common sense, what is acceptable, what is desired, what is valued in a culture.” - Anastasia
{00:42:03} - “I have a more positive outlook on the intersection of commerce and culture because it seems that they're kind of inseparable, and people speak in public and exchange ideas in the same spaces where they shop and pick up products and discover brands.” - Anastasia

Associated Links:

Learn more about Anastasia Kārkliņa Gabriel and Cultural Intelligence for Marketers
Check out Future Commerce on YouTube
Check out Future Commerce+ for exclusive content and save on merch and print
The MUSES Journal is here! Grab your copy of our latest annual journal today at musesjournal.com
Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world
Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce

Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners!