Focus Groups

Malcolm Gladwell's new blog is great, not that I would expect anything less out of a superb writer of intriguing subject matter. In his book, Blink, he posited the futility of focus groups. I agree that focus groups are nearly worthless at determining the success or failure of a product. At best, they are a reality check -- they point out obvious problems that marketers may fail to notice. Gladwell's post this week links to his review of a new book that explains why this is the case.

The Multitasking Generation

I just finished reading the cover story from last week's issue of Time. It was all about the incredible amount of multitasking in which young people are so often engaged. The article went well beyond facts and fluff and actually delved into the science and psychology behind the issue. As one would suspect, multitasking is not effective, and there's plenty of evidence to back this up.

I found this statement particularly interesting:

Every generation of adults sees new technology--and the social changes it stirs--as a threat to the rightful order of things: Plato warned (correctly) that reading would be the downfall of oral tradition and memory. And every generation of teenagers embraces the freedoms and possibilities wrought by technology in ways that shock the elders: just think about what the automobile did for dating.

It's pretty hysterical that reading was controversial at one time for similar reasons that electronic media are chastised today.  

Save Your Money on that MBA

On March 21, Ad Age published the results of a study showing that MBA degrees don't make marketers more likely to work for successful companies. In fact, it's a negative factor. Having an MBA means you're more likely to work for an underperforming company.

Marketing executives from 18 underperforming companies -- which had sales grow 7% less than their categories on average in the two years ended August 2005 -- were twice as likely to have been recruited out of M.B.A. programs than marketing executives from out-performing companies, which averaged growth 6.2% faster than their categories over the two years. Of executives from underperforming companies, 90% had M.B.A.s vs. 55% at outperforming companies.

Not all master’s degrees appear worthless in the study. Just M.B.A.s. About 10% of the marketing executives at the out-performers had master’s degrees other than M.B.A.s vs. none at underperformers.

My brother has said for years that his MBA offered little new knowledge incremental to his undergraduate business degree. There were just more group projects and somewhat more mature class discussions.  

I still believe that MBA's are best for people with non-business degrees who need to learn how to manage a business. Likewise, those of us with business degrees are probably better off pursuing a masters in a field other than business. 

XM Radio

We're on vacation visiting my parents. My dad is a big XM radio fan, and it now features over 200 channels (up from 150 a year ago). Despite the variety, my dad has managed to find and choose the one that plays elevator music.

Average New Home

The Week reported that the average new home is now 2,412 square feet, 50% more than in 1973. That sure doesn't help utility costs.

A Different Kind of Celebrity Worship

There's a book review of The God Factor in today's Wall Street Journal (paid subscription required). The book, written by Cathleen Falsani, is a series of interviews with 32 celebrities about their beliefs in God (or "god").

Only 10 of the 32 celebrities attend church regularly. That's less than the approximately 50% of the general population that attends. This isn't particularly alarming. Nevertheless, celebrity "spirituality" is so widely publicized now that it's not a stretch to believe that celebrities have a disproportionate influence on the beliefs of Americans.

The last few paragraphs and Ms. Falsani's response are excellent:

Former Smashing Pumpkins leader Billy Corgan likewise has problems with crucifixes. "I think there is a reason they're not obsessed with the cross that much on the Eastern side of the planet," he says, "because they have more of a group consciousness. And when you have a solo consciousness, like a lot of Westerners do, it is really about being on the cross. You're the one putting yourself up there."

It's an observation that closely -- and, one would guess, unwittingly -- recalls a line in G.K. Chesterton's Christian classic "Orthodoxy": "Buddhism is centripetal, but Christianity is centrifugal: it breaks out." But Mr. Corgan elaborates with a thought that would have most likely made Chesterton choke on his cigar: "And I think the whole point is to try to figure out how to get off the [expletive] cross."

If that's Mr. Corgan's theology, it's not Christian in the sense of the Gospel according to Luke, where Jesus urged his followers to take up their cross daily, nor is it the Gospel according to Matthew: "He who endures to the end shall be saved." It is, however, the Gospel according to "Peanuts": "No problem is so big or so complicated that it can't be run away from."

Mr. Corgan clearly means well. Unlike many of the book's subjects, he readily admits that he is a seeker who has yet to find all the answers. But to a Christian (and I am one), downsizing the cross from the instrument of salvation to a symbol of aggravation reduces Jesus from the messiah who died for our sins to a nice guy who had a bad day. It was back in those days that the Roman celebrity Pontius Pilate famously asked, "What is truth?" To this day, many cultural icons don't have an answer -- and as "The God Factor" makes clear, few can even bring themselves to consider the question. 

I've long contended that today's problem is not that people don't know the answers; rather, it is that they so often fail to ask the questions -- or even know what questions ought to be asked. Thoughtful deliberation, prayer and debate lead to truth more often than ignorance does. Faith does not exist in a reasonless vacuum.