A Chinese proverb I once heard says that people get three opportunities in their lives—and that if they take advantage of them, they might very well receive another three. I’ve somehow managed to grab a larger-than-normal share of these opportunities in the course of my life, and while not every one has panned out, I must confess that at least in my case, this proverb makes sense. Twenty years ago, a colleague asked me why so many opportunities seemed to float my way. I told her that, in fact, we’re all exposed to an equal number, that it’s more a matter of recognizing opportunities when they’re in front of us and, crucially, converting them into action.
The ability to spot options and possibilities comes not only with age and experience, it also takes place when we open our minds. In this case, I’m not talking about politics, or religion, but, rather, about letting down our personal guards, leaving behind our well-appointed offices, and moving in with strangers, all the while not revealing anything about our backgrounds, achievements or talents. In this situation, we become no more and no less than observant human beings, people whose only mission is to observe how other people live. It is only when we experience what it feels like to have nothing that we can realize and appreciate the true value of our personal brand.
That said, I’ve been (undeservedly) lucky throughout my life to work alongside individuals more talented than I am, and to borrow their wisdom, piggyback on their insights and gracefulness—and pass their abilities off as my own(!). This is why you are reading this book, and why I have so many people to thank. The individuals listed below have one thing in common—they have an unusual ability to spot, and grab, opportunities. Without them, this book wouldn’t have been what it is.
It was in Zambia, of all places, that Malcolm Gladwell planted the first seed that led to Small Data. Malcolm helped me shape my initial thoughts, guided me throughout the process, and gave me the type of feedback that only “a Malcolm Gladwell” can give. Malcolm, thank you so much.
I’m truly grateful for the outstanding efforts of Peter Smith, my writer, and James Levine, my agent at Levine, Greenberg, Rostan Literary Agency. Together, on the basis of one or two scattered notes, a few phone conversations, a suitcase full of experiences and a dinner in downtown New York, we crafted what would ultimately become the idea behind Small Data. It’s hard to believe the number of iterations we’ve been through to create what I hope in the end comes across as a simple concept! Jim and Peter were instrumental in helping me see clearly even when I began losing the ability to make out the essence of what this book was about.
Peter, I’m greatly appreciative of your work—we’ve now worked together for a decade—and you continue to surprise me. Along the way I’ve learned a secret word in publishing: When people truly feel a book is outstanding, they typically use the somewhat humble word “Terrific!” Well, Peter, you’re terrific, and an amazing talent. Jim, I can only repeat the same about you. I’m proud that you’re my agent, and that you and I have also worked together for more than a decade. Thank you.
With Jim comes a large, experienced team. In particular, I would like to point out one person who has helped spread my words to the rest of the world: Elizabeth Fisher. Beth has also ensured that my previous books have been released in languages I barely knew existed, and she has my lasting gratitude.
Mark Fortier, of Fortier PR, belongs to this same stable of people I’ve worked with for more than a decade. Mark is simply outstanding at what he does, and I don’t say this lightly. Of all the public relations agencies I’ve worked with across the globe—and there have been a few of them!—Mark is by far #1. Mark, thank you.
Throughout my book I refer back to a mysterious, ever-present, ever-energized and even at times shivering assistant, Oliver Britz. (I know he hated my using this word about him in one of the chapters of this book—and in truth, Oliver almost never shivers.) He is, however, an enormously talented individual who travels the world with me, and has an almost supernatural ability to connect with other people. (During our Subtext Research, people regularly fall in love with him.) Today, Oliver is engaged to be married to a woman he met during an interview—the ultimate tribute to the powers of Small Mining! Thank you, Oliver, for being who you are, and keeping up with my extreme speed, demands and expectations. You’re a true star.
Not least, there’s one other person from Lindstrom Company who for over twenty years has been, and continues to be, instrumental in building my brand: my assistant, Signe Jonasson. Signe is my gatekeeper, my eyes, my ears, my coordinator, my source of energy and my friend. Thank you, Signe, for keeping up with me, even though you’ve probably never had a holiday in your life since the day we started working together.
A special thank you to Chip Heath, who not only embraced the idea of Small Data the second I mentioned it to him, but offered to write an outstanding foreword. Finally I’d like to give a shout-out to my “chief researcher” Bobbie 7, who has searched, searched and searched—and found what I was looking for every time.
The team at my publisher, St. Martins, has been wonderful. Admittedly I’m not easy to work with. We produced almost a dozen book covers before managing to agree on one. And, yes, I even managed to change my mind about the title halfway throughout the process, creating nightmares for everyone. Thank you all very much for your dedication to Small Data, especially my editor, Emily Carlton, Christine Catarino, Laura Clark, Gabrielle Gantz, Alan Bradshaw and the entire St. Martin’s sales force, which has done outstanding work giving birth to Small Data.
If you’ve watched and enjoyed any of the Small Data videos, or my website, I’m sure you realize it comes as a result of a hard (and I mean hard) work by everyone who works behind the scenes at Juice Group, with whom I’ve worked for more than a decade. Juice came about by coincidence when its owners, Jonathan and Lara Greenstein, unable to secure a visa in the United States when working for clients, moved “temporarily” to Vancouver, Canada. A decade later, Vancouver is still their home, and Juice is thriving. Jonathan and Lara, you’re absolutely amazing . . . or let me rephrase this; your effort is absolutely terrific! Along with Jonathan and Lara, I also want to thank Ben Regan, Mark McDermott, Terry Tsiao and Jonathan Kwok
Considering that a lot of the work I do is somewhat pioneering—or at least breaks new ground now and again—sometimes I hit a wall when giving names to some of my new techniques. Of all the wordsmiths I’ve worked with, without a doubt I can state that Anthony Shore—who runs his own naming agency, Operative Words—is #1 at what he does, namely, coining new words. He has come up with several of the ones you’ve read about in this book, including Subtext Research, Subtexting and Small Mining. Anthony is an amazing guy.
Jack Morton Worldwide has been an instrumental partner in the release of Small Data. Early on, some people found it difficult to wrap their heads around the concept, but Jack Morton understood what I was trying to do immediately, which tells you a lot about the agency. A special thank you goes to Craig Million for his dedication, and for making so much else possible, and thanks also go to Julian Pullan, Josh McCall, Bill Davis, Rob McQueen and Abigail Walker.
Out of all the clients my company works with, I’d like to single out one: Lowes Foods. (Remember them? The guys who do the Chicken Dance?) To buy into crazy ideas in the first place tells you a lot about Lowes, and its executive team, and I have to say that hands down they are the most amazing client I’ve ever worked with, with many executives becoming as close to my heart as family members. A special thank you goes to Boyd George and Brian George, who first laid down the challenge of transforming the stores. Boyd is one of the most humble people I’ve ever met and, despite his seniority, as sharp as a Japanese blade. For his part, Brian manages to understand and appreciate creativity, while simultaneously running, guiding and motivating his team. Huge kudos to them both. Heather George, another family member, is a true talent, and I feel we’ve known and worked together forever. Unlike most people in our industry, Heather really, truly understands consumers, store managers, merchants, vendors, as well as what creativity is (and isn’t). She’s not only an outstanding individual, she’s also a dear friend.
Without Tim Lowe, the president of Lowes Foods, we ran the risk of completing a successful operation . . . except the patient died. Passionate and engaging, with a deep understanding and knowledge of retail, Tim has one of the highest energy levels I’ve seen in any client. Thank you, Tim, as always, for everything.
There are so many other people at Lowes I want to thank that I honestly don’t know where to begin, but let me just mention a few: my favorite architect, Gary Watson, Kimberly George, Anita Joffe-Smithwick, Chris Van Parys, Michael Moore, Kelly Davis, Debbie Williams, Jason Ramsey and countless more. Thank you to everyone at Lowes, MDI and Alex Lee.
Buzzfeed, Frank Cooper, and Tami Dalley have both been key partners in spreading the gospel about Small Data. Frank and I go back many years, to Pepsi days, and he and his team have shown a remarkable skill in spreading the word about this book. The same goes for Mike Barbeau who, along with his team, has an outstanding ability to spread positive word of mouth. Neal Schaffer belongs to a very small group who truly understands the social media space. Thanks to all of you for putting Small Data on the social media map.
A ton of other people have either directly or indirectly influenced elements in this book, including Frank and Tiffany Foster, Georgia and Philippe Garinois-Melenikiotou, Fatme Khalife, Tracy Luckow, Philip Kotler, Tyra Banks, Paco Underhill and Nicholas (Goldfish) Simko, who spent time with me in Siberia.
Then there are the people who inspired me over the course of this project, either by sharing thoughts with me, reading the manuscript, conducting an interesting study or simply exposing to me a perspective that made a difference. In no particular order I’d like to thank: Tony Tsieh, Jeff Weiner, Ryan Holmes, Deepak Chopra, Danny Sullivan, Tim Ferriss, Gary Vanyerchuk, Martin Shervington, Sarah Hill, Michelle Killebrew, Muhammad Yunus, David Edelman, Meg Whitman, Denis Labelle, Dr. Jane Goodall, Dharmesh Shah, Beth Comstock, Thomas Friedman, David Sable, Chris Brogan, Michael Hyatt, Jeff Bullas, Don Peppers, Charlene Li, Rand Fishkin, Pam Moore, Nicolas Bordas, Peter Shankman, Steven Pinker, Richard Florida, Mike Allton, Jay Baer, Brian Solis, Steve Rubel, Neil Patel, Mark Schaefer, Jonah Berger, Chad Dickerson, Josh Leibowitz, Erica Hill, Niall Ferguson, Lee Odden, Jonathan Becher, John Jantsch, Yifat Cohen, Robert Cialdini, Andrew Hunt, Matt Heinz, Joe Pulizzi, Joseph Stiglitz, Michael Brenner, Michael Gold, John Rampton, Shawn Collins, Chris Ducker, David Skok, John Lee Dumas, Lee Odden, Jonathan Salem Baskin, Brent Csutoras, Heidi Cohen, Bill Tancer, Anita Newton, Matthew Barby, Craig Rosenberg, Brian Massey, Jon Haidt, Tom Fishburne, Roger Dooley, Pamela Wilson.
As you can see, even though “Martin Lindstrom” may appear on the cover of this book, it has truly been a collective effort to make these pages as inspiring and—I hope—transformative as they have become. Thanks everyone.