having an evil plan, not having a purpose, but having ambition

“Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN. Everybody needs that crazy, out-there idea that allows them to ACTUALLY start doing something they love, doing something that matters. Everybody needs an EVIL PLAN that gets them the hell out of the Rat Race, away from lousy bosses, away from boring, dead-end jobs that they hate. Life is short.”

Hugh McLeod

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“Great ambition is the passion of a great character. Those endowed with it may perform very good or very bad acts. All depends on the principals which direct them.” –

 Napoleon Bonaparte

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Make it a thing. Once it is a ‘thing,’ how does it have value. Once it has value, how can it create or generate more value.

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Foreword: The foremost expert on evil plans is Hugh MacLeod (Evil Plans: Having fun on the Road to Domination). Fantastically written short business book I recommend to everyone.

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This is about Purpose and evil plans and business. Ok. Its about the value in business of an evil plan, not having a Purpose, but having ambition, uhm, to create value in what the business offers. To be clear. Ambition can veer an evil plan to, well, evil, or it can veer it to spectacular success with integrity.  And that is the difficulty with ambition. Drawing lines. And the key to that line is principles because principles are not meant to be redrawn. They are not fleeting nor casual. And I imagine that leads me to character. And character isn’t discussed directly, or it shouldn’t be, the discussion revolves around how to attain their ambitions. And that is about principles. Then the issue becomes having principles, but worrying <a lot> that the world the business is competing in does not. That creates a worry that if one lives by their principles, i.e., doing what they believe is right and the right thing to do in what they perceive is a ‘dog eat dog’ world, they will get chewed up. It then becomes a worry that doing the right thing and having principles will actually hinder the business in their journey toward their ambition.

Which leads me to evil plans.

I tend to believe having an evil plan may be the path to a principled attack on an unprincipled evil system. I know that sounds a bit weird, so let’s talk about evil first. “Evil,” in this case, is your unspoken ambition to rule the world (the size of that world is up to you – your corner of it to denting the universe itself). Now. You can choose to be a benevolent ruler of that world or a less-than-benevolent ruler, but either way I would it takes an evil plan to attain any ruler ambition. To be clear, evil is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it also meant to have an edge to it. Why? A dull knife only cuts butter and carving out a piece of the world, which is made of harder stuff than butter, demands a stronger sharp edge. Anyway. I don’t think it hurts to conjure up your own evil plan with the intent to address whatever your ambition is.

From there let’s move on to evil plans. I would suggest that there are a shitload of very happy people with Evil Plans in a drawer somewhere sitting there just gathering dust – they just found a different plan that fulfilled their ambitions ‘just enough.’ To be clear. I am not suggesting compromise; just a happy place. That said. There are also a shitload of happy people out there pursuing their Evil Plan.

Regardless. Everyone should have an Evil Plan. And you know what? Everyone has a Purpose. Individually, I believe they go hand in hand. If you believe you have a Purpose, or should identify some Purpose in life <most often found in how you contribute something that positively affects someone else>, then you should at some point consider crafting an Evil Plan to provide a constant stream of nutrients to this Purpose of yours. I actually think this is healthy thinking and much healthier than ‘pursue your passion’ bullshit.

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Great visions are grounded by the practical pragmatism of what it takes to reach a destination which is often located somewhere over the horizon … unseeable but imaginable.

Visions should be lofty and grounded.

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Which leads me to ambition.

Ambition is about having a vision, vision statements and thinking of a ‘place to go’ and a place to aim for. in other words, this is about having your own evil plan to rule the world (world not to be taken literally), i.e., your biggest ambition. Let me state upfront. I think quite a lot of business activity – is desperate to prove the efficacy of what it itself does. This answers, generally speaking, the question of why so many businesses are buying into the overall Purpose bullshit and ‘start with the why’ silliness. The ‘proving efficacy’ issue has garbled the entire discussion between the purpose of business, Purpose in business and whether “Vision” has a role in this new world. To be clear. I believe business has focused on efficiency, growth and squeezing margins out of the ‘least’ to such an extent that not only has value decreased in the marketplace but people – inside a business and outside – are questioning the actual value a business offers <this ‘questioning’ bleeds into a discussion of what the purpose – not Purpose – of business actually is>. Consequently, ambition has been reduced into KPIs, goals and a bunch of numbers. As a consequence of that fairly abhorrent misguided activity, I think the pursuit of something better has become increasingly important to an increasing amount of people. There beget the seeds of “Purpose.’ And while I began this longish paragraph with ‘desperate to prove efficacy’ let me say this is also true of Purpose. Richard Shotton, in The Choice Factory, does a spectacular job of dismantling any ‘value of Purpose’ evidence discussed in Stengel’s famous book “Grow.” Once again, to be clear, I love the discussion of Purpose, but it should be done not to prove efficacy of a business, but rather to prove the business wants to benefit people. And before I move on, I should say that I believe the ‘purpose’ of every business is “to benefit people”.

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“All production is for the purpose of ultimately satisfying a consumer.”
John Maynard Keynes

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I thought about that last point as I scanned another piece talking about Purpose in business. This one suggested that “human rights would be the next important Purpose.” Well. That’s nuts. Not the human rights aspect <that’s something we should all embrace>, the part about human rights being a business Purpose. That’s nuts. Why is it nuts? First. Human Rights is a cause. If you are a business and want to embrace this cause, I applaud you. Its not your Purpose, it’s a cause you support. Second. Unless you are the UN department for Human Rights, you are a business that makes something and sells something. Human Rights is not a business, shouldn’t be treated like a business, and you are in a business.

Here’s the point. Whatever you are selling isn’t merely a product or service. It’s also a product of a belief system – your own belief system. And understanding your belief system is crucial to building your Evil Plan. It’s not what you make; it’s what you believe in. That’s what people respond to. That is where your enterprise lives or dies. So. Go believe in something. It really works. Trust me.

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Which leads me to objectives and, well, WORLD DOMINATION.

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Everyone lives in their own little world. The planet is just too damn big for one person to take it all in. So every human being seeks out their own little microcosm. Whether we’re talking about Wall Street, the coffee shops of bohemian Chicago, the ranches of West Texas or the San Francisco advertising agency scene, we find these worlds that suit us (sometimes they find us too), and we pitch our tents there. These worlds are the ones we want to dominate. We all know where and what they are….

You don’t really aim to “dominate” the world you live in, of course. The most you can hope for is to live in harmony with it. You like it, it likes you back. Things just work. Things just click. And when your Evil Plan is going full steam, this is how it all feels.

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Domination sounds competitive, but its not. It is simply purposeful intentions. I say that because if you seek to dominate with principles, and principled behavior, that is how you will carve up the unprincipled people and world and carve out the harmonious corner of the world in which your ambition can thrive. The other aspect of this is that purposeful intent is necessary to generate ‘flow’ and ‘flow’ is actually a state of purposefulness in action. Now. I am not suggesting that this business ‘world domination’ cannot have Purpose as a consequence, its just not an objective, its embedded in the principled behavior necessary to fulfill an Evil Plan to its highest value.

• ** note: highest value can truly only occur when someone, people, actually benefit and their lives, situations, actions, minds, are better from the encounter. I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that encapsulates meaning, mattering, contribution and, yes, individual Purpose.

But I will suggest if you embrace DOMINATION, you are also most likely embracing your biggest ambition. Ponder that as you move on.

Which leads me to Infinite versus Purpose.

Maybe, just maybe, the real thought behind an Evil Plan is not so harebrained because … well … the market for something to believe in is infinite. I have written far too many times in the past that, in business, we are dealers of Hope. Hope for something better. Hope to be better. Hope for better than I am and what I have today.

Hope has an infinite value because, ultimately, it is something to believe in. Uhm. People will line up for the chance to be involved in something to believe in. It can be a product, a service, a brand, an ambition, or all of the above. Rather than preach some philosophical bullshit I will simply share what Hugh calls The HughTrain Manifesto:

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THE HUGHTRAIN MANIFESTO: “THE MARKET FOR SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN IS INFINITE.”

We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary.

We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature.

Product benefit doesn’t excite us. Belief in humanity and human potential excites us.

Think less about what your product does, and think more about human potential.

What statement about humanity does your product make?

The bigger the statement, the bigger the idea, the bigger your brand will become.

It’s no longer just enough for people to believe that your product does what it says on the label. They want to believe in you and what you do. And they’ll go elsewhere if they don’t.

It’s not enough for the customer to love your product. They have to love your process as well.

People are not just getting more demanding as consumers, they are getting more demanding as spiritual entities. Branding is a spiritual exercise.

Either get with the program or hire a consultant in Extinction Management. No vision, no business. Your life from now on pivots squarely on your vision of human potential.

The primary job of an advertiser is not to communicate benefit, but to communicate conviction.

Benefit is secondary. Benefit is a product of conviction, not vice versa.

Whatever you manufacture, somebody can make it better, faster and cheaper than you.

You do not own the molecules. They are stardust. They belong to God. What you do own is your soul. Nobody can take that away from you. And it is your soul that informs the brand.

It is your soul, and the purpose and beliefs that embodies, that people will buy into. –

Why is your Evil Plan great? Why does your Evil Plan matter? Seriously. If you don’t know, then nobody else can- no advertiser, no buyer, and certainly no customer.

It’s not about merit. It’s about faith. Belief. Conviction. Courage.

It’s about why you’re on this planet. To make a dent in the universe.

I don’t want to know why your brand is good, or very good, or even great. I want to know why your brand is totally frickin’ amazing.

Once you tell me, I can tell the world.

And then they will know.

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Or I could just share John Stuart Mill:

“One person with a belief is equal to a force of ninety-nine who have only interests.”

Anyway.

I like a business aiming for something in the future. Shit. I like aiming for something in the future.

I like an organization that feels like it is doing something more than making something or providing some service.

I like that the people making and doing the business stuff actually feel like they are doing something more than just making and doing business stuff.

I like that ambition aims for some “what”: as in what could be & what do we want to happen.

I like an ambition that is so big that it is compelling, not only to everyone else, but to me.

I like no matter how big that ambition gets it is still very specific in outlining who you are as a business, i.e., the lines are drawn with regard to principles.

Look. Here is what I know.

Your ambition is your dream. It is your company’s north star. And while its primary objective is to inspire and create a shared sense of purpose <not Purpose> throughout the company inevitably it sets the direction for new products, company culture, future decisions, hiring, incentives, and, well, everything.

It should be, well, dynamic beyond your own purpose so that you, as an individual, can fulfill your Purpose.

I will end with where I began: Creating a great company takes more than an idea. It demands a vision. And visions are more difficult to sell than products. Because a good vision isn’t easily attainable but still remains worth reaching for.

Visions are made up of ambition, principles, and Evil Plans. Either get with the program or hire a consultant in Extinction Management.  Ponder.