I just don’t know

Seth Godin often stresses that it’s smart to create something that’s not for everyone. 

Given the variety of needs and tastes, how else are you supposed to serve “your people”? 

I was thinking about this idea the other day after Chloe and I stepped out of the movie Weapons. 

If you ask me what I think of the flick, I’d say that it was fun, but some parts of the plot were unexplainable and bizarre.

So, I don’t quite know how I feel about it, and those mixed feelings are what I find delightful.

In a similar vein, a review of this NYC bar came to mind.

It features “a vending machine in its red-lit back room, which, depending on inventory, may be stocked with gum, Emergen-C, collagen face masks, disposable cameras and even USBs stored with every “Final Destination” movie.”

There may be no precise explanation for why the vending machine was stocked that way, and that’s the point. 

Fast food chains need precision to scale and deliver a consistent experience.

This works … so much so that what character brands had is getting rooted out (old vs. new aesthetic):

Director Mike Nichols was a part of a group in 50s Chicago that developed plays with a common theme: “how society molds people into the shape it wants them to take.”

Part of that molding is a by-product of business, which often does a good job of making it easy for us: they figure out what people want, so they work hard to meet that expectation consistently.

To ensure that we play a role in shaping ourselves, we also need a healthy dose of experiences where - if someone asks us how it was - our response is “good, but I just don’t know.”