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« Learning to View Your Customers as a Powerful Tribe - Ed Welch | Main | Built-to-Last is Built on “Create and Serve” »
Saturday
Feb142009

A World Without Surprise

The ChangeThis instructions read: “If you have a book...please use it only as a jumping-off point

from which to isolate a particularly intriguing idea.”

Well, I have a book. It’s called Pow! Right Between The Eyes! And its particularly intriguing idea opens

mouths, pops eyes and, may I say, whups ass. While potent and influential, it is also the most bullying

of ideas; taunting me, challenging me, expecting me, every time, to do something different.

For the idea is Surprise, more specifically, “the power of it.” Even more specifically, “the unsung and

underutilized power of it in modern-day business.” To write a manifesto about this power, filling

pages of prose with pertinent examples, theories and tactics, would’ve been easy. Perhaps I can even

be as immodest to say it would’ve been enlightening.

But it wouldn’t have been Surprising.

And thus, as a manifesto, it would have failed. Badly. As an author and evangelist of Surprise, I would

have failed even worse.

Luckily, the revelation for my redemption came one Saturday morning, cruising around town in my

old convertible, listening to the oldies station on the monophonic AM radio. Sounding tinny, but

coming through crystal clear, was the Peter & Gordon song “World Without Love,” which got me to

thinking about... A World Without Surprise. What better way to convince an astute audience of the

power of Surprise than to paint a rhythmic picture of life with none of it?

I considered putting the words into song, but given a vocal range better suited to the dulcet tones

of thrash metal, my message would’ve been distorted and muddied.

So I did the next best thing.

I think.

May I present, the apocalyptic poetic vision of...

A WORLD WITHOUT SURPRISE

In a world without Surprise

No more “Can’t believe my eyes!”

What you’d see is truly—only—what you’d get

Life would plod along as planned

All supply and no demand

Muffled colors, dreary skies

In a world with no Surprise

In a world without Surprise

No more sevens or snake eyes

All casinos would go bankrupt in a day

Every bet would be a sure one

Games of chance indeed a poor one

Vanished long shots, hushed loud cries

When the world has lost Surprise

When the world knows no Surprise

Is when competition dies

Our sporting life would go on life support

Games would lose their sense of fun

Before played, we’d know who won

Empty seats, no pennant flies

In the world of no Surprise

What is life without Surprise?

Boredom takes the Nobel Prize

Crackerjack is simply popcorn and glazed nuts

Nothing hidden deep inside

Curiosity denied

Revelations stigmatized

In a world of no Surprise

In a world with no Surprise

Our rights we would compromise

Political campaigns would be extinct

Who would win? Foregone conclusion

Democracy just an illusion

Banana Republics arise!

When the world deserts Surprise

A new world without Surprising

Would see an Internet revising

Without shock there wouldn’t be Web 2.0

What spreads? Not the mundane

But the wild and the profane

YouTube clips won’t tantalize

A new world with no Surprise

No Surprise, it also means

Death of screenplays on our screens

We would know how every movie meets it end

Cliff-hangers searching for a cliff

Stop your wondering “What if?”

Total Hollywood demise

In a world without Surprise

In a world where shock is muted

Richard Branson: three-piece suited

All Seth Godin’s cows would be black, brown or white

We’d hear whispers from Tom Peters

“Made to Stick”? The concept teeters

All this wisdom now unwise

In a world with no Surprise

When Surprise has turned to vapor

Books would be heaps of scrap paper

No more “Catch” in Joseph Heller’s 22

What’s the use in bookstore spending

When we know each volume’s ending

Pens and keyboards paralyze

In a world without Surprise

When Surprise is just a rumor

We would lose our sense of humor

Every chicken too afraid to cross the road

No more punch lines; only set-ups

No more gasp-inducing get-ups

Tears of joy sucked from our eyes

In a world without Surprise

When Surprise does not exist

Every mystery is missed

It’s clear just “who-dunwhat” in each “who-dunnit”

All transparent, none opaque

No one hiding in a cake

The unknown exposed by spies

In a world without Surprise

To eliminate Surprise

Is to minimize life’s highs

Why must we know tomorrow yesterday?

Our phones tell us who is calling

To not know seems lame and galling

We can’t hide, there’s no disguise

In a world with no Surprise

BUT THANKFULLY...

It’s Surprise that drives our dreams

By expanding life’s extremes

A perpetual discovery of new

By embracing unexpected

You’ll live life turbo-injected

Always more to publicize

In a world rife with Surprise

With Surprise firmly engrained

Our emotions, unrestrained

Generate the tales that never fade away

Anecdotes that flabbergast

Memories that ever-last

People upbeat and enthused

In a world Surprise-infused

Far from frivolous, Surprise

It’s the Pow! between our eyes

It’s the glue that bonds two parties into one

So effective, near perfection

At establishing connection

Bonds with clients crystallize

In a world filled with Surprise

Such importance, this Surprise

Brings us wonder, kid-ifies

It brings every day a taste of Disneyland

Makes your eyes expand and pop

Takes your jaw and makes it drop

Fills your gut with butterflies

That’s the power of Surprise

Surprise works, defeats resistance

Gives emotions great assistance

Makes it easier to get a message through

It increases happiness

It’s the “Lubricant to Yes”

Turns “Just looking” into buys

Loads of profit in Surprise

As this manifesto ends

I must ask you this, my friends

Are you wondering how it will come to close?

No cheap shock like “Made ya look!”

No lame shilling for my book

In fact, no last line at all...

About the Author

 

 

Andy Nulman’s only regret is that he has just one life to live...but he’s working on a solution. He launched

Just For Laughs, the world’s largest comedy event, produced more than 150 TV shows all over the globe,

and co-founded the ground-breaking mobile entertainment pioneer Airborne Mobile, which he sold for over

$100 million, bought back for way less, and where he continues to work today with brands the likes of

Maxim, Family Guy and The NFL. In his spare time, Andy is an acclaimed and dynamic public speaker/showman,

half-decent snowboarder, hot-and-cold hockey goalie, limited-ranged rock singer and adventurous stage

director. Married with two grown children and two rambunctious dogs, he never, ever fails to Surprise.

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Born on date

 

This document was created on February 11, 2009 and is based on the best information available at that time.

Check here for updates.

info

buy the book

 

Get more details or buy a

copy of Andy Nulman’s

POW! Right Between the Eyes!

Visit Andy online at:

www.andynulman.com

or via email:

andy@andynulman.com

ABOUT CHANGETHIS

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While the authors we work with are

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Copyright info

The copyright of this work belongs

to the author, who is solely responsible

for the content.

This work is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

NoDerivs License. To view a copy of this

license, visit Creative Commons or send a

letter to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan

Abbott Way, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

Images from iStockphoto®

WHAT YOU CAN DO

You are given the unlimited right to

print this manifesto and to distribute it

electronically (via email, your website,

or any other means). You can print out

pages and put them in your favorite

coffee shop’s windows or your doctor’s

waiting room. You can transcribe the

author’s words onto the sidewalk, or you

can hand out copies to everyone you

meet. You may not alter this manifesto

in any way, though, and you may not

charge for it.

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