Starting from scratch: the zero based approach

Today's been an interesting day. I'm a bit like a kid starting his first day at a new school.

After a month off traveling, today I started my new role with Pareto as Fundraising Development Director.

Exciting, because its new and fresh. Daunting, for the same reasons.

My job will be about working with clients around the world to enable them to try new things. Testing and innovating.

So as I was thinking about where to start, I stumbled across a great blog from Steve Scott called Let Zero Based Thinking Improve Your Life.

The concept is simple. It's about doing what's right and what you want to do, rather than what history has served you up. I touched on this earlier in year in zero based communications planning.

Steve is re-looking at his life and asking himself the following about key relationships/decisions in his life:

"If I had not made this decision, knowing what I now know, would I make it?"

The reason I love this is that it removes the shackles that we chokes ourselves with as direct marketers, and as fundraisers.

I'm not suggesting that we throw the baby out with the bathwater. A critical sin as direct response folks, as we should be constantly testing against what's worked.

But what it implores us to think about is making decisions because you believe they're right. Because you believe they'll create better outcomes for your benefactors.

Not because that's what you've done previously.

Jonathon