This is Broken

As a staff, we recently did an exercise that we called "this is broken". We took the concept from Seth Godin who did a twenty minute talk on the idea at the Gel conference in 2006. If you get a chance to check it out sometime, it's pretty funny...here's the link.

We found this exercise to be very helpful and it has changed the way we look at things.

So the other day I was pumping gas and saw this picture:

At first glance this seems promising, right? I mean, the economy is tough! I'd like an extra 15 bucks, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, this add scheme is broken. Take a look at the fine print:

WHAT THE CRAP IS THAT ABOUT?!?!?

Give me a break! I would be better off going through the hassle of getting a part-time job at McDonalds and quitting after 4 hours if all I wanted was $15. The thing that is so amazing about this add is that someone was sitting in a conference room somewhere discussing the fact that they needed people to sign up for their credit card and THIS was the plan that they came up with. In the words of Seth Godin - "Broken!"

Of course, before I get too frustrated about this add I need to say that I'm guilty too! There are things at Elevation Church that I want people to experience like participating in our 4 Gs: giving, using your gifts as a volunteer, getting into a group, and growing the church by inviting your lost friends. Am I making it easy to commit to these Gs? Or, does the person who is trying to get involved feel like I felt when I read this credit card add?

I have broken systems that I oversee right now. But if you have fallen victim to some of them at Elevation Church, please know that we are committed to fixing that!