Years ago, I had a client who was in the silk flower business.

There came a time when he needed to find a new retail location.  One day we were walking through a local shopping center that someone had suggested as a possible retail outlet.  The first thing we noticed was that traffic seemed to be on the low side.  I suggested that maybe we had simply picked a bad time for our visit.  Perhaps traffic would be higher at a different time of day.

My client replied that maybe that was true.  He then walked up to a mixed nut vendor and ordered a bag of cashews.  After eating a few of the nuts, he mumbled, “There’s your answer.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, totally bewildered by the idea that he could figure out anything by simply munching on a few cashews.

“The nuts are stale,” he explained.  “The nuts are stale because there is no one ordering them.  And no one is ordering them because there is no one here.”

I have to admit that I was somewhat astonished by this piece of fine detective work.  And as it turned out, my client was right.  After several more visits to the center at different times of the day – we found the traffic to always be less than desirable.  And thus we knew that in terms of a good retail location, we had to keep on looking.

The takeaway?  When you’re trying to make an important marketing decision – make sure you pay attention to what’s going on around you.  Many questions can be answered by little clues.  Clues that more often than not go unnoticed.

A few nights ago, I was watching WITF (our local public broadcasting station) and they were featuring a filmed tribute to Roy Orbinson that was performed about 2 years before his death.  What made this particular show so interesting, beyond the staggering talent of Roy Orbinson himself, was the band that evening was made up of a “who’s who” of rock and roll legends.

Under the direction of producer T-Bone Burnett, the stage band included Jackson Browne, Burnett, Elvis Costello, k.d. Lang, Bonnie Raitt, J.D. Souther, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, and Jennifer Warnes, along with the rhythm section from Elvis Presley’s fabled late ’60s and early ’70s touring band.

What I noticed about this lineup of stars is something I’ve also noticed with great doctors, great novelists, great actors and yes, even great marketing minds.  And that is the apparent ease with which these people are able to “deliver the goods”.

Now I’m aware of the argument that says what we’re seeing is the result of decades of preparation and practice.  But the problem with the argument is that I’ve seen too many of these people perform in their teens – and I’m telling you here and now that ability of this magnitude can’t be reduced to something as simple as hard work.

It’s something I’ve been aware of almost all of my life.  The man or woman who makes it look too easy.  The one who suddenly stands up or steps forward and delivers a performance or a solution that sends the rest of us back to the drawing board.  Whether it’s an evening of song and music, an ad that persuades us to part with our hard earned money, or a paragraph of words arranged in such a manner as to make all of us weep like children – the common denominator, in my view, is pure talent.

It makes you laugh, it makes you cry, it makes you jump out of your seat and applaud.  It creates a moment where even the most guarded of us simply give up control and are reduced to child-like awe.

I am not smart enough to tell you what “it” is, or where “it” comes from, or even what “it” says about us humans.  What I do know is sometimes there is something present that we can’t reduce to a formula.   Sometimes there are gods who live among us.