Kochie brought nothing new. Yet I learned a whole lot more than I expected to.

There's a difference between a trainer and speaker.

I didn't have high expectations leading into Thursday night's October Business Month keynote address from David "Kochie" Koch in Darwin.

I've never been much of a fan of him and have perhaps seen, at most, around 30 minutes of him on Sunrise when he was still the host.

But I ended up learning so much more from his keynote speech that I ever expected - even though nothing he brought to the presentation was new at all.

You see, there is a very big difference between someone who presents information and someone who inspires change.

So what did Kochie say?

The man is known for his economic commentary and financial insights.

And to be honest, everything that he presented on the economy was nothing that I hadn't already read in the Australian Financial Review or watched from some aspiring financial pundit on TikTok.

And when it came to his insight into what small businesses should be doing in 2024/25 to move the needle on growth - or in some cases, survival - there was nothing new.

He used a number of well-worn business memes that I've seen at least twenty times before:

• It won't be AI that takes your job, but someone who knows how to use AI.
• AirBnB is the world's largest accommodation company but owns no property (and variations for Uber, Facebook and Spotify.)

So there was nothing new for me to learn from the information that Kochie brought to me.

But this is where he came into his own.

While the information provided was known to me - and in some cases, quite old, it was how Kochie contextualised this information around personal experience and interesting anecdotes that sets him apart from a simple PowerPoint presentation.

Context is everything when it comes to how we share information.

Someone could tell us one thousand times that they need to survey their customers in order to get real insights into what their business is doing well or not well.

But it's not until you wrap that lesson in a story that demonstrates exactly how to do that thing, that it comes alive.

This is exactly what Kochie did when he stressed how important it is to work out what your customers think of what you do.

And while we like to outsource our sentiment analysis to Google Reviews and Facebook Recommendations, he wrapped that idea of valuable customer feedback data in a story about his local newsagent.

For many years, Kochie and Lib (his wife) have subscribed to lots of newspapers and magazines via their local newsagent. One weekend as Kochie had dropped in to pick up something else, the newsagent invited he and Lib to dinner as a kind of "thank you" for their many years of support.

It was a really impressive gesture - and the couple looked forward to the dinner. 

When the evening came, they turned up at the dinner to find a few other couples there. While slightly confused, they continued in, met the others and enjoyed an entree.

As the night progressed, the host spoke to the table about how their business was now in it's third generation, and as the world changes, so do they.

And now came the kicker.

He then asked those attending, "If you owned my business, what would you do with it?"

For the cost of a few dinners, this guy got together a bunch of customers to be his research focus group. And that included Australia's most famous economic commentator.

Talk about a great return on investment! 

What we can do with this.

There's an obvious lesson in this around getting good feedback from your customers in order to inform your decision-making when it comes to your business.

But there is something else in here.

For me, it was all about better understanding the way I - and others - tend to learn about things.

Intellectually, I knew all the economic stats, the momentum of the tech economy and the massive impact that AI is having and will continue to have on work, leisure and money.

I also know, in my head, that getting guidance from your customers and doing research on those who are your potential customers, is absolutely vital when it comes to getting past your own ego when making business decisions.

But I never really "got" this information until a guy I don't even like told a story around it, and placed a clear picture in my head that showed me not only what what I should do and why, but how it can be done really well. 

Every one of us will, at some stage have to train someone, teach someone, or try to explain something to someone.

As much as I don't like David Koch, I can thoroughly accept that I learned something profound from him this week.

And now, I even like him a little bit.

That's all for this weekend. Just one short read about how a little bit of story can go a long way.

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See you again next week.

Cheers,

Dante

P.S. Here's a few free ways I can lend a hand if you need some help.

I am running a LOT of workshops throughout the Northern Territory during 2024's October Business Month. I'm covering digital skills, entrepreneurship and technoloy. See the program and book here.

My free Personal Branding mini-course has been delivered to over 2000 people in the last two years. It outlines the steps I took to develop mine and what you can do to find your unique version. Get it here.

I'm hosting a fantastic evening this coming Friday with ex-Kmart CEO and Chair of Guzman & Gomez here in Darwin. Enjoy dinner, drinks and insights from someone who has transformed a dying business into a juggernaut - and now has led a new food empire. Book here.