5 things Muhammad Ali personified, New Zealand did - and you can do too - to become a world beater

Muhammad Ali's passing should remind us that not only did he redefine boxing, but he was the consummate innovator - a man who provides lessons to anyone who wants to survive and thrive in a dog-eat-dog world.

Ali teaches us that innovation is not about iteration - it's about blazing trails.

"I don't have to be what you want me to be, " Ali told reporters after the bout against Sonny Liston in 1964 that launched his career.  "I'm free to be what I want."

Publishers, who have suffered an unprecedented pummelling in recent years, could do with some of that self-belief.

One media organisation that is displaying its own brand of magic is Fairfax Media New Zealand. Like a young Cassius Clay, the Fairfax team is willing to do things its own way. 

For the past 18 months, Flame Tree Media has helped design and implement the company's signature editorial transformation program News Rewired.

In May, Fairfax NZ won the award for corporate innovation at the International News Media Association (INMA) awards in London - along with best in show for Asia/Pacific. In all, Fairfax NZ won four first places - more than any media brand. In the world. 

So, what are the Kiwis doing that others aren't?

Five traits are common to those who become world beaters.

​​I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be.

I'm free to be what I want.
​
- Mohammad Ali, The Greatest

Beating the world takes a combination of self-assuredness, strategic drive, incredible execution, raw energy and something money can't buy - the X-factor. 

Here's five specifics:

1. Vision​​​: Okay, you want to be #1. Number one of what? This is your essence. In NZ, we wanted to re-engineer our newsrooms, move from print to digital and be #1 in the market. Ali wanted to be the greatest boxer in the world. What about you?
2. Planning: Ali had a strategy. He had a training regime. He stuck to it. For News Rewired, we spent months planning, revising and getting it right. Transforming a print business to a digital business - it was a gargantuan task, but we planned and we did it. As well, a critical contributor to the rise and rise of Kiwi innovation was the superbly supportive and focused executive leadership. This made for what I call the "living lab" culture and the resulting bold execution of ideas.
3. Communication: It's as old as the Bible - tell a story. Ali was known as a lippy up-start. It was part of his game plan and it wrong-footed the opposition. Dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee. In NZ, we knitted together a host of initiatives that constituted a story about the modern newsroom. It was a compelling narrative that won the hearts and minds of our people.
4. History doesn't count: Fairfax NZ was a collection of newspapers. It harnassed the power of its footprint across NZ and created the country's biggest domestic website - stuff.co.nz  Pound-for-pound, the Kiwis created something better than anyone - a unique audience of 2 million people (average per month). Once upon a time, that was merely an absurd ambition. History is a reference point. That's all. So make your own.
5. Do it your way: In the Information Age, imitation is not the highest form of flattery. Today, for instance, there's a gazillion digital marketing companies and tools. What do you do best? Well, keep doing it and improve. If it's local content, do that in new ways that amaze your audience. 

Ali did it his way. He broke ground in the boxing ring, on race relations and impacted the global consciousness. He was The Greatest. 

We can't all be like him, but we do have the power to evoke the fighter within.

​How are you going to take on the world?

* Stuart Howie, the Director of Flame Tree Media, is a lover and a fighter. He loves helping media companies to punch-on in the toughest of environments.