1. Advertising and marketing are no longer the same thing. 2. The most valuable forms of marketing are consumed voluntarily. 3. The network effect is the most powerful force in the world of ideas. (The last assertion is based on the fact that culture changes everything about how we live our lives, and culture is […]
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Tag: where to find a mentor
The most important career choice… Choose
Choose Your Spouse Wisely The most Important career choice you will make is who you marry.-Sheryl Sandberg,COO,Facebook . Choose a mate who understands that your drive to succeed at times trumps satisfying their sex drive of course both desires are not mutually exclusive; sex and success can ride together,however distractions in form of […]
The one thing that will change everythin...
That introduction you need. The capital that your organization is trying to raise. The breakthrough in what you’re building… Have you noticed that as soon as you get that one thing, everything doesn’t change? In fact, the only thing that changes is that you realize that you don’t need that one thing as much as […]
Firemen, donuts and meetings…
When a building is burning down, fireman coordinate their actions, make decisions and save lives. They do this without Executive desk chairs or Steers Donuts. They do it without subcommittees, McKinsey/PWC/Dolphins Group studies or input from the boss in another city. To quote Al Pittampalli, “why bother going to a meeting if you’re not […]
Sold or bought…?
Some things are bought–like bottled water, airplane tickets and chewing gum. The vendor sets up shop and then waits, patiently, for someone to come along and decide to buy. Other things are sold–like cars, placement of advertising in magazines and life insurance. If no salesperson is present, if no pitch is made, nothing happens. […]
Trading in your pain….
The pain of a lousy boss, of careless mistakes, of insufficient credit. The pain of instability, of bullying, of inadequate tools. The pain of poor cash flow, corrosive feedback and work that isn’t worthy of you. Pain is part of work. And it leads to two mistakes. The notion that you can trade your […]
Your voice will give you away….
It’s extremely difficult to read a speech and sound as if you mean it. For most of us, when reading, posture changes, the throat tightens and people can tell. Reading is different from speaking, and a different sort of attention is paid. Before you give a speech, then, you must do one of […]
When the world changes…
It’s painful, expensive, time-consuming, stressful and ultimately pointless to work overtime to preserve your dying business model. All the lobbying, the lawsuits, the ad campaigns and most of all, the hand-wringing, aren’t going to change anything at all. In fact, instead of postponing the outcome you fear, they probably accelerate it. The history of media […]
An alternative to believing in yourself…
Of course, self-belief is more than just common advice. It’s at the heart of selling, of creating, of shipping, of leadership… Telling someone, “believe in yourself,” is often worthless, though, because it’s easier said than done. Perhaps the alternative is: “Do work you can believe in.” Not trust, verification. Not believing that one day you’ll […]
Simple Project Management Tips…Make thre
When considering a new project, it might help to make three lists: A list of everything that has to be true for this to be a good project (things you can look up, research or otherwise prove). A list of all the skills you dont have that would be important for this project to work […]
Compared to…
Without a doubt, there’s someone taller than you, faster than you, cuter than you. We don’t have to look very far to find someone who is better paid, more respected and getting more than his fair share of credit. And social media: Of course there are people with more followers, more likes and more of […]
In search of your calling…
In search of your calling I don’t think we have a calling. I do think it’s possible to have a caring. A calling implies that there’s just one thing for you, just one thing you’re supposed to do. What we most need in our lives, though, is something worth doing, worth it because we […]
How is your buzz management..??
I started the quiz team at my high school. Alas, I didn’t do so well at the tryouts, so I ended up as the coach, but we still made it to the finals. It took me thirty years to figure out the secret of getting in ahead of the others who also knew the […]
Abandoning perfection..
It’s possible you work in an industry built on perfect. That you’re a scrub nurse in the Operation Room, or an air traffic controller or even in charge of compliance at a nuclear power plant. The rest of us, though, are rewarded for breaking things. Our job, the reason we have time to read […]
Pain,Money and B2B selling…
When you sell to someone at a business, it’s worth remembering that the pain their problem is causing belongs to them, while the money they have to spend, doesn’t. Any time you can cure their pain in exchange for their boss’s (or the shareholder’s) money, that’s a compelling offer. The challenge is actually being […]
The crowd will call you a fool…
When you do work that matters, the crowd will call you a fool If you do something remarkable, something new and something important, not everyone will understand it (at first). Your work is for someone, not everyone. Unless you’re surrounded only by someones, you will almost certainly encounter everyone. And when you do, they will […]
How to go faster….
How do you get to market faster than the competition? How do you become more efficient without violating the laws of physics? How do you save time, money and frustration? It all comes down to decision hygiene: 1. Make decisions faster. You rarely need more time. Mostly, you must merely choose to decide. The […]
To overcome an irrational fear…
replace it with a habit. If you’re afraid to write, write a little, every day. Start with an anonymous blog, start with a sentence. Every day, drip, drip, drip, a habit. If you’re afraid to speak up, speak up a little, every day. Not to the board of directors, but to someone. A little […]
Two heads or one…?
As a company gets bigger, there’s an inevitable split between the people who market what gets made and the people who design what gets made. At some organizations, it’s likely that these two people work in different buildings, and don’t spend much time together. One of the most important decisions made in the early days […]
Active listening…..
The kind of listening we’re trained to do in school and at work is passive listening. Sit still. Get through it. Figure out what’s going to be on the test and ignore the rest. Your eyes can glaze over, but don’t let it show. Try not to nod off. People are talking, and they’d like […]
What is the difference between commitmen...
We spend way too much time teaching people technique. Teaching people to be good at flute, or C++ or soccer. It’s a waste because the fact is, most people can learn to be good at something, if they only choose to be, if they choose to make the leap and put in the effort and […]
The enemy of creativity…..
is fear. We’re all born creative, it takes a little while to become afraid. A surprising insight: an enemy of fear is creativity. Acting in a creative way generates action, and action persuades the fear to lighten up.
Confidence is a choice, not a symptom…
The batter has already hit two home runs. When he gets up to bat for the third time, his confidence is running high… It’s easy to feel confident when we’re on a roll, when the cards are going our way, or we’re closing sales right and left. This symptomatic confidence, one built on a recent […]
Project management tips for work that ma...
1. Resist the ad hoc. Announce that this is a project, and that it matters enough to be treated as one. 2. The project needs a leader, a person who takes responsibility as opposed to waiting for it to be given. 3.Write it down. All of it. Everything that people expect, everything that people […]
A Super Simple Plan for the New Year
Don’t you love this time of year for thinking ahead and planning? You’ve got a year’s worth of vast, uncharted territory ahead of you. What will you do with it? Where do you want to be by the end of 2015? Goal setting (Physical,Financial,Career,Relationships,Investment,Business,Skills..) is so important to me that I cannot resist year-end […]
Goals, strategy and tactics for change…
The Goal: Who are you trying to change? What observable actions will let you know you’ve succeeded? The Strategy: What are the emotions you can amplify, the connections you can make that will cause someone to do something they’ve hesitated to do in the past (change)? The strategy isn’t the point, it’s the lever that […]
Digital is slippery…
When you build a building, it stays around for a long time. When you invest and staff a factory, it’s something significant, and it lasts. When Coke gets shelf space at the supermarket, the status quo is powerful and that shelf space might last a generation or two. Today, the smart money is investing in […]
Here it is ; Three-step marketing ladder...
Probably worth reviewing at your next marketing meeting (or every marketing meeting)… There’s a three-step ladder: Awareness Education Action Awareness is when someone knows you exist. The knock-knock part of the knock-knock joke, the person who has another interest and trust to want to know more. Awareness is sexy You don’t need to be known […]
Wishing vs. doing…
Wishing vs. doing By giving people more ways to speak up and more tools to take action, we keep decreasing the gap between what we wish for and what we can do about it. If you’re not willing to do anything about it, best not to waste the energy wishing about it.
Forgive yourself…
Forgive yourself for not being the richest, the thinnest, the tallest, the one with the best hair. Forgive yourself for not being the most successful, the cutest or the one with the fastest time. Forgive yourself for not winning every round. Forgive yourself for being afraid. But don’t let yourself off the hook, never […]
Do you have any good ideas..??
“I don’t have any good ideas” That’s a common mantra among those that say that they want to leap, but haven’t, and aren’t, and won’t. What they’re actually saying is, “I don’t have any ideas that are guaranteed to work, and not only that, are guaranteed to cause no criticism or moments when I’m sure […]
The number one reason to focus…
You will care more about the things that aren’t working yet, you’ll push through the dip, you’ll expend effort and expose yourself to fear. When you have a lot of balls in the air, it’s easy to just ignore the ones that make you uncomfortable or that might fall. Success comes from doing the hard […]
Where is your Emotional handwashing…?
Emotions are far more contagious than any disease. A smile or a panic will spread through a group of people far faster than any virus ever could. When you walk into the office or a negotiation, then, wash your bad mood away before you see us. Don’t cough on us, don’t sneeze on us, sure, […]
Have you Set a date..??
If you haven’t announced a date, you’re not serious. Pick a date. It can be far in the future. Too far, and we’ll all know that you’re merely stalling. A real date, a date we can live with and a date you can deliver on. If your project can’t pass this incredibly simple test, […]
Here is how to Get rich (quick)….
Here is how to Get rich (really quick) Enrich your world by creating value for others. Enrich your health by walking twenty minutes a day. Enrich your community by contributing to someone, without keeping score. Enrich your relationships by saying what needs to be said. Enrich your standing by trusting someone else. Enrich your […]
“How do I get rid of the fear….?”
Alas, this is the wrong question. The only way to get rid of the fear is to stop doing things that might not work, to stop putting yourself out there, to stop doing work that matters. No, the right question is, “How do I dance with the fear?” Fear is not the enemy. Paralysis is […]