Inspiration

24 Jan

Being Great Requires Giving Up Being Great At Something Else

Piglet: If everybody were like everybody else, how boring it would be. The things that make me different are the things that make me, me!
Eeyore: Stand tall.
Piglet: You’re in a class by yourself.
Eeyore: Be proud.
Piglet: You’re not like anyone else. No doubt about it, you’re second to none ‘cause you’re the one and only one. Piglet and Eeyore, “You’re the One and Only One,” Winne the Pooh: Sing a Song with Pooh Bear

It often seems like companies are doing everything to try and get customers to do more. 

But, when a company tries to do everything, it excels at nothing. 

Since companies only have a limited number of resources, this usually involves trying to improve their category weaknesses, which inevitably draws focus away from their strengths. And, by improving their weaknesses to match the competition and focusing on winning share of mind for their improvements—and ignoring their strengths—they just end up looking a lot like the competition. 

13:00 / Inspiration / Leadership / Marketing
22 Nov

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder. —Gilbert K. Chesterton

I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.Gilbert K. Chesterton, A Short History of England

As we get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving next week in the US, reflecting on what we’re thankful and grateful for over the last year is the norm.

But, it’s important to regularly reflect on gratitude and thankfulness as individuals and as organizations. Too often we take employees and customers for granted. Yet, it is those employees and customers that we owe our success to.

22:20 / Inspiration / Leadership / Personal Development
08 Nov

To create a company where creativity is driving force, you have to reward the creative process--the behavior--not the outcome.

Yet everyone should be cautious not to make something impossible that nature would not allow, unless it would be that one wanted to make a dream work, in which case one may mix together every kind of creature.Albrecht DĂŒrer, Four Books on Proportion[1. Translation from: Peter Parshall, "Graphic Knowledge: Albrecht DĂŒrer and the imagination," The Art Bulletin, 2013.]

When people think about creativity, they typically think of it in terms of three Ps: Person, Problem, and Product. A person solves a problem in a new way and creates a new product.

The problem with thinking about creativity in this way is that it ignores the fourth and most important P: the Process.

23:49 / Creativity / Inspiration / Leadership
01 Nov

When you're creating innovations, you're likely not going to get it exactly right the first time. You're going to fail.  Failure’s relation to producing creative results has to do with how people perceive failure. It is related to what psychologists call goal orientation. Goal orientation operates at the individual level and is driven by both individual and environmental factors.
22:47 / Creativity / Inspiration / Leadership
27 Sep

Make Purpose Your Bouncer -Priya Parker

Make purpose your bouncer.Priya Parker[1. Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters, 2018.]

If you had 100% clarity, every decision would be obvious. How great would that be?

Although 100% clarity isn’t possible—none of us are oracles that can predict the future—it is possible to achieve much greater levels of clarity than your competitors because if your competitors are like most businesses, they’re operating in a light fog instead of clear air.

23:53 / Inspiration / Leadership
17 May

The primary ingredient behind compelling stories come down to one thing: problems. The protagonist faces a challenge and tries to overcome it. This is the essence of drama and the key to good storytelling. Without problems—without troubles and tensions—there’s no story. There’s nothing to engage us.
14:17 / Inspiration / Leadership / Marketing
11 May

The reason our stories, messaging and marketing fall flat is that the people we want to serve are not motivated by our need to be seen, to be heard or to close a sale. People—your audience, customers and clients—are motivated by their need to be seen, heard and understood. Bernadette Jiwa, The Right Story
Despite the amount of money companies spend on customer insights, most companies don’t value true insights. Insights should tell you something new; they should change the way you think. Yet, most companies reward predictable results instead of game changers.[1. Gary Klein, Seeing What Others Don’t, 2007.] On average, companies value “insights” that confirm what they’re already doing. At best, they want “insights” that only slightly modify what they’re already doing. But, are these insights really insightful?
01:24 / Inspiration / Marketing