Category: philosophy

10thHuman: The power of authenticity

The effect we have on others-2I’ve long been a proponent of authenticity. Be who you are, speak that power and truth and you cannot go wrong in business or life.

I read a book today called Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility, by James P. Carse. This is not a book about gameplay, not in the least. As I read through it, I found myself taken back to Paulo Coelho’s Warrior of Light, truth be told. The prose, while not lyrical, had the same sense for me as Coelho’s text.

There were a number of profound takeaways but today I share with you two in particular.

First:

When I forsake my genius and speak to you as though you were another, I also speak to you as someone you are not and somewhere you are not. I address you as audience, and do not expect you to respond as the genius you are.

This struck me as quite possibly the most profound statement on authenticity I have ever read. It is an affirmation that when we are authentic, when we speak our truth to others, we are offering respect and acknowledgement of their true self, as well.

Second:

To speak, or act, or think originally is to erase the boundary of the self.

When we open ourselves up authentically, when we communicate, we are giving of ourselves to another. We are asking them to consider our words, our communication, and add this to their personal narrative.

I submit to you that if you can establish this rapport, this authentic conversation, new horizons will open to you.

10thHuman: Why businesses need to constantly evaluate their strategies

image from pixabay
image from pixabay

Today, I want to talk about the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

This law states:

…the total entropy of an isolated system always increases over time, or remains constant in ideal cases where the system is in a steady state or undergoing a reversible process. The increase in entropy accounts for the irreversibility of natural processes, and the asymmetry between future and past.

Why does an organization need to be familiar with this concept?

The short answer is that a business that does not engage in the continual evaluation of their operations becomes isolated from their competition. Their entropy increases.

This requires continual energy input, to mantain that constant level of entropy. You have to do the work, the planning, the execution.

Then, do it again.

Then, do it again.

The strategy that got you to the top will not work to keep you there. 

You will be disrupted, unless you are disruptive.

How do you achieve this state, this disruptive nature, this continual evaluation? Through the use of a consistently applied framework.

10thHuman: Why you should engage in permission marketing

tree-200795_640
image from pixabay

3,000

That is the average number of ads the average consumer sees in a given day. That is 2.083 ads per minute, on average.

How many of those ads do you pay attention to?

How many do you click on?

How many of those ads did you consent to receive?

If you’re like me, the answers are “very few, even less and almost none.”

Permission marketing, according to the MarketingBlogFather Seth Godin, is:

…the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It recognizes the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing. It realizes that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.

I would ask you to consider this question:

How do you stand out in a field saturated – utterly saturated – by marketing? 

By asking permission.

You may lose sales to aggressive ad campaigns but I suspect you will build long term loyalty.

10th Human: Does theory matter?

image from pixabay
image from pixabay

In a world of results, results, results does theory matter?

I would suggest the answer to this is, “Yes.”

Language is a lens through which we view the world. Language is a framework. If we strive to inform and improve that framework through the study of theory in our given field(s), it seems to me it only helps. Of course, to achieve results one must Act on the theory and framework they’ve developed.

P.S. In doing a little light reading on this topic, I came across this fascinating article on words and their impact on our brains.

 

10th Human: Why you should network

tree-200795_640It’s 99.99% likely you are reading this on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or the Internet. We are a networked planet, nearly globally. With such a diverse possibly of contacts, you are quite literally losing business if you are not engaged in some form of networking.

In researching this question, I came across this article from Dayna Steele, from Relate by Zendesk. She absolutely nails it when she writes, “The larger your network, the more opportunities, ideas, and answers come your way.”

Be you. Be authentic. Add value.

Your business very likely depends on it.

The only sustainable competitive advantage…

20160731 OODA“The only sustainable competitive advantage is an organization’s ability to learn faster than the competition.”
– Peter Senge, Society for Organizational Learning

I read this quote earlier today in Disrupt You! by Jay Samit and it’s a nugget of pure wisdom.

In our ever changing world, what really is a 21st century businesses’ greatest asset? I would submit for your consideration that it is as quoted above, the ability to learn and adapt and implement faster than the competition.

If this sounds familiar, it’s tied into the overarching goal of the OODA loop, too.

Fortune favors the follow up. – Erik Stark

image from pixabay
image from pixabay

I was listening to the BiggerPockets podcast this morning and heard this advice from Erik Stark, a successful Florida real estate marketer. He has a number of nuggets of wisdom in the podcast and I would very much encourage you to listen (it’s #93).

I wanted to take a moment and dig into this quote today. What does Mr. Stark mean by this? In his business, he has found success in the follow up. He has developed a system that works for him, through which he is able to deliver sustained and systematic follow up to his clients.

Are you following up? Do you have a system to do so?

Fortune favors the follow up. – Erik Stark

23 best quotes on leadership…

  • Do not overly exalt yourself.
    – Marcus Aurelius

 

  • Being a good leader is not a byproduct of a pleasant personality.
    – Retired USAF MSgt John Mitchell

 

  • I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?
    – Benjamin Disraeli

 

  • Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.
    – Margaret Mead

 

  •  To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less.
    – Andre Malraux

 

  • It’s hard to lead a cavalry charge if you think you look funny on a horse.
    – Adlai Stevenson

 

  • Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.
    – Peter F. Drucker

 

  • I cannot trust a man to control others who cannot control himself.
    – Robert E. Lee

 

  • I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.
    – Ralph Nader

 

  • I have three precious things which I hold fast and prize. The first is gentleness; the second is frugality; the third is humility, which keeps me from putting myself before others. Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.
    – Lao Tzu

 

  • The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.
    – Retired General Colin Powell

 

  • Do not expect bad people to exempt you from their destructive ways. 
    – Marcus Aurelius

 

  • You do not lead by hitting people over the head — that’s assault, not leadership.
    – Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

  • Refrain from imposing your feelings onto reality.
    – Marcus Aurelius

 

  • Too many kings can ruin an army. 
    – Homer

 

  • The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.
    – Harvey S. Firestone

 

  • Our power lies in our small daily choices, one after another, to create eternal ripples of a life well lived.
    – Mollie Marti

 

  • A good leader is a person who takes a little more than his share of the blame and a little less than his share of the credit.
    – John Maxwell

 

  • No great manager or leader ever fell from heaven, its learned not inherited.
    – Tom Northup

 

  • As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.
    – Bill Gates

 

  • You manage things; you lead people.
    – Real Admiral Grace Murray Hopper

 

  • What you do has far greater impact than what you say.  
    – Stephen Covey

 

  • Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.
    – Colin Powell

 

Rule #1: define your why

I believe the first rule of a successful venture is to define your “why?”

Why are you doing what you are doing?

What drives you to get up every morning, gear up and head out the door?

My professional why is helping people succeed in their businesses. I am fascinated by what makes businesses and people tick and the exploration of ways to improve strategy, culture and processes.

Why is defining your why so important? 

If you don’t know you’re why, you’re what and how are going to be extremely difficult to define, much less execute.

You must know your why so that you can effectively determine your what and how.

Why am I doing this?

What problem am I solving?

How am I going to solve that problem?