How to Change Your Results by Changing Your Language
Which magazine do you think men are more likely to buy: a men’s health magazine with the cover, “Lose Your Gut Fast” or a similar magazine with the cover, “Get Six Pack Abs”? One study showed that over 80% of men chose the first cover – “Lose Your Gut Fast.” Why? People are more interested […]
Quote of the Day
“If Thomas Edison didn’t know what he had when he invented the phonograph while he thought he was trying to create better industrial equipment for telegraph operators…what are the odds that you — or any entrepreneur — is going to have it all figured out up front?” -Marc Andreessen (co-founder of Netscape) in a blog […]
Build It, Try It, Fix It
Here is another “innovation tip.” This one is simple, yet incredibly powerful. In fact, I am using this concept right now with this website. But more on that later. One of the biggest barriers to success is analysis paralysis. It is the belief that studying the marketplace infinitum will yield better results. This is just […]
Quote of the Day
“Success is blocked by concentrating on it and planning for it… Success is shy – it won’t come out while you’re watching.” – Tennessee Williams
How to Balance Work and Life
A few years back, I was an instructor of Stephen Covey’s “Principle Centered Leadership” course within Accenture. Over 75% of the attendees said that achieving balance in their life was their number one reason for taking the course. This is not surprising given the fast pace of life today. But what does balance mean? Balance […]
How to Sell
I was recently interviewed for SellingCrossing about my thoughts on selling. You can read the interview by clicking here.
This Column Will Change Your Life
Well, at least that is the claim of journalist Oliver Burkeman. And maybe he is right. In today’s Guardian (a British newspaper), he wrote: “One of the most stress-inducing books I’ve ever read is called GOALS!, by the management expert Brian Tracy. It’s not about football. It’s about achieving your GOALS! in life – and […]
Quote of the Day
“Hacking something together means deciding what to do as you’re doing it, not a subordinate executing the vision of his boss. It implies the result won’t be pretty, because it will be made quickly out of inadequate materials. It may work, but it won’t be the sort of thing the eminent would want to put […]
How to Swim Faster
At a recent workshop on creativity, I discussed “the performance paradox” – the concept that trying harder produces poorer results. Afterwards, one executive in the audience came up to me and told me his own story. He said… “When I was a kid, I went to summer camp. One of our daily activities was swimming. […]
Quote of the Day
I just came back from a thought-provoking creativity conference. In attendance were hundreds of people, many of whom have been creativity practitioners for dozens of years. It was interesting to see how many of them are still using the same creativity techniques today as they did in their early days. During a lively group discussion, […]