My greatest gift is my enthusiasm. I get excited about whatever I'm interested in. I'm like a six-year-old.
Francis Ford Coppola as told to Fast Company
Pot of Gold
Hundreds of excerpts from top business books and insights from great thinkers. Available at Lulu.com and Amazon Kindle
February 26, 2012
Live life like a six-year-old
February 24, 2012
Happy birthday to the most creative guy I know
February 24, 1954 – Pulitzer prize-winning political cartoonist Jim Borgman, co-creator of Zits, a comic strip about the life of a teenager named Jeremy that appears in more than 1,500 newspapers worldwide, is born in Price Hill, a neighborhood in Cincinnati.
February 23, 2012
Start-ups should focuse on nice niche markets
In the first few years of your start-up company, focus on niche markets, says idea guru Doug Hall and Jeffrey Stamp, Ph.D., in Jump Start Your Marketing Brain: Scientific Ideas and Advice that Will Immediately Double Your Marketing Success Rate (Clerisy): “These markets will be less price sensitive to your initial high cost.”
February 22, 2012
Foe of good enough is could be better
Is 'could be better' always the foe of 'good enough?' Yes, suggests Matt Weinstein and Luke Barber in Work Like Your Dog (Villard/Random House). “If we could remember several times a day – whatever we are doing – to take a deep breath and repeat: This moment is good enough. Perhaps we could cure some of the chronic dissatisfaction that so often haunts us...be here now.”
February 19, 2012
Worst jobs on "Best" list are not so bad
While IT dominates the list of top jobs, according to The Best Jobs for the 21st Century (JIST Publishing) by Michael Farr, what's telling is at the end of this 500-job roster. Worse jobs on the "best list?" Manicurist, pedicurist, mechanical engineering technicians, cook, gaming supervisor, stonemason, historian, concierge, dietetic tech, ambulance driver, pipe-layer helper and manager for farm workers.
February 14, 2012
What do we want to create together?
Author Peter Block poses a simple question for bosses and employees alike: What do we want to create together? In The Answer to How is Yes (Berrett-Koehler), Block suggests all companies have the resulting conversation: “It stops the discussion of what they want from us and how we are going to respond, and starts the purpose-filled discussion of what we will initiate. This dialogue alone levels the playing field.”
February 12, 2012
What are you selling and why should people buy
When looking for a creative hook for a new ad effort — or even a flyer, for that matter — practice what big agencies embrace: brainstorm, write down every idea, and tape all to a wall. Ask four questions, suggests Gary R. Dahl in Advertising for Dummies: “What are you selling? What makes it unique? To whom do you want to sell it? Why should people buy? A good creative idea takes on a life of its own.
February 11, 2012
Group meetings to clarify goals and accountability
Spurn one-on-one meetings for group sessions, suggests Verne Harnish, one of the Top 10 Minds in Business by Fortune Small Business Magazine and author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits (Select Books): "In one-on-ones there's no Greek chorus singing out when the untruths begin to fly. When goals are at stake and accountability is an issue, the peer pressure of daily and weekly meetings keeps things moving."
Shine a light on your true achievements
Inject info about your character into your resume, says Mark H. McCormack, author of Never Wrestle with a Pig (Penguin): “If I wanted an employer to know I saved my best friend from drowning, I’d list that friend as a reference. If I wanted an employer to know of my voluntarism at the soup kitchen, I’d list the kitchen’s director. There’s nothing sly about this, not if it helps worthy people shine a light on their true achievements.”
Hundreds more at Kindle book Pot of Gold
February 07, 2012
Build esprit de corps with integrity and confidence
Want to build esprit de corps? Then model a World War I battalion, suggests William A. Cohen, author of The New Art of the Leader (Prentice/Penguin Group) and a retired Air Ford major general: “There is a group spirit that you must reach in order to motivate. For my money, esprit de corps is built on three things: your personal integrity, mutual confidence and a focus on contribution rather than personal gain.”
John Eckberg
Author of The Success Effect: Uncommon Conversations with America's Business Trailblazers
