Intelligence and effort. Both are necessary for success. But neither one is sufficient. Intelligence without effort is wasted potential. Like a ship sitting in port. It looks good, but it’s not going anywhere. Effort without intelligence is an unskilled fighter. The beating becomes disheartening. And ultimately wears him and his people down. Intelligence plus effort […]
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Author: makena Mugane
Cashing the check …
A check in your wallet does you very little good. It represents opportunity, sure, but not action. Most of us are carrying around a check, an opportunity to make an impact, to do the work we’re capable of, to ship the art that would make a difference. No, the world isn’t fair, and most people […]
What happened to the dreams..?
Jack was a typical teenager. Overweight. Insecure. A bit soft and naive. Then one day, he had a dream. One in which he felt energetic, powerful, self-assured. That dream stirred Jake. It created a hunger that demanded to be fed. So he started going to the gym. He ran on the treadmill. He lifted weights. […]
Did you know Life is full of holes…?
Every scrutinized historical event fails to hold up to serious inspection. There’s missing evidence. How did he get from point A to point B? Where’s the document or the eyewitness or the proof? Your future opportunities are like this as well. Even at the hottest part of the 1998 Internet run up, skeptics wanted more […]
How long between leaps…?
Kids have to change grades every year. You hit 18 and the system says it’s time to move out and go to a whole new place. Four years later, another cycle… And then? How often do we say, “three months from today, I will be doing something totally different than I’m doing now?” How often […]
How to be a good detective…
In your professional life,whatever it is,always be curious. When you meet with someone,think of yourself as a bumbling but friendly private detective. Ask questions.Then ask follow-up questions.And then let the answers make you even more curious.Let the answers suggest even more questions.This will motivate you to higher levels of consciousnesses and interest. When you prepare […]
Find your inner Einstein..
The next time you see a picture of Albert Einstein,realize that is actually you. See Albert Einstein and say,”There I am”. Every human has the capacity for some form of genius.You don’t have to be good at maths or physics to experience genius level in your thinking.To experience Einsteins creative level of thinking,all you have […]
Domination Is Good…
The key word is domination. Am sure you don’t want to just play in the game of business.You want to dominate. This is an interesting way to look at the world and you may have to train yourself to develop this perspective.Why? It really worth it. The idea here is to go against what you […]
Is It Just The Good Parts…?
“I want to be an actress, but I don’t want to go on auditions.” “I want to play varsity sports, but I need to be sure I’m going to make the team.” “It’s important to sell this great new service, but I’m not willing to deal with rejection.” You don’t get to just do the […]
Fear of Public Speaking…
Why is it that a common,safe,and important task is so feared by so many people? In Iconoclast,Gregory Berns uses his experience running a neuroscience research lab to explain the biological underpinnings of the resistance.In fact,public speaking is the perfect petri dish for exposing what makes us tick. It turns out that the three biological factors […]
Keep Learning or Die…
Why financial education is the key to prospering or perishing in a fast-paced world Everybody learns. For instance, in order to make bread, bakers follow a recipe they’ve learned, even if it’s in their head. Surgeons follow a recipe for complicated procedures, with certain steps and actions that must be taken to see a positive […]
Maybe this year…
Maybe this year… Your knowledge will reach critical mass.. Your boss will give you the go ahead.. Your family situation will be stable.. The competition will stop innovating.. The traffic jam will cease.. There won’t be any computer viruses to deal with, and Then… You can act, you can launch your project, you can make […]
The power of zero spend..
Sometimes, boundaries help you make tough decisions. If you build your company with the policy that you’ll never run an ad, it makes it even more important that you build a remarkable product–you’ll never be tempted to compromise and try to make it up with hype. Same thing goes for organizations that refuse to pay […]
When everyone has access to the same too...
…then having a tool isn’t much of an advantage. The industrial age, the age of scarcity, depended in part on the advantages that came with owning tools others didn’t own. Time for a new advantage. It might be your network, the connections that trust you. And it might be your expertise. But most of all, […]
World’s Simplest Management Secret….
Forget what you learned in those management books. There’s really only one way to ensure that everyone on your team excels. Management books have it all wrong. They all try to tell you how to manage “people.” It’s impossible to manage “people”; it’s only possible to manage individuals. And because individuals differ from one another, […]
The curious imperative…
Now that information is ubiquitous, the obligation changes. It’s no longer okay to not know. If you don’t know what a word means, look it up. If you’re meeting with someone, check them out in advance. If it sounds too good to be true, Google it before you forward it. If you don’t know what […]
Do the (extra) work…
Do the extra work not because you have to but because it’s a privilege. Get in early. Sweep the floor without being asked. Especially when it’s not your turn. Not because you want credit or reward. Because you can. The industrialist wants to suck everything out of you. Doing extra work as a cog in […]
Most people…..
Most people don’t care enough to make a difference. Most people aren’t going to buy that new thing you’re selling. Most people are afraid to take action. Most people are too self-involved to do the generous work you’re hoping for. Most people think they can’t afford it. Most people won’t talk about it. Most people […]
Unanimous is not an option…
When you do important work, work that changes things and work that matters, it’s inconceivable that the change you’re trying to make will be met with complete approval. Trying to please everyone will water down your efforts, frustrate your forward motion and ultimately fail. The balancing act is to work to please precisely the right […]
Art fears business fears art…
The artist says, “that sounds like business, and I want nothing to do with it. It will corrupt me and make me think small.” The businessperson says, “art is frightening, unpredictable and won’t pay.” Because the artist fears business, she hesitates to think as big as she could, to imagine the impact she might be […]
Compared to magical…
The easiest way to sell yourself short is to compare your work to the competition. To say that you are 5% cheaper or have one or two features that stand out–this is a formula for slightly better mediocrity. The goal ought to be to compare yourself not to the best your peers or the competition […]
Silencing the bell doesn’t put out the f
Many big organizations have full-time employees who scan the social media, looking for people with a complaint. They swoop in and grease the squeaky wheel, solving the problem of the person who spoke up. The theory is that these loud complainers are a problem, and the easiest solution is to give them something to make […]
Winning today (vs. winning tomorrow)…
Look around. You’re not number one on that bestseller list, or chosen for this RFP or invited to give that talk. It’s frustrating. There are engagements you ought to have, sales you ought to be making, clients that ought to understand you… One choice is to spend today frustrated that you’re not winning with the […]
The flipping point…
When people say, “The tipping point,” they often misunderstand the concept in Malcolm’s book. They’re actually talking about the flipping point. The tipping point is the sum total of many individuals buzzing about something. But for an individual to start buzzing, something has to change in that person’s mind. Something flips from boredom or ignorance […]
Do you have a people strategy…?
Hard to imagine a consultant or investor asking the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) , “so, what’s your telephone strategy?” We don’t have a telephone strategy. The telephone is a tool, a simple medium, and it’s only purpose is to connect us to interested human beings. And then the internet comes along and it’s mysterious and […]
The coalition of No…
It’s easy to join. There are a million reasons to say no, but few reasons to stand up and say yes. No requires just one objection, one defensible reason to avoid change. No has many allies–anyone who fears the future or stands to benefit from the status quo. And no is easy to say, because […]
Conflicted…
Everything we do that’s important is the result of conflict. Not a conflict between us and the world–a conflict between us and ourselves. We want to eat another dessert but we want to be healthy and skinny as well. Who is we? Who is the self in self control, and who is being controlled? We […]
Solving problems (vs. identifying them)....
Often, we’re hesitant to identify a problem out of fear we can’t solve it. Knowing that we have to live with something that we’re unable to alter gives us a good reason to avoid verbalizing it–highlighting it just makes it worse. While this sort of denial might be okay for individuals (emphasis on might), it’s […]
The chance of a lifetime….
A friend asked me the other day, “…given the sorry state of so much in the world, what’s possible to look forward to?” The state isn’t sorry. It’s wide open. Interest rates are super low or high, violence is close to an all time low, industries are being remade and there’s more leverage for the […]
No choice…
“I had no choice, I just couldn’t get out of bed.” “I had no choice, it was the best program I could get into.” “I had no choice, he told me to do it…” Really? It’s probably more accurate to say, “the short-term benefit/satisfaction/risk avoidance was a lot higher than anything else, so I chose […]
Open conversations (or close them)….
A guy walks into a shop that sells ties. He’s opened the conversation by walking in. Salesman says, “can I help you?” The conversation is now closed. The prospect can politely say, “no thanks, just looking.” Consider the alternative: “That’s a [insert adjective here] tie you’re wearing, sir. Where did you buy it?” Conversation is […]
Getting serious about your org chart…
Manu’s funny brilliance aside, this collection of org charts might help you think hard about why your organization is structured the way it is. Is it because it was built when geography mattered more than it does now? Is it an artifact of a business that had a factory at its center? Does the org […]
Mark Zuckerberg isn’t Mark Zuckerberg…
“Mark Zuckerberg” has become a codeword for the truly gifted exception, the wunderkind freak of nature for whom traditional rules don’t apply. Well, sure, Mark Zuckerberg can drop out of Harvard, but you’re not Mark Zuckerberg… Here’s the thing: Even Mark isn’t Mark Zuckerberg. This notion that there’s a one in a billion alignment of […]
Is your anger killing your art?
It’s rare to find a consistently creative or insightful person who is also an angry person.* They can’t occupy the same space, and if your anger moves in, generosity and creativity often move out. It’s difficult to use revenge or animus to fuel great work. Ironically, when you decide to teach someone a lesson they […]
Waiting for the fear to subside…
There are two problems with this strategy: A. By the time the fear subsides, it will be too late. By the time you’re not afraid of what you were planning to start/say/do, someone else will have already done it, it will already be said or it will be irrelevant. The reason you’re afraid is that […]
Which of the four are getting in the way...
You don’t know what to do You don’t know how to do it You don’t have the authority or the resources to do it You’re afraid Once you figure out what’s getting in the way, it’s far easier to find the answer (or decide to work on a different problem). Stuck is a state of […]