How To Find Ideas: The Secret of “Creative Emulation”
“Had Shakespeare listened to the news of Duncan’s death in a tavern …?” – Graham Greene (Our Man in Havana, 1958) Creative emulation, as I define it, is the highly leveraged art of studying and observing all sorts of effective and successful marking techniques and concepts that companies totally outside…
How To Become A Great Thinker
“There never was an idea started that woke up men out of their stupid indifference but its originator was spoken of as a crank.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (Over the Teacups, 1891) So you want to be smart? Think great thoughts? Change the world with your ideas? Then you’ll…
What’s Holding You Back?
“Let’s talk sense to the American people. Let’s tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains.” – Adlai Stevenson (acceptance speech, Democratic National Convention, July 26, 1952) How are you doing with your dreams? Are you happy with your progress? Well on your way? Or are you…
Peripatetic Managing: Does It Really Work?
Do you walk around the office? Some management experts think doing so is a critically important business skill. Others warn against it. In “Seven Habits of Highly Successful Executives,” Steven Covey makes suggestions for limiting and avoiding casual chats around the office. In Covey’s view, these are unnecessary and often…
What The Rabbi Said
“The advantage of doing one’s praising to oneself is that one can lay it on so thick and exactly in the right places.” – Samuel Butler (The Way of All Flesh, 1903) The rabbi at JC’s wedding was a friendly looking fellow, and his sermon was a friendly compromise between…
Get Those Monkeys Off Your Back!
Yesterday, we talked about the problem with “monkeys”: If you are not careful, colleagues and subordinates will try get the monkeys perched on their backs to leap onto yours. Be alert for this kind of “reverse delegation.” The smart manager, William Oncken, author of “Monkey Business,” argues, makes sure he…
So You Want To Be A Leader?
To be a natural leader, Gary North tells us, you must serve. As an example of what he means, he refers to a book titled “Dedication and Leadership,” by Douglas Hyde. Originally published in 1956, it contains a chapter that recounts how Hyde taught an overweight, stuttering man named Jim…
Do One Significant Thing Every Day
“It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage.” – Henry Ward Beecher (Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit, 1887) You come into the office, flick on the light, and — if your inbox looks like mine — are suddenly assaulted by…
Empathetic Listening: Does It Really Pay?
“You may regret calamities if you can thereby help the sufferer, but if you cannot, mind your own business.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (Journals, 1836) You read so much about the importance of listening these days. Every social, academic, and, now, even every business guru is jumping on this bandwagon.…
Use You Copywriting Skills To Get Great People To Work For You
If you are not using your best copywriting skills (and you should have copywriting skills!) in recruiting new employees, don’t complain if the ones you get tend toward the mediocre. Here are a few suggestions on making your “Help Wanted” ads work more strongly for you: 1. Write a great…
How Do You Get the Hard Work Done if You Don’t Feel Tough?
“How does one kill fear, I wonder? How do you shoot a spectre through the heart, slash off its spectral head, take it by its spectral throat?” – Joseph Conrad (Lord Jim, 1900) As I said yesterday, you need to be tough to get the hard work done. But what…
More On Being Tough and Ruthless
“Where there is no might, right loses itself.” – Portuguese proverb JB wrote to say that although he agrees that “being mean and nasty is not a long-term strategy,” most people fail to reach their business goals because they are afraid to do “what it takes to succeed in business”…