Upstairs is for thinking…

And downstairs is for dancing. And we need more of both, don't you think? Did you dance at work today? Were you tempted?One of the coolest things that can happen is when our work makes us want to dance. 

Where are the optimists?

 A quick look at just about any news source covering the business world and you're likely to be either frightened or depressed. Seems like everyone is a crook. What are these people thinking? African Bank, Fidentia, Leeman Brothers, Eurozone debt crisis, sub-prime mortgage crisis, Occupy Wall Street, Is capitalism doomed? Do we need a new…

Who Will Say “Go”?

Here's a little-spoken truth I learned a while back:Most people don't believe they are capable of initiative. They rather follow than start. Initiating a project, a blog, a seminar, even a family trip. Initiating something even when you're not deemed to be in charge.At the same time, almost all people believe they are capable of…

One option is to struggle to be heard whenever you’re in the room…

Another is to be the sort of person who is missed when you're not.The first involves making noise. The second involves making a difference.

Choose your friends, choose your customers, choose your future

 Entrepreneurs rarely think about choosing customers. Your customers define what you make, how you make it, where you sell it, what you charge, who you hire and even how you fund your business. If your customer base changes over time but you fail to make changes in the rest of your business, stress and failure will…

Failure, success and neither

The math is magical: you can pile up lots of failures and still keep rolling, but you only need one juicy success to build a career. The killer is the category called 'neither'. If you spend your days avoiding failure by doing not much worth criticising, you'll never have a shot at success. Avoiding the…

Why Bother Having a CV?

Last night I had meeting with an entrepreneneur. He wanted to chair the board of his small business. While I am humbled by the offer, this proposal got me thinking about how people get appointed.When Carlos Alberto Parreira was about to be appointed the coach of Bafana Bafana (South African soccer squad) before the 2010…

Making and Breaking Habits

Habits are essential to your business, to marketing and to profits.Coffee in the morning is a habit, which is good for Starbucks and other coffee shops. Vetkoek in winter is a habit, which is good business for mamas who sell them in the morning. So is having your law firm do a trademark search every…

Everything You Do Communicates…

Every time you interact with a customer, you're engaging in marketing. Doesn't matter if you're meeting them at the mall, asking them to send you some data, delivering an invoice... it's all a marketing interaction.So...When you bother 100 customers to get useful data from only 2, you just paid a marketing cost.When you shout at…

Once Upon a Time…

 Most PR firms do publicity, not PR.Publicity is the act of getting ink. Publicity is getting unpaid media to pay attention, write you up, point to you, run a picture, make a commotion. Sometimes publicity is helpful, and good publicity is always good for your ego.But it's not PR.PR is the strategic crafting of your…

The Confrontation Waiting to Happen

 It's not between you and your boss, your critics, your editor, your competition, your spouse or some other outsider.The essential confrontation, of course, is with yourself.You are your own biggest critic.And your own biggest competitor.Now that it's easier than ever to pick yourself, the question is, "why haven't you?"And now that it's easier to ignore…

‘Category of One’ is a Choice

Fit in or stand out.Do what works now or build what works later.Avoid criticism or seek it out.Follow the manual or write the manual.Standing out makes you the category of one, Fitting in makes you the category of many. When you define the category, when the category is you and you alone, your marketing issues tend…