L is for Lizard Brain: This is a huge impediment to getting what you want, and finding your calling in life. What some call the lizard brain is the part of your brain responsible for anger, revenge, fear, and anxiety (and also possibly reproduction). It's the original brain, the one that wild animals possess. The voice of the lizard: it's the resistance that holds you back, that causes doubt.. The resistance rationalizes, hides and sabotages your best work. Recognize your prehistoric lizard brain when it starts to kick in...then work to beat the lizard!
M is for Meatball Sundae: “Gotta get me some of that Social Networking. Blogs, e-mails campaigns, facebook updates, twitter posts, Google AdWords…”
STOP. As traditional business communications go away, the new digital tools seem irresistible. But they don’t work for everyone! Boring products (what I call “meatballs”) like Cheerios, Ford trucks, or beer only distract us with efforts to be socially relevant. When Budweiser spends $40 million developing “BudTV”—that’s a meatball sundae. Dressing up a boring business with bells and whistles no one wants and that lead to no new customers. The point is: avoid creating a meatball sundae. Use social media in business when it actually enhances your efforts.
N is for NOBS: Otherwise known as the new order business school. My rant about this points out that for most people, a traditional MBA is a waste of both time and money. The two biggest benefits--the selection process of getting in, and the social process of networking--could be accomplished without any classes at all. You can read more about this in my earlier post of April 2010 .
O is for Orangutan: I could have used the word 'monkey', but I already had an M listing, plus I love the way you spell Orangutan. Anyway, the primate is the best way to think about how people interact with websites. They're like monkeys in a psychology experiment, looking for the banana. Where's the banana, they ask? Keep this in mind if you are ever in the position of creating your own websites, for work or personal purposes. If your website offers a banana, people are going to click on it and respond. If they don't, they'll leave.
P is for Permission: Seth Godin's company, Yoyodyne Entertainment, is all about fun and games. But its mission is serious business. Godin and his colleagues are working to persuade some of the most powerful companies in the world to reinvent how they relate to their customers. His argument is as stark as it is radical: Advertising just doesn't work as well as it used to - in part because there's so much of it, in part because people have learned to ignore it, in part because the rise of the Net means that companies can go beyond it. "We are entering an era," Godin declares, "that's going to change the way almost everything is marketed to almost everybody."
The biggest problem with mass-market advertising, Godin says, is that it fights for people's attention by interrupting them. A 30-second spot interrupts a "Desperate Housewives" episode. A telemarketing call interrupts a family dinner. A print ad interrupts a blog. The interruption model is extremely effective when there's not an overflow of interruptions, but there's too much going on in our lives for us to enjoy being interrupted anymore.
The new model is built around permission. The challenge for marketers will be to persuade consumers to volunteer attention - to "raise their hands" to agree to learn more about a company and its products. Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers," he says. "It's not just about entertainment - it's about education."
Q is for Quitting: Sticking things out is overrated, particularly if you stick out the wrong things. In fact, I think you'd be much better off quitting most of what you do. The old saying is wrong--winners do quit, and quitters do win.
Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all. And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle. Maybe you're in a Dip--a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Dead End, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.
What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts.
Winners quit fast, quit often, and quit without guilt-until they commit to beating the right Dip for the right reasons. They realize that the bigger the barrier, the bigger the reward for getting past it. If you fight the right fights, you'll get more than your fair share of profits, glory, and long-term security.
R is for Remarkable: For years, marketers have talked about the "4 Ps." Sound familiar? This has become the basic marketing checklist, a quick way to make sure that you've done your job. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but it used to be that if you dotted your I’s and paid attention to your 4 Ps, then you were more likely than not to succeed.
No longer. It's time to add an exceptionally important new P to the list: Purple Cow. Weird? Let me explain.
While driving through France a few years ago, I was enchanted by the hundreds of storybook cows grazing in lovely pastures right next to the road. For dozens of kilometers, I gazed out the window, marveling at the beauty. Then, within a few minutes, I started ignoring the cows. The new cows were just like the old cows, and what was once amazing was now common. Worse than common: It was boring.
Cows, after you've seen them for a while, are boring. A Purple Cow, though: Now, that would really stand out. The essence of the Purple Cow -- the reason it would shine among a crowd of perfectly competent, even undeniably excellent cows -- is that it would be remarkable. Something remarkable is worth talking about, worth paying attention to. Boring stuff quickly becomes invisible.
The world is full of boring stuff -- brown cows -- which is why so few people pay attention. Being remarkable is the art of building things worth noticing. It is a plea for originality, for passion, guts, and daring. Not just because going through life with passion and guts beats the alternative (which it does), but also because it's the only way to be successful. Today, the one sure way to fail is to be boring. Your one chance for success is to be remarkable.
And that means you have to be a leader. You can't be remarkable by following someone else who's remarkable.
