Creativity Archives - Page 13 of 16

The Most Important Skill for the Future

I saw a billboard the other day that said something to the effect of: “The top 15 careers of 2025 don’t even exist today.” Whether those numbers are accurate or not, they’re almost certainly in the ballpark. The point is, we can’t predict with any certainty what the challenges and opportunities will be even a few years down the pike. After all, in the 60s nobody was predicting anything remotely like the computer industry or the Internet, not to mention ...

Continue Reading →

28
APR
2009

0

Share

Change, Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results

Beatles, Bill Stainton, change, creative ideas, creativity, innovation, innovative thinking, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, leading through change, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success

The Dangers of Business Bowling

Posted by: Bill Stainton

My mother was raised on a plantation in Haiti. Interesting upbringing, to be sure, and there are many stories—some involving voodoo. This isn’t one of them. This is a story about bowling. (You: “Why, Bill, if you have freakin’ voodoo stories, would you choose to tell one about bowling?” Me: “Because this one has a point…and besides, the voodoo stories are too weird.”) So here, as a lesson for business leaders, is the story of my mother’s bowling catastrophe.

It was ...

Continue Reading →

21
APR
2009

0

Share

Change, Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results

Beatles, Bill Stainton, change, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, leading through change, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, teamwork

Developing Multiple Streams of Income

Posted by: Bill Stainton

To my continual astonishment, I get word from time to time that my book, The 5 Best Decisions the Beatles Ever Made: A Handbook for “Top of the Charts” Success, is being used as a textbook in some college and university business courses. The astonishment is not because I think it’s a bad book—it’s not—but because I didn’t write it with academicians in mind. I wrote it for the managers, supervisors, and leaders who are actually out there in the ...

Continue Reading →

13
APR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Customer Service, Producing Results, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, diversification, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, multiple streams of income, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success

Leading Your Team to Better Music

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Have you ever played in a rock band? Or, for that matter, any kind of musical group: jazz ensemble, symphony orchestra, marching band, 3rd grade kazoo orchestra? I’m currently rehearsing with a semi-professional (emphasis on “semi”) rock band for a couple of upcoming gigs (and yes, we’re playing a healthy selection of Beatles!), and here’s what I’ve found over the past few weeks: If you’ve ever been involved in any kind of musical combo, playing with other musicians, then you ...

Continue Reading →

9
APR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Producing Results, Teams, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, goals, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sharing credit, small business, small business success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork

A True Leader Shares the Credit

Posted by: Bill Stainton

I once worked for a boss who delighted in taking the credit for the work his team did. I’m guessing you’ve worked for somebody like this too—there are a lot of them around. And there are some perfectly understandable reasons why a boss would want to take all the credit. They may want to:

impress their own boss;
impress a co-worker;
impress the cute new sales intern.

Understandable reasons, yes; effective leadership, no.

“Leaders” like this would be well-advised to remember what Harry S Truman ...

Continue Reading →

8
APR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results, Teams

Beatles, Bill Stainton, business integrity, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sharing credit, small business, small business success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork

Achieving Greatness in Your Business

Posted by: Bill Stainton

My favorite definition of “greatness” is this one:

When everything that came before you seems obsolete, and everything that comes after you bears your stamp.

That certainly applies to the Beatles. It applies to Shakespeare, Beethoven, and Bill Gates. (Yes, I know there are some people who don’t like Bill Gates. There are also some who don’t like Shakespeare, Beethoven, or, horror of horrors, the Beatles! That doesn’t, however, negate the facts.) But here’s the big question:

Does it, or will it, apply ...

Continue Reading →

5
APR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Producing Results, The Beatles, Work Ethic

Beatles, Bill Stainton, branding, competition, goal setting, goals, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success

Can You Be #1 in the World?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

A number of years ago I was conducting an all-day workshop for Philips, the consumer electronics and healthcare giant, and I found out that one of their core principles was to not be involved in any business that they couldn’t be #1 or #2 in the world at. Now, for a large company like Philips, this is not an unusual principle. Many global businesses have adopted similar goals for themselves. My question is this:

Why is it that so few small ...

Continue Reading →

4
APR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Customer Service, Producing Results, The Beatles, Work Ethic

Beatles, Bill Stainton, branding, competition, creative ideas, customer service, exceeding expectations, goals, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, teamwork

How to Get Your Brain Unstuck

Posted by: Bill Stainton

How often have you gotten stuck while looking for a new idea, or seeking the solution to a problem? When I was writing television sketch comedy, I used to have a lot of trouble coming up with endings to my sketches (endings are notoriously difficult). I’d work out a nice premise, develop it comedically, and now needed to wrap it up in a way that was surprising, funny, and quick. And that’s where I’d get stuck. It’s really the same ...

Continue Reading →

29
MAR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Producing Results, Teams, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, competition, creative ideas, creativity, innovation, innovative thinking, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, leading through change, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, teamwork

Stop Listening to the Smart People

Posted by: Bill Stainton

There’s no shortage of smart people telling you and me how to run our businesses. There’s no shortage of smart people telling us how to run our finances. There’s no shortage of smart people telling us how to run our lives. All we have to do is turn on the TV, turn on the radio, or start a conversation at the local bar. Smart people with ideas will fall out of the woodwork. So here’s my advice to you:

Stop listening ...

Continue Reading →

22
MAR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, creative ideas, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success

How to Keep Your Customers Happy

Posted by: Bill Stainton

If your focus is on meeting your customers’ expectations and making them happy, you’ve already lost. In today’s competitive environment, you have to exceed their expectations and make them ecstatic. Hopefully, this doesn’t come as shocking news to you. People much smarter than I have been saying it for several years now. (For the record, people much stupider than I have been saying it also, but do we really want to focus on them?) So we all know that to ...

Continue Reading →

19
MAR
2009

0

Share

Creativity, Customer Service, Producing Results, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, customer service, exceeding expectations, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, sales