Bill Stainton Archives - Page 40 of 46

Are You Stuck on the Red Dot?

Let’s say you have to go to the shopping mall. (You: “Death would be a preferable alternative.” Me: “Agreed, but stay with me; I’m going somewhere with this.”) And let’s say that, once at the mall, you develop a thirst for an Orange Julius. (You: “Are you serious? Orange Julius? Nobody’s developed a thirst for an Orange Julius since, like, 1978.” Me: “Again, fair point, but we’re almost there.”) Now, you don’t know where the Orange Julius is, so what ...

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19
JUN
2009

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Change, Producing Results, The Beatles

attitude, Beatles, Bill Stainton, goals, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success

3 Lessons from the Beatles on LEADERSHIP

Posted by: Bill Stainton

There are people out there who don’t like the Beatles. No, really, there are. I’m not a doctor, so I don’t know if the brain damage is genetic or the result of an injury, but some people just don’t care for the Fab Four. But here’s the thing: Whether you like them or not, you can’t argue with their success, can you? And because of this, it turns out the Beatles can be pretty effective role models for people who ...

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16
JUN
2009

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Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, making decisions, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, teamwork, trusting your gut

Does Your Vision Pass the “Cool” Test?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Your vision statement sucks. (And yes, it’s because of statements like this that I have no friends.) But c’mon, let’s be honest. Most vision statements suck. And if most vision statements suck, then, statistically, yours probably does too. That’s because most vision statements look something like this:

We will be the premier provider of value-added, customer-focused solutions in strategically chosen markets.

Okay, first of all, what does that even mean? And second of all—who cares? I mean really, if you were on ...

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14
JUN
2009

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Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, goal setting, goals, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, mission statement, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork, vision statement

3 Things, in the Right Order

Posted by: Bill Stainton

I was just reading the June issue of Mensa Bulletin, the magazine of American Mensa (whose standards are clearly much lower than you’d think), and in it is a feature about the best advice its members have ever received. One in particular, submitted by Bernard Kitt, Ph.D., caught my eye. He writes:

There are only three things to remember:

I will be happy

I will make some money

I will make other people happy

One hundred percent of the people ...

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11
JUN
2009

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Customer Service, Producing Results, The Beatles, Work Ethic

attitude, Beatles, Bill Stainton, business integrity, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success

How to Get “Buy-In” for Your Ideas

Posted by: Bill Stainton

For 15 years, I was the producer of a sketch comedy TV show in Seattle. Each week we would have a “pitch meeting,” where we would sit around a table and read our new material, hoping to get it onto the show. Although the ultimate decision was mine, it was actually a pretty democratic process: if we laughed at something, it had a good chance; if we didn’t, it was out. Some pieces were clear winners or losers, but most ...

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9
JUN
2009

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Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results, Teams, The Beatles

Beatles, Bill Stainton, buy in, creative ideas, creativity, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, making decisions, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, selling ideas, sharing credit, small business, small business success, teamwork

Have You Set the Bar High Enough?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

How good is good? Consider the Beatles’ Let It Be album. It contains three #1 hits: the title track (Let It Be), Get Back, and The Long and Winding Road, along with several other wonderful songs (e.g., Two Of Us, Across the Universe, and I’ve Got a Feeling); the album itself went to #1; it won a Grammy for Best Original Score (since the album was basically the soundtrack to the movie of the same name),; and, if all that ...

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8
JUN
2009

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

attitude, Beatles, Bill Stainton, business integrity, competition, customer service, exceeding expectations, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, work ethic

So…What’s YOUR Excuse?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

We all have our favorite excuses for not being where we want to be—in our lives and in our businesses. “I don’t have enough money.” “I live in this little backwater town.” “I don’t know the right people.” “I don’t have the proper education.” “I have a funny accent.” We’ve heard all these excuses, and dozens more just like them. We’ve probably made more than a few of them ourselves. But when you think about it, they’re all variations on ...

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5
JUN
2009

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Creativity, Producing Results, The Beatles, Work Ethic

attitude, Beatles, Bill Stainton, excuses, goal setting, goals, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, work ethic

How Much Are Your Blinders Costing You?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Don’t look now, but you may be going through life with blinders on. Actually, we all are to some extent—some of us more so than others. What do I mean by this? Well, I grew up in Amish country, where horses and buggies are a common sight. Because horses have amazing peripheral vision and are easily distracted, the Amish put blinders on the horses so that they can only see straight ahead. This is a very good thing for a ...

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2
JUN
2009

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Change, Communication, Customer Service, Leadership, Producing Results

Beatles, Bill Stainton, creative ideas, creativity, customer service, innovation, innovative thinking, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, lifelong learning, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success

Don’t Change Your Business; Redefine It

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Last week I was the guest on a radio show—two hours talking about the Beatles, which is heaven for me. One of the things we spent a great deal of time talking about was the Beatles’ incredible growth and evolution from album to album. I mean, in roughly five years these guys went from Please Please Me through Sgt. Pepper and the White album all the way to Abbey Road. That’s a growth curve that’s unprecedented and, so far, unequaled ...

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31
MAY
2009

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Change, Creativity, Producing Results, The Beatles

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

Stop Playing Tic-Tac-Toe Leadership

Posted by: Bill Stainton

I had a wonderful phone conversation yesterday with a fellow Beatles fan whom I’ll call “Rich,” because that’s his name. As is generally the case when Beatles fans (or, in this case, fanatics) talk, the conversation soon turned to Beatles trivia. Rich asked me some great questions, and then he wanted me to ask him some. I asked a few, but he kept saying, “C’mon—make them harder!” I asked some tougher ones, but he kept at me: “Make them harder!” ...

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28
MAY
2009

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Leadership, Producing Results, The Beatles, Work Ethic

aiming high, attitude, Beatles, Bill Stainton, business challenges, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership training, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success, work ethic