Embrace the Messy Part!

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Messy is good.

A recent article in The Wall Street Journal talks about leadership and creativity (one of my favorite topics, and the focus of my keynote program The Emmy Effect: How to Develop and Lead Award Winning Talent and Teams). In the article, author Justin Brady says:

[quote]Most leaders talk about creativity (or its cousin, innovation) without understanding what it is and how it happens. The process of real creativity is messy, chaotic, sometimes even disgusting, and ... Continue Reading →
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Producing Results, Work Ethic

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Stretch + Investigate + Expand = Good Business

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Stage lightshow with spotlights.
As I’m writing this, I’m listening to the 60s channel on SiriusXM. It’s a channel I listen to a lot. That particular era is kind of my musical “home base.” It’s the music I tend to gravitate to — it’s my default. (I’ve heard it said that the music we tend to gravitate to is ...

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Leadership, Producing Results

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Stop Trying to Fix the Mirror

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I don’t know what world you live in. I mean that literally. I don’t know what business you’re in, what your customers think of you, how people treat you–I don’t know any of those things. I don’t know what world you live in. But one thing that I do know, with certainty, is this:

Your world is a mirror that reflects who you are.

Motivational Speaker Bill Stainton

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Change, Customer Service, Producing Results

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Change is NOT Hard, and I Can Prove It

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“Change is hard.”
“People hate change.”
“Change stresses me out.”

Bull.

As a professional keynote speaker, I’m on the road a lot. I speak to associations, organizations, and businesses across the country, and everywhere I go I hear people whining about change.

“Things are changing too fast.”
“I don’t adapt to change well.”
“Change is HAAAAAARRRRRDDDDD!”

None of it’s true, and I can prove ...

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Change, Producing Results

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If It’s Not Broken, Break It!

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“When everything is running smoothly, there’s no impetus to change, to grow, to progress. It’s only when things stop running smoothly—when they break—that we suddenly look at alternatives and discover, often to our amazement, that there’s a better way.”

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Oh, I know—you’ve got enough problems to deal with without tinkering with the stuff that’s already working. “The water’s already choppy,” you ...

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Change, Creativity, Producing Results, The Beatles

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Stop Lurching Through Your Business!

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As a professional speaker, I get to visit with many different businesses in a cross-section of industries. I’m noticing some trends that I find encouraging—trends that I’ve confirmed with several of my speaker colleagues. Now, I’m not going to sit here and try to convince you that we’re completely out of the economic doldrums. You’re too smart to fall for that (except for you—the guy in the yellow flowered shirt—you’ll believe anything I tell you). But in broad terms, ...

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Leadership, Producing Results, The Beatles, Work Ethic

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Harley-Davidson, the Beatles, and Change

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Earlier this morning I delivered the keynote address to a meeting of 1,000 Harley-Davidson dealers. It was an amazing experience. Perhaps the most amazing part was that 1,000 Harley people, who had packed the various hotel bars the previous night, actually showed up to hear an 8am keynote!

As part of my research, I had talked to several of these dealers in the previous few weeks. Among the questions I asked them was, “What do you think is the biggest challenge ...

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Change, Communication, Producing Results, The Beatles

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Where Will You Be In 5 Years?

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“Where do you see yourself in five years?” That’s a pretty common job interview question. The answer, of course, is “Someplace better than the pathetic job I’m applying for right now.” I was talking about this question recently with a friend of mine who works in Human Resources, and she said that most applicants respond to this question with what she called “lofty, unrealistic goals.” She went on to say, “The truth is, five years really isn’t all that much ...

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Change, Producing Results, The Beatles, Work Ethic

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Why You Need More Pain in Your Life

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I attended a workshop yesterday at my local Mac store, and the conversation turned to iPhones. This was pretty inevitable, because we were surrounded by the bloody things; still, it turned out that one attendee, whom I’ll call Cheswick because it’s a funny name, had not yet made the switch. He fully intended to, but said, “I guess I just haven’t reached my pain point with my current provider yet.”

I’ve been thinking about that, and it occurs to me that ...

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Change, Producing Results, Sales, The Beatles

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In Defense of Creativity

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I’m currently developing a keynote presentation and supplementary workshop/breakout session on creativity and innovative thinking, and a friend of mine advised me not to include the word creativity in the title because “creativity isn’t a very in concept.” To which I respond: really? REALLY?

He said I might get somewhere with “innovative thinking,” but nobody’s going to buy a program on “creativity.” Now, bear in mind that my friend isn’t an idiot. (Many of my friends are, but not this particular ...

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Change, Creativity, Producing Results, The Beatles

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