competition Archives - Connect the Dots

What You Want Your Competitors To Be Thinking

Here is what you want your competitors to be thinking right now:

“Boy, things are really uncertain. The economy is topsy-turvy, flights are being canceled right and left, and the country is reeling. We should probably hold off on any ‘frivolous’ expenses—like innovation—until things settle down.”

That’s what you want your competitors to be thinking right now.

Because right now is exactly when you should be doubling down on innovation.

In uncertain times, the innovative companies win. In fact, it’s often a double win, ...

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11
AUG
2022

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Innovation, Leadership

competition, innovation, uncertainty

How To Make Your Team Hate You In One Easy Step

Posted by: Bill Stainton

A friend of mine has a cat that she affectionately refers to as her “barnacle,” because he’s always there. Wherever she goes, there he is. The kitchen, the living room, the office, on the stairs—he is constantly underfoot. Sometimes literally.

That’s kind of endearing in a cat. Not so much in a boss.

Nobody wants to have the boss constantly hovering around, looking over their shoulders, meowing for food (or the boss equivalent). In fact, here’s how to make your team hate ...

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26
APR
2017

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Communication, Leadership, Producing Results, Teams, Work Ethic

attitude, award winning performance, Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business communication, business integrity, business speaker, change, communication, communication skills, competition, creative ideas, creativity, customer service, diversity, exceeding expectations, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, inspirational speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, leading through change, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

How to Be a Great Little-Known Leader

Posted by: Bill Stainton

John Wooden. Nelson Mandela. Richard Branson. Abraham Lincoln.

Great leaders, all of them. Their words and actions inspired and motivated thousands upon thousands of people.

But probably not you. At least, not directly.

You never met Abraham Lincoln. (And, if you did, you need to contact the Guiness Book of World Records people immediately.) And, although I may not know you personally, I’m guessing that you’ve never had any of the other three on your speed dial either.

Sure, you’ve read their words and ...

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19
APR
2017

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Leadership, Producing Results, Work Ethic

attitude, award winning performance, Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business communication, business integrity, business speaker, change, communication, communication skills, competition, creative ideas, creativity, customer service, diversity, exceeding expectations, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, inspirational speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, leading through change, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

Breakthrough Ideas Are Not Created In a Vacuum

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Your next great idea will not come to you out of thin air.

I can say this with near 100% certainty because that’s not how ideas work. That breakthrough idea—the one that will make you rich and famous by Thursday—will not be created in a vacuum. More likely, it’ll be the result of a collision. A collision of dots.

Huh?

Let me explain. Creativity (which is simply the process of coming up with ideas) is all about connecting dots. These dots can be ...

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12
APR
2017

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Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results, Videos

attitude, award winning performance, Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business communication, business integrity, business speaker, change, communication, communication skills, competition, creative ideas, creativity, customer service, diversity, exceeding expectations, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, inspirational speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, leading through change, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

How Bruce Springsteen Can Make You a Better Boss

Posted by: Bill Stainton

There’s nothing quite like seeing a world-class team operating at the highest level, is there? For example, let’s take Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. The video below shows Bruce (“The Boss”) and his team working out an audience-requested song—not one of Bruce’s—live, in front of 45,000 people. Watch the entire video (it’s about 8 minutes—and turn it up as loud as you can!), and then read on for my thoughts on how what “The Boss” does with his ...

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22
MAR
2017

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Leadership, Producing Results, Teams, Videos

attitude, award winning performance, Bill Stainton, business communication, change, communication, communication skills, competition, creative ideas, creativity, exceeding expectations, innovation, innovative thinking, leadership speaker, leading through change, motivational speaker, professional speaker, running your business, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teams, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

Try This Simple Trick to Solve Your Next Problem

Posted by: Bill Stainton

How often have you gotten stuck while looking for a new idea, or seeking the solution to a problem? Want to know a cool way to get unstuck?

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, ...

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8
JUL
2015

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Creativity, Producing Results

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

You Are NOT Your Customer’s Responsibility

Posted by: Bill Stainton

You do a great job for a customer, and you’re set! That customer will never forget you! Right? Wrong! As it turns out, it is NOT your customer’s job to remember you!

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1
JUN
2014

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Customer Service, Producing Results

award winning performance, Bill Stainton, business speaker, competition, customer service, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, motivational speaker, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, small business, small business success

How Complacency Can Kill You

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Last week I wrote about something my FAA flight examiner said as he signed me off for my pilot’s license: “This is a license to learn. It doesn’t mean you know everything.”

This week I want to tell you what he said immediately after that.

First of all, a little background. I got my pilot’s license after about 50 hours of flight time. (You must have a minimum of 40 hours before you’re eligible ...

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30
APR
2014

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Change, Producing Results

award winning performance, Bill Stainton, business speaker, competition, complacency, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, professional speaker, success

A Tale of Two Restaurants…and You

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Today we’re going to talk about two fast-food restaurant chains. They both serve similar products, but one makes way more money than the other. Let’s see if you can guess which one is the big winner:

Restaurant Chain #1:

[unordered_list style=”tick”]

Virtually synonymous with its product
Thousands and thousands of locations throughout the entire country
Open 7 days a week, 365 days a year

[/unordered_list]

Restaurant Chain #2:[unordered_list style=”red-x”]

Virtually unknown in half the country
Fewer than half the number of restaurants as Restaurant Chain #1
Every location closed nearly ...

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2
APR
2014

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Producing Results, Sales, Work Ethic

attitude, award winning performance, Bill Stainton, competition, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, motivational speaker, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, seattle motivational speaker, small business, small business success

Produce “Unreasonable” Results!

Posted by: Bill Stainton

When I tell people that, as a motivational speaker, I work with, and speak for, organizations that want their people to play a bigger game and produce unreasonable results, the first question I get is, “What do you mean by unreasonable? Isn’t that kind of negative?”

To answer that, let’s first take a look at what reasonable results might look like. When I look up the word “reasonable” in ...

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28
JAN
2013

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Producing Results, Sales, Work Ethic

Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business speaker, competition, exceeding expectations, goals, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, motivational speaker, running a business, running your business