David Bowie existed before Ziggy Stardust, but it was Ziggy Stardust that put him on the map. The striking, glam costume; the red hair; the over-the-top Spiders from Mars tour—all these elements, plus, of course, the music, shot David Bowie into stardom. But the glam rock era eventually faded. And if David Bowie had stayed there, he would have been solely of that time, and faded along with it.
All businesses depend on innovation to stay ahead and thrive in an ever-more-competitive landscape, and all innovation begins with a creative idea. But many businesses have set up policies that actually make it harder for people to come up with and/or implement these vital creative ideas. Is yours one of them?
When I was the executive producer of Seattle’s ...
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“In the Spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.”
So says Tennyson.
“In December a young (and not-so-young) leader’s fancy somewhat more heavily turns to thoughts of goals for the following year.”
So says Stainton. Although not as poetically. But in order to give yourself the best chance of achieving those goals, you need to make sure you don’t make any of these 5 mistakes.
One of the greatest benefits a long-term leader can bring to his or her organization is their experience. The experienced leader has seen it all before. The experienced leader isn’t likely to get fazed by the bump in the road. The experienced leader is the face of calm in the midst of the storm.
But the experienced leader can also be missing the boat—and with it, opportunities.
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“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom” – Gen. George S. Patton.
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” – Abraham Lincoln.
“Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people” – Eleanor Roosevelt.
Great leaders have said some great things. But not everything that comes out of a leader’s mouth is pure gold. Sometimes leaders say things that are—let’s be honest here—pretty dumb. Unfortunately, ...
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It often seems to me that the world is made up of two kinds of people: the half who are looking for the key to success, and the half who have found the key and are willing to sell it to the first half for four easy payments of just $297 each.
Now, I’m certainly not opposed to anyone making a profit from selling information. I’m especially not opposed to it when that “anyone” is me. That said, I’ve spent years ...
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Do you want to produce breakthrough results in your business? In your industry? In your life? I’m not talking about incremental results, the “Hey, look, we got a new logo!” kind of results. I’m talking about the game-changers. The quantum leap kind of results that can redefine an industry. If those are the kind of results you want to produce, you might be able to learn a thing or two (or three)…from Donald Trump.
Steve Jobs! Mark Zuckerberg! Elon Musk! All of them have produced (and, in some cases, are continuing to produce—although Steve has lowered his output a bit) breakthrough results! What must it be like to live in their world, to breathe their rarefied air! Well, here’s the thing. Breakthrough results are not limited to the elite few. You can produce breakthrough results just as well as anyone else. But first, you may need to let go of some of the habits ...
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Smart people are lazy. (No, not all smart people. I understand that you are different. It’s the others.) Now, this can be a good thing, which is why Bill Gates once said, “I will always choose a lazy person to do a difficult job…because he will find an easy way to do it.” But it can also be a bad thing, because there are few things sadder than unfulfilled potential.
You’ve probably heard the idiom, “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry,” or some version of it. I’m not sure what the documentation is regarding the plans of mice; I’m not entirely convinced that they’re really “planners.” But I can certainly vouch for the best-laid plans of men—and women! I’ve had my share of best-laid plans go awry, and I’m guessing you have too. So what do you do when that happens?
