How to see different
Ads are pretty much the same —most of the times, at most of the places. Be it Peru, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, US, Germany, Netherlands, India or Sri Lanka. Different brands, different markets and ads look the same. They share the same perspective, the same sales pitch, quite similar concepts, same stories… heck, even same colors. How can they stand out if it all looks and feels the same? How can YOU stand out in a world of sameness? Being a vortex.
A punch in the face.
“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the face.” Mike Tyson However, if you have an approach… You can receive a quite decent amount of punches and still get ahead. You prep to get more punches, learn how to dodge some, how to receive others, how to see them coming (so that you adapt). That’s an approach. On the other hand, a plan is static. If something changes, it’s now a different plan. An approach lets *you* change and tune in your plans (or dismiss them). An approach is…
Let’s not screw up
In the avoidance of mistakes, where everyone fears screwing things up, there’s always the outlier who stands out. Rory Sutherland in his conversation with Blair Enns and Leah Power has this insight: “The more things you test, the more you discover.” Kinda obvious, but unseen. Most people choose to play safe. To fit in, to blend in. However… To stand out, you need to be bold. That outlier. The choice, is yours to make: To see everything as a threat and look for perfection. Or ship, in order…
The extra mile
Talking about underpromising and overdelivering, here’s an exercise for you. 🙂 Take 5 brands/companies you LOVE. Not that you like very much or that they’re quite good. That you LOOOOVE. → Do they underpromise to you? → Or do they make you a promise, keep it and deliver on it? When they go the extra mile for you is not underpromising and overdelivering. It has to do more with their values and capacity. Here’s the thing If/When they can’t go that extra mile, they tell you and you’re OK with…
Internal clients. Not.
There’s no such thing as internal customers. A client is someone who pays in exchange for a service/product. A client is considered one who can make your business profitable via their money. For a business to be profitable (and create impact), it needs to be exclusive: to focus on the group that can build profit and exclude the ones who don’t (for a bad fit, incapability to satisfy their needs, not enough acquisition power, etc.) And the most important thing about a client/customer and a…
Allow yourself to rant
It all starts as a rant. What you find nuts, ridiculous or outrageous. Pour your words into it. Be pissed. Be upset. Call out the nonsense. Then, ask ONE question: How could this help the ones I serve? Now, Flip. Brain dump. Reframe. Write and create.
Prepared-unpreparedness
When going into running a workshop, having a sales call or getting to know a new prospect’s situation, I’ve come to get prepared-unprepared. WTH you mean, Rod? That you come with a rough idea of the context, so you can better grasp the nuances of the situation. However, going in at the same time with the unpreparedness to approach things with curiosity and in spirits of having a conversation. In a convo, you get to listen to understand, to make deeper questions, to challenge what you and your…
Balance or Harmony?
Balance. It pulls one side on, or from the other to make things even. It takes from one to give to the other, so it keeps an equilibrium. And sometimes it feels like juggling. Business, work, fam, leisure… Harmony. Many points happening at the same time and working together. Friend of the list Jonathan Stark (musician, coach and on a mission to rid the world of hourly billing) shared this definition of harmony: “Two or more notes played at overlapping points in time that, in combination,…
A different view to hiring (and leading).
Most of the advice you find about hiring is focused or tailored for big corps. For a startup or a growing team? Not really. How do you get to nail hiring and find (and keep) top performers? That’s kind of the million-dollar question. Recently had a talk with friend of the list Anthony Holloway, lead of Talent Acquisition at Woebot Health. His views on how to approach hiring are quite refreshing and clean of HR-BS. And there’s something here I found captivating: Anthony’s directness and…
Giving others power.
Empowerment. How it’s commonly understood: to give others power. And just like that, it becomes a tool for command and control, because just as you can give power, you can take it away. It turns into a way to keep people within rails and expect that someone else will take responsibility for them at the end. It comes from the ego “I can empower others”. However… Here’s its definition: Empowerment. “The process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one’s life.”…