“M&Ms! Incense! Black soap! Shea butter!” I had no idea that these four things went together until today, when one of New York City’s finest subway merchants launched into a loud pitch on my train. And he made a sale. James Altucher often suggests that creators look for ways to combine ideas in new ways: […]
How reaction can restrict us
A friend shared this quote from Gloria Anzaldúa this week: A counterstance locks one into a duel of oppressor and oppressed; locked in mortal combat, like the cop and the criminal, both are reduced to a common denominator of violence… All reaction is limited by, and dependent on, what it is reacting against… At some point on […]
Giving up the need to know it all
After this weekend’s conference closed yesterday, I invited a fellow presenter to stop by our house for lunch on their way home. We were both exhausted and fit for little more than sitting quietly on the couch and waiting for food to appear. So I was surprised when my friend picked up my almost finished but abandoned Rubik’s cube. […]
The price of the purple cow
Seth Godin, who posts thoughts on marketing, value, and originality on his blog every day, published the book Purple Cow back in 2003. Online marketing hadn’t yet peaked then but web marketers were already challenging conventional advice about how businesses should map out and manage their public-facing communication, influence and impact, and reputation. Purple Cow […]
Accounting for history
To make good decisions and to keep relationships running smoothly, consider accounting for at least two types of context. Proximate context includes what’s happening in and around the decision-maker and the community or problem they hope to engage. Temporal context includes what’s happened up to the present moment and future possibilities, probabilities, and risks given past […]
Scripting Interactions Only Gets You So Far
Scripting interactions is the quickest way to make sure everyone on a team gets on the same page about how to deal with common issues. That’s why large tech companies like Microsoft use scripts to standardize the support they offer customers, and non-profit organizations use scripts to train fundraising phone bankers. You might feel at a […]
