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From implementation to strategy
The closer you can help a business get to where it wants to go, the more strategic your work. (Perhaps the most strategic work involves helping business leaders figure out what outcomes they’re trying to achieve with their businesses.) It adds more value to the business, which also means they’re willing to pay you more…
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Easy businesses
Easy businesses don’t exist. Grass is greener syndrome does. So does the Dunning–Kruger effect. Every industry and field has its own challenges and rewards. You’ll be better equipped to deal with some than others.
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Experimentation, junk, and excellence
SpaceNTime describes Creative Doing, “The book really breaks down how one can tap into their best creative self while understanding why your shitty work comes along with it.” I’ve always described this as quantity leading to quality. Nell Painter writes in Old in Art School, “One of my painting teachers said 85 percent of what…
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Language builds culture
In Unreasonable Hospitality, Will Guidara highlights one of restaurateur Danny Meyers’ key insights: “Danny has always understood how language can build culture by making essential concepts easy to understand and to teach. He is brilliant at coining phrases around common experiences, potential pitfalls, and favorable outcomes.” Whether you want to call them mottos, memes, or…
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Don’t beat them, don’t join them
I’ve heard a couple of times from friends that they’re trying to stop using social networks. The keyword is try. It’s been difficult, to say the least. The thumb seems to have a mind of its own. Social networks are not only incredibly exciting to experience, they’re also literally how many people keep in touch. …
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Pounding the pavement
I’m constantly reminded of how hard successful people work to get their work out there. Last week, I met up with a NYT-bestselling author who took an interview with me, and told me he’d been cold emailing people on TikTok offering to send them copies of his book. Even with over a million copies sold,…
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Practice like an expert, speak like an enthusiast
Gary Vaynerchuk says, “Speak like you’re an enthusiast, not an expert. Expertise positioning is very dangerous for a lot of people because it leads them to imposter syndrome and insecurity. You don’t need to be an expert, you need to be a practitioner.”
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The time it takes
Some of the most dangerous driving happens when a person leaves late and still tries to make it to the destination on time. They figure they’ll save time in traffic. Or, in other words, they rush. Experts do not rush. Experts know how long a process inherently needs to take. They embrace the German word…
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3 life lessons I learned from one of the world’s best executive coaches
Nobody gets to the Olympics without a coach, the saying goes. The concept clearly applies to business leaders and entrepreneurs, whose performance influences dozens, or even thousands, of people. Marshall Goldsmith is among the most prominent of these executive coaches. I knew him through his cleverly titled book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You…
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Contentions: Less marketing, more teaching
David Heinemeier Hansson’s latest on earning attention, and out-teaching the competition, is really great. Basecamp is one of the rare examples of organizations that publish really great writing—books like Rework, magazines like Signal v. Noise, etc. Anyone who wants to study them, take notes: It’s not content marketing. At least, not in the conventional sense.…