-
Nintendo’s weakness
Nintendo’s approach to making video games isn’t to outdo its competitors in hardware or graphics. “At its heart, making toys is about using existing technology skillfully to deliver a surprising experience. It’s not a matter of whether or not the tech is cutting edge, but whether or not people think it’s fun,” says the late…
-
Prioritizing
Every CEO’s job is to prioritize. It’s to decide what to do, and more importantly, what not to do. Once they do that, they communicate the priorities to their teams—sometimes tens of thousands of people—and those teams get it done. I want to repeat this: the leader’s most important task is to prioritize. Even thousands…
-
“Impossible” may just be a problem you haven’t solved yet
One of my goals for this blog is to build up a queue of posts. Ideally, it’s maybe a month’s or season’s worth of posts. This queue makes publishing here every day much more relaxing, and I can experience less worry about falling behind a schedule (which has happened!). Until this week, that goal felt…
-
Be mindful of what you look for, because you might find it
During the first few weeks Terry Crews was on set for The Expendables, he felt miserable. While the actors were in the major action scenes, his character was playing a minor role. He was brought in as a replacement for Wesley Snipes, and chosen for the role because of his muscles. He sat around in…
-
Action vs. declaration
The smallest action is worth a thousand bold declarations. A declaration merely tells somebody else what you want; an action shows them what you want and your drive to make it happen. Championship coach Bill Walsh puts it this way in The Score Takes Care of Itself: Someone will declare, “I am the leader!” and…
-
Cross-subsidization
A full-time job (or other paid gig) sustains a creative hobby financially. A creative hobby sustains a full-time job energetically and with collected expertise. Keeping each objective clear is important. A creative hobby is free from financial pressure. A job is free from personal inclinations, and can keep the practitioner (you!) disciplined, professional, and fulfilled.
-
Realistic vs. dream jobs
When you’re choosing to commit to a client or employer, your realistic option may actually be a worse fit for you than your dream option. There are all sorts of reasons for this. For example, if you’re looking for a new client, maybe you have more in common with your dream client—shared references, experiences, values,…
-
Doing your work your way
John Calhoun joined Apple in the 1990s. He approached his work by making quick prototypes, whereas his coworkers would often carefully plan and design their software, whiteboarding it out before writing even one line of code. He writes: From my approach of diving in rather than planning I began to regard myself at Apple as…
-
A business needs its own magazine
Backstory is the name of a bookstore in London, UK. This bookstore publishes a self-titled magazine that I picked up recently. It’s good. More importantly, it makes sense. Backstory works with a community of people including distributors and authors, so this magazine is a channel for them to highlight the community and as a launchpad…
-
Retitling
In 2000, Robert Solomon released his book, Brain Surgery for Suits: 56 Things Every Account Person Should Know. In 2016, that piece of work was re-released as the title it’s best known for, The Art of Client Service: The Classic Guide, Updated for Today’s Marketers and Advertisers. Same work, new packaging, with two additional chapters. …