Category: #humanity
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Burnout is no badge of honor.
If you squint your eyes just enough, tilt your head at the right angle, and hold your breath for a count of 10, you might see burnout as the result of lazy, incomplete, ineffective, and bad business design. We hear a lot of ‘success stories’ about founders and CEOs working 12-16 hours each day, providing…
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Everything is Marketing. Marketing is Everything!
Everything we do and don’t do communicates something about us, our values, preferences, and personalities. It helps us build trust and social bonds to those around us, as well as to seek other places/groups where we can easily connect. This applies to individuals, small business entities, and large corporations equally. Humans evolved to communicate at…
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Listen, connect, innovate.
These three words will do wonders in EVERY relationship you have – both business and personal. As simple as it sounds, it represents a lifetime commitment of practice, patience, getting it wrong, and improving. LISTEN:It must start here. Hear the words others say as well as what they don’t say. By following the ‘anatomic rule’…
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Give More TIME
FACT: We all have the same 24 hours each day. What we get largely comes down to how we allocate those moments. Let me be clear, “Give More Time” is NOT about giving all of your time away. It is about establishing ways to be selective about where you invest your time so that you…
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Easy Is Always Better
One way to gain huge advantages in the minds of the human buyers and users is to make things simple. Einstein has been famously attributed to a reminder to us all that if we can’t explain it simply enough for a 5th grader, we don’t understand it well enough. This applies to Business, Finance, Economics,…
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Story is EVERYTHING
You’ve likely heard it many times before, story is important to your brand. What is most fascinating is that it is less about the story you tell, and more about the story people say over and over within their own mind. You get to influence their story of you through the following: – content –…
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Personalization is HUMANIZATION
YES. We are buyers, sellers, users, employees, partners, owners, influencers, interacts, and an unthinkably broad range of demographics. Most importantly, we are HUMANS We are individuals with passions, interests, dreams, hobbies, friends, people demanding things from us, challenges to navigate, and lots of ideas. Smart marketers understand the value in the first list. They build…
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Whole-business approach
Whole person approach = whole business approach Thankfully, there is a lot of talk about mental health and stability as it pertains to business, career, growth, and success. The benefits apply to EVERYONE, not just entrepreneurs, founders, and executives. A whole-person approach to business design is merely about creating support systems for critical infrastructure. It…
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Growing with Values
Formalizing and adopting clear values in your organization or team does have a immediate and positive impact on morale, trust, and growth. When organizations approach this as a 1-time investment, they can expect a 1-time bump. If shown graphically, it would likely be a sharp spike followed by sharp decline. The decline may be more,…
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How To Prioritize
Ever come out of a strategic meeting with TOO MANY PRIORITIES? It might be a sign that they actually aren’t priorities and might benefit by a system. Feel free to apply, adapt, and/or share this simple one. 1: GET PHYSICAL: not like fisticuffs! Write the following down on paper or whiteboard (avoid software as much…
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Always Add Value
When business is booming… When things are slow… When you are absolutely confident… When you are in doubt… Find ways to add value to whatever situation you find yourself! Here are some common ways to start adding value. Listening and attention Compassion and understanding Sincere compliment Smile or tasteful humor Hope, new options, or a path forward Education or…
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Uncertainty is the result of unclear VALUES.
Decisions are made nearly sub-consciously and are absolutely driven by emotions. Even the big decisions that are supported by mountains of data and have sweeping impact on thousands of people. Having clear values – whatever they might be – helps align information and resources to ease the decision-making process. They also help bring consistency to decisions made…
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Leading from Chaos
All your thoughts, beliefs, actions, and reactions have brought you to where you are today. It might not be the depiction of Strategic Mastery you would like it to be. It is likely the most accurate depiction of “learning curve” and represents huge investments in developing emotional boundaries, physical dexterities, understanding others, situational awareness, and…
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The Thin Line Separating Crazy from Genius
The distance between “Crazy” and “Genius” is measured in tenths of millimeters and often comes down to 3 categories – #Practicality, #Audience, and #Messaging. Here are some questions to help bring clarity to each of these categories. The more you invest in them, the more you will develop unlimited value, markets, and revenues. PRACTICALITY:How does it benefit, bring…
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Why People Love Brands
The foundation of every #Brand is psychological safety. People want to feel #heard.We want to feel #connected with others.We want to be part of a shared #future #Communicating that brand is done through #BelongingCues – subtle and authentic behaviors repeated over time that create conditions for collaboration, shared problem-solving, listening, and learning. People show love and support where they feel it reciprocated. Are you…
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To Brand Is To Be Human
Your brand is critical to attracting ideal clients/customers, defining expected quality, overall business stability, growth opportunities, and personal wealth. Meaning: without a defined brand, all the above is extraordinarily difficult. It has always been this way! By always, I refer to dating of early branding irons that go back thousands of years. More crucially, branding…
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Simple Rules For Communication
1st Rule of Marketing and Communications:Say something you believe and that people want to hear. It is about being original in your perspective, not just verbal vomit 2nd Rule:Say it clearly, and in appropriate channel. 3rd Rule:Repeat and refine your message, audience, and channel. These rules are alarmingly simple and easy to overlook. They are…
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Finding Your Marketing Sweet-spot
Marketing initiatives and strategies are as unique and diverse as humanity. There is NEVER a single best-solution for any brand, product, service, or industry. Rather, each marketing and leadership team must determine their own goals, outcomes, and objectives they wish to achieve with their efforts and find a range of nuanced tactics that serve them…
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Who do you serve?
#Business exists to serve people. And to the extent people are served, business grows. Get to know your people – as individuals.People often fall into categories of shareholders, owners, employees, vendors, buyers, users, subscribers, followers, and friends – each with different needs. None of them is more important than any other. Find ways to help them…
David R Frick 