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This is footage from my entire two-hour workshop with Go Network. If this link doesn’t work, you can also watch it here. And, if you’d like to see my slides — all 383 of them! — I’ve posted the deck here. Happy New Year! LET ME ASK YA THIS: What will this be the year of? LET ME SUGGEST THIS: For the list called, “99 Questions Every Entrepreneur Should…

Don’t get me wrong. It’s a fine idea to assume your people will engage if they know their work makes a difference to the organization. But don’t fool yourself. People don’t care about your organization as much as your organization thinks they do. They care about themselves, their career, their bank account, their families and their future. That’s why much of the existing material on engagement, while nice in…

As you recall from my recent post about what smart brands know, “heartshare” is defined as follows: The level of emotional responsiveness your work commands. And when you capture it, engagement ensues, followership grows and loyalty skyrockets. Today we’re going to explore another collection of ways to make it work for your message, your brand and your organization:1. Bring the funny. Humor isn’t just the universal language – it’s…

My friend Sean Gallagher at StartupFreedom recently interviewed me about execution, idea protection and business sustainability. Here’s what we learned: Coming up with a creative business idea isn’t the magic solution to making money online. In fact, coming up with a really creative, innovative business idea may even be harder to make money with. You may create something that is innovative and unique but nobody in the market may…

According to recent news release from United States Bureau of Labor, twenty-five percent of all American workers are self-employed. That means one out of every four of us is our own boss, right? Wrong. Everybody is their own boss. Even if you’re not self-employed. Even if you’re not employed at all. You’re still the boss. Interestingly, the term “boss” comes from the Dutch baas, which means, “overseer.” Isn’t that…

Dishonesty has a limited shelf life. According to a recent study from the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, eighty percent of divorce lawyers have reported a spike in the number of cases that use social media for evidence of cheating: “Flirty messages and photographs found on Facebook are increasingly being cited as proof of unreasonable behavior or irreconcilable differences.” Unfortunately, the study forgot to mention one thing: This problem…

First, you wanted to grow marketshare. Then, you wanted to expand mindshare. Now, you need to capture something bigger. After all, humans are emotional creatures. Not integers. Not categories. Not demographics. People. And if you want to reach the ones who matter most, you need to capture heartshare. Now, while I’m not claiming squatter’s rights on this particular term, I am going to officially pen the definition of it:…

Let’s talk about your people. Users. Customers. Clients. Employees. Staff. Volunteers. Members. Students. Followers. Congregants. Audience members. Participants. Listeners. Viewers. Subscribers. What engages them? CONSIDER THIS: The word “engage” comes from the French engagier, which means, “to make a pledge.” Maybe that’s the real question: Why do people pledge themselves? To the leader. To the team. To the organization. To the mission. Why do people engage? Here’s my theory:People…

Intensity is highly overrated. In times of crisis, people turn to people who are calm. Not emotionless. Not uncommunicative. Not borderline comatose. Calm. Calm is what builds trust, mitigates stress, remedies confusion and inspires followership. THE ONLY PROBLEM IS: You can’t really calm people down. All you can do is turn yourself into a force of calm, in the hopes that you’ll infect people with the energy they need…

Twenty years ago, my dad jumped. He broke ties with his corporate owners and went out on his own. And for the first year, he was working from home, struggling to build inventory and scrambling to find customers. Not exactly our family’s finest hour. But, he still cites that move as his best decision ever. And two decades later, his company still remains the best in the business. Now,…