Blog

Welcome back, Smithy! (FYI, if your name isn’t Smithy, please read Part 1 of this series before continuing!) Today we’re going to continue our discussion on Wordsmithing, one of my favorite activities. Over the years, I’ve been accumulating quite the collection of derivations, origins and etymologies of key business terms. The other day I (finally) finished going through all of my articles, chapters, blog posts and writings from the…

As we approach the end of 2007, it’s important to ask yourself (and your team) Growth Questions. So, grab a cup of hot chocolate, relax, and let’s start thinking about the future! REMEMBER: growth, not comfort. Enjoy! 1. Are you cloning yourself through teaching others? 2. Are you doing business at the level you want to? 3. Are you growth minded? 4. At what point are you making a…

15 to 30 billion. That’s the (approximate) number of websites that exist on the Internet, according to a research study published by Pandia Search World News. This statistic leads to four crucual questions every online marketer must ask himself: 1. Why would someone come to (and stay at) my website for more than 60 seconds? 2. Why would someone give me her email address (and therefore, permission) to market…

Are you a Wordsmith? Someone who loves to explore and research the TRUE meanings behind the words people use every day? If so, congrats! You’re one step ahead of everyone. Because word exploration is GOLD. For learning. For research. For branding. For satisfying your curiosity. For expanding your expertise. For enhancing your creativity. For clarifying your understanding. For changing (and challenging) your thinking. Even if you don’t like to…

1. PEOPLE DON’T CARE … how good you are. They care how good you’re going to help them become. 2. PEOPLE DON’T CARE … what you’ve done. They care what you’ve learned, and how those lessons can help them. 3. PEOPLE DON’T CARE … what you can’t do. They care what you CAN do. 4. PEOPLE DON’T CARE … what they hear you say. They care what they SEE…

Let’s talk about “tolerance.” FIRST: “Tolerance” as a word. It comes from the Latin word tolerare, which means, “to bear or endure.” SECOND: “Tolerance” as an idea. The word tolerance was first recorded in 1539, although it wasn’t until 1868 that it was used in the context of “a physiological ability to take large doses.” THIRD: “Tolerance” as an attitude. As our country – and our world – becomes…

THREE QUESTIONS: 1. Are you making enough mistakes? 2. How are you learning from those mistakes? 3. How are you leveraging those mistakes into other ideas? Historically, making mistakes has been a leading cause of creative breakthroughs. So, if you want to motivate YOUR melon and increase your innovative prowess, check out this list of 10 mistakes that changed the world. NOTE: each of these vignettes has a Leverage…

Remember those Magic Eye posters from the 90’s? They were totally cool. You’d stare into the image. You’d relax your eyes. And eventually, a “hidden picture” would appear! The scientific name for this kind of image is an autostereogram. They allow people to see 3D images by focusing on 2D patterns. According to the Magic Eye website: “Autostereograms produce an illusion of depth using only a single image. The…

Writer’s Block is a myth. There’s no such thing. See, writing is merely an extension of thinking. So, if you hear someone complaining about her insufferable “Writer’s Block,” what she’s REALLY complaining about is her “Thinker’s Block.” Because she’s not asking enough questions. Because she’s not taking daily time to think. Because she’s not maintaining constant curiosity. Because she’s not viewing the world through her unique lens. Those are…

Why? It’s THE crucial question. It fuels creativity. It generates answers. It promotes discovery. In fact, asking, “Why?” has probably enabled more businesses, more organizations and more people to explore more ideas than any other question in the universe. That being said, I’d like to spend a few minutes talking about the potential dangers of the word WHY. Because as routinely as that word is used, it’s valuable to…