Disney Brand Loyalty Keynote Speaker
Five daily blogs about life's 5 big choices on five different sites.
Has it ever crossed your mind?
Loyalty. Organizational loyalty. The loyalty you show. The loyalty you receive.
And even if, for what ever reason, you question your current loyalty, where else would you go to find it?
Catch 22, isn’t it?
Here’s a provocative perspective from a business contact from LinkedIn.
Click here to read David Noer’s blog post: The Necessary Paradox of Cautious Loyalty.
Walking through an airport this week, a book title caught my eye, “Exploiting Chaos“.
Why? If I have to explain this to you, you most likely won’t understand. But, because I’m a sucker for people who want to understand and continuously improve, I’ll give it a brief try here.
Chaos is a paradox. We can (and probably do) hate chaos. Or, we can (and probably don’t) love chaos.
Hate it for all of the societal norm reasons most hate chaos.
Love it for all the opportunity it brings. Yes, opportunity. So once again, if I have to explain this to you, you won’t understand. But if I were you, I’d quickly try to figure it out, or get left behind.
LinkedIn profiles. How many have you read? I’ve read a ton.
Please forgive me for saying this, “Most of them bore me to tears”. They all say essentially the same thing about the author, “I’m so smart, I’m so smart, I’m so smart”.
The intent, noble. The result, boring. Why? Because they all sound the same. Without creativity, and without courage, we perform the status quo.
Who’s looking to hire status quo? In today’s tough market, I’m guessing no one.
What prompted this post? A couple days ago a LinkedIn connection said, “Yours is the best LinkedIn profile ever. Interesting yet informative”.
Ok, so it’s just one person’s opinion, but it sure feels good to know the intent and the result aligned.
Walt Disney didn’t have an MBA. Neither did his older brother, Roy Disney. So?
So, maybe you don’t need an MBA to be successful. Maybe you do. There are people in both camps – some insisting it’s mandatory, some it’s a complete waste of time and money.
Guess what? I’m in the middle. I think you don’t need one and you do need one. So that’s what I’ve set out to do. Get one and not get one.
Confusing? It won’t be. As the days pass and we get nearer to the autumnal equinox, this paradox will become clear.
It’s a four year degree, which I began January 2008. There are big life choices. We all get to choose.
For example, ten years ago I chose to be healthier, so I started doing one push up each day. The second week, two push ups each day. Third week, three a day, and so on.
Last month, I represented the United States in the Master’s Track & Field World Championships, in Lahti, Finland.
Wanna know one of the biggest mistakes smart people make?
Sophisticated and intelligent, most organizations wordsmith their vision, mission and brand statements for the benefit of looking good to Wall Street and their Board of Directors.
Here’s the paradox, in a quote from someone really smart.
“Complexity holds people back from acting because they don’t know which action will have impact”.
What smart person said that?
It was Bill Gates, in a Rolling Stone article I read in October 2007.
Next question.
Do you agree with Bill? Why or why not?
Wanna know my opinion? It sounds bloody brilliant to me.
Many organizations are tempted to put together various “decks” with really cool, lofty, even inspirational stuff. That’s what great organizations do, right?
They capture the essence of the vision, mission, brand, etc. on “paper”, so that new and existing employees will be fully engaged, and committed.
Here’s the paradox: People are too busy to remember what you’re really trying to say.
My mission is to help people take it from the paper to the floor.
I have many ways in which to do this. For the sake of a shorter post, I’ll stop here.
Carpe diem, make it a GREAT day for your employees, customers and shareholders. If you don’t, who will. jungle jeff 🙂