Any time you attend a meeting, make a sales call, give a presentation, write a blog or interview with a prospective employer, you have a choice:
You can vomit information.
You can deliver insight.
You can ask questions.
You can create silence.
OR: If you want to be invited back, you can deliver perspective.
Something that disturbs.
Something that moves eyebrows.
Something that flips the mental switch.
Something that creates a smile in the mind.
Something that takes people’s hiding places away from them.
As a writer, speaker, consultant and mentor, perspective is my job. It’s what people pay me to deliver. And today I’d like to share another assortment of perspective (read part one here!) to help you, your brand and your organization become better.
CAUTION: Each of the items on this list is worthy of its own discussion. Next time you have a meeting, conference or company retreat, I encourage you to use them as conversation starters, icebreakers and thought experiments for your team:
1. The Beatles never had a fan page. Are you spending money trying to make people like you, or investing emotional labor trying to make the world better?
2. There are people who eat Hooters to go. Are you forgetting about your brand’s secondary value?
3. John Coltrane played the same songs in the second set, just to find something in the music he missed earlier. What experience do you offer?
4. The Grateful Dead still made records. Are you contributing to an ongoing body of work or just putting on shows?
5. Picasso’s family saved every scrap of paper on which he drew. Are you keeping your bad ideas for later?
6. Twitter has over one million apps, created by outside developers. Are you selling a product to people or creating a platform for them?
7. The world’s largest employer is Ebay. How is your company taking advantage of mobile workforces?
8. Amazon didn’t make money for seven years. Are you willing to hustle while you wait?
9. When Marvel created the KISS comic book series, Stan Lee required them to mix their own blood into the ink. How personal is your work?
10. Ben Franklin never obtained patents or copyrights because he felt indebted to the past. Are you paying homage to the voices that shaped you?
11. Rowing is the only sport that started out as a capital punishment. Will you slog through what matters to achieve immortality?
12. George Washington spent seven percent of his salary on booze. Are you allowing yourself to have at least one vice?
13. The Shawshank Redemption has been played on TNT an average of once every two months for the past fifteen years. Are you timeless?
14. Most collect calls are made on Father’s Day. Do you need a holiday to show someone you care?
REMEMBER: When you walk in with perspective, you walk out with heartshare.
People don’t need more information.
They need permission to see the world differently.
LET ME ASK YA THIS…
What perspective do you deliver?
LET ME SUGGEST THIS…
For the list called, “8 Ways to Move Quickly on New Opportunities,” send an email to me, and you win the list for free!
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Scott Ginsberg
That Guy with the Nametag
Author, Speaker, Publisher, Artist, Mentor
[email protected]
Now booking for 2011-2012!
Watch The Nametag Guy in action here!
