Quote of the Day 28/12/09

“If you don’t like change, you’re going to like irrelevance even less.”
—General Eric Shinseki, retired Chief of Staff, US Army

Leadership In ‘Tribes’

Seth Godin’s latest book Tribes is essentially about leadership. Mostly about leadership within the business context, but not exclusively so. Scanning through it again I captured these four quotes which I find inspiring and which also relate to this module’s material.

“The barriers to leadership have fallen. There are tribes everywhere, many in search of leaders. This creates a dilemma for you: without a barrier, why not begin?”

“No one gives you permission or approval or a permit to lead. You can just do it. The only one who can say no is you.”

“Do you have what you need to lead? Do you need more power or education or money? When will you have enough of what you need in order to start leading?”

“What we see, over and over, is that the brave but cheap leadership that leads to passionate movements always (always!) defeats the top-down, mediocre, slow-moving and very expensive techniques we all grew up with. Do the math.”

Those are four very challenging statements and difficult to answer if you are being true to yourself.

Quote of the Day 20/12/09

“Man who not smile should not open shop.”
—Ancient Chinese Proverb

Quote of the Day 15/12/09

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
—Alan Kay

Quote Of The Day 14/12

“Thinking is overrated. I only ever learn what I really think by writing or talking.”
—Merlin Mann of 43Folders

Quote Of The Day 13/12

“Training is a tax you pay for a lousy hiring environment.”
—Robert Stephens of The Geek Squad.

Quote of the Day 11/12/09

“[You] just can’t have an intelligent conversation with a Coke bottle. People do not wish to speak with brands.”
—Richard Binhammer, Member of Dell’s Digital Media team.

Quote Of The Day 10/12

“That world got blown up and the new democratised world of the enfranchised consumer and the occasional angry crowd has forced businesses (and the PR people and firms that advise them) to open up.”
—David Brain, CEO Edelman Europe, on the empowered consumer.

Quote Of The Day 5/12

“Well done is better than well said.”
–Benjamin Franklin

Quote Of The Day 29/11

“Designers say ‘We solve problems’ and ‘We can do strategy’, and they forget that everyone else is also solving problems and contributing to strategy. The question is what problems can you uniquely solve?”
—Virginia Postrel

Quote Of The Day 25/11

“How can I tell you what I think until I’ve heard what I’m going to say?”
—Stephen Fry, quoted in his essay Don’t mind your language.

Quote Of The Day 22/11

“Advertising is a tax for having an unremarkable product.”
—Robert Stephens of The Geek Squad.
—From David Taylor’s ‘Never Mind the Sizzle... Where’s the Sausage’

Quote Of The Day 19/11

“How do you want your answer?
— Immediate.
— Accurate.
— Brief.
(Choose two.)”
—A sign seen on an office door.
Link via Merlin Mann.

Quote Of The Day 16/11

“Do you know enough?
If not, what are you doing about it?
If so, who do you think you're kidding?”
—Seth Godin

Quote Of The Day 15/11

“Using networking technologies in the way the Obama campaign did is an insurgent strategy to try and gather up an audience. The price of the strategy is you must let go of the control.”
—Karlin Lillington, The Irish Times

Quote Of The Day 5/11

“The market for something to believe in is infinite.”
— Hugh Macleod
This quote from 2005 is one that has always stuck in my mind. The palpable sense of Obama euphoria in the air today seems to prove the point.

Quote Of The Day 4/11

“Your product doesn't have features that are more important than the ‘features’ being discussed in this election, yet, like most marketers, you’re obsessed with them. Forget it. The story is what people respond to.”
—Seth Godin
I had to do an election-themed quotation given the day that is in it. Seth Godin is turning into the most-quoted pundit on my Learning Log, but he is consistently hitting the high notes these days. This post on the marketing lessons from Election 08 is particularly insightful.

Quote Of The Day 30/10

“Take risks and you’ll get the pay-offs. Learn from your mistakes until you succeed. It’s that simple.”
—Bobby Flay. Via Tim Ferris.

Quote Of The Day 19/10

“Learn from the right people at the right time”
A strong posting on the 37Signals blog about paying attention to whom you are choosing to look to as your business role models at any given stage in your career.

Quote Of The Day 14/10

“There ain’t no rules around here. We’re trying to accomplish something.”

Thomas Alva Edison—inventor and businessman