Archive for June, 2005

It’s Saturday, and the week long barrage of productivity, leadership and personal development take a backseat to one thing… relaxation. We all need a break from reality once in a while. I am offering up a primer on one of my favorite relaxation techniques… watching NASCAR. For some of you the thought of watching a NASCAR race brings up adjunct disdain.

How can you watch a bunch of cars go around in a circle for four hours?

I used to ask the same question… until I watched a race… and then I was hooked.

Here is a challenge: If you have never watched NASCAR before do it this weekend for Fathers Day. Invite your dad over to watch it with you.

Here is a quick overview to get the maximum enjoyment from this weekend’s race.

A. Go shopping on Saturday and pick up the following items
1 package Johnsonville Brats
1 Large Onion
1 Sixpack of your favorite beer (if you don’t drink, only two cans will be necessary)
1 package large hotdog buns
1 sixpack of Coke or Pepsi
1 Large bag of M&Ms
1 package Cheerios cereal
1 Lowes or Home Depot hat
Before returning home, please note the make and model of your car or truck.

B. Sunday morning checklist
7am; Have a nourishing breakfast of Cheerios. Put on your Lowes or Home Depot hat
7:30am: Go to church early. You might want to remove hat while in church
9am: Get a large bowl and pour in two cans of beer. Chop up the onion into small pieces and add to beer. Add Johnsonville brats to the mixture and let soak for 1 hour.
10:20am: Fire up the BBQ and set the flame to low. Put the Johnsonville brats on the grill
10:30am: Tune into FOX TV coverage of the Nextel Cup
10:30-11:00: Enjoy the NASCAR pre-race show. Familiarize yourself with the announcers. Take note of Darrell Waltrip.
11:20: Remove home improvement hat and participate in the singing of the National Anthem. Sing Loud! Cheer as the words “Gentlemen, start your engines” are announced. Put hat back on.
11:25: Grab a hot delicious Johnsonville Brat off of the grill, put it in a large oversized bun and add your favorite condiments. Put it on a plate but do not partake yet.
11:30: As the cars come around on the final pace lap, grab the delicious brat and take your first bite as the cars cross the starting line. Listen as Darrell Waltrip yells Boggity, Boogity, Boogity! Shake your fist in the air and jump up and down. Yell wildly.
11:35: Wash your brat down with your favorite beverage.
11:40-End of the race; Cheer for your favorite driver depending on the following criteria.
If you are wearing a Home depot hat, Cheer for Tony Stewart
If you are wearing a Lowes hat, Cheer for Jimmy Johnson
If you are enjoying M&Ms, cheer for Elliott Sadler
If you are drinking Pepsi, cheer for Jeff Gordon
If you are drinking Coke, cheer for Jeff Burton
If you are drinking a Miller Lite, cheer for Rusty Wallace
If you are drinking Budweiser, cheer for Dale Earnhart Junior
If you are drinking a Coors Lite, cheer for Sterling Marlin
If you drive a Dodge or Chrysler product, cheer for Kasey Khane
If you find yourself washing dishes using Rubbermaid products, cheer for Kurt Busch
If you take Viagra, cheer for Mark Martin

End of the race: Yell wildly if your driver wins, otherwise shake fist.
Post Race: Watch driver get out of car and celebrate. Watch for interviews of your driver
Post Post Race: Wish your dad a happy fathers day!

The following are some tips to help you participate in the fastest growing sporting event in the US second only to football in popularity.

Statistics: NASCAR is America’s fastest growing spectator sport, with annual revenues now estimated at more than $2 billion. More than 6 million fans attended Winston Cup races in 1997, and an additional 123 million watched on TV.

Websites: Nascar.com; ESPN; Fox

TV Coverage: Currently FOX and FX

Racing Series: Craftsman Truck, Busch, Nextel Cup with Nextel Cup being the premiere series

Enjoy your weekend!

Seth Godin has an interesting post on “the seduction of good enough.”

In an excerpt from his post he ponders…

Is anything as good as it could be?

Maybe a cup of Starbucks coffee or a Scharffenberger chocolate bar. But almost everything else needs a lot of work.

That canoe could be half the weight. There’s no reason to wait an hour to get on an airplane. Software development should be twice as fast at half the cost.

And what’s with the layout of this keyboard? They came up with a keyboard a century ago, decided it was good enough and then stopped! Holy Carpal Tunnel, Batman.

I’ve got a few posts worth on this topic, but here are my two big ideas to start:

1. Humans tend to work on a problem until they get a good enough solution, instead of a solution that’s right.

2. The marketplace often rewards solutions that are cheaper and good enough, instead of investing in the solution that promises to lead to the right answer.

This all sounds pessimistic. Are we doomed to inefficient products, unreliable computers, overpriced services and new devices that last for a while and then just plain break?

Seth goes on to answer his question on his blog.

My thoughts…

I think that “good enough” never is. And I think perfection never happens. What then should be our goal?

I would argue that we should strive for excellence.

Webster’s defines excellence as “the quality or state of being outstanding and superior”

Sounds a lot like Seth’s definition of a “purple cow.”

A purple cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable.

Let’s imagine something “remarkable” and build it!

Let’s write something “phenomenal” and publish it!

Let’s design the next “purple cow” and market it!

Scott Hodge is offering to give your blog a little publicity tomorrow. Just leave him an e-mail and he will publish your blog link in a post on his site. Scott has a great blog, dedicated to Life, Leadership, and Lattes. Check it out at scotthodge.org

I’m listening to Seth Godin’s book, “The Purple Cow” and I can’t help but wonder… how do we find one? Seth describes it this way… a purple cow describes something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable. Can you think of anything worthy of the “Purple Cow” moniker? I did a little searching in Blog land and found the following items…

The blog “A Million Monkeys Typing” has a cool listing for a DIY Planner - Hipster Version

Eric Mack talks about “Active Words” productivity software for the tablet PC

Dwayne Melancon over at Genuine Curiosity participated in the program “2 Weeks 2 A Breakthrough”. Could this be purple?

Open Loops, the blog, has a Cool New Tool for Note-Taking on the Move. Looks purple to me…

A secret code exists over on Scott Hodge’s site. The code is simple X&Y. What does it mean?

Are any of these things a “purple cow”?

I’m not sure, but I’m listening.

Tell me what you think.

Do you know a “Purple Cow”?

When was the last time you sat through a meeting with Powerpoint slides? If it was like most meetings the presenter had numerous slides with lots of bullet points. As each slide comes up the presenter turns to the screen and proceeds to read each point to you. As if you were not able to read them for yourself, he drones on line after boring line. Point after point until your eyes glaze over. You find yourself trying to prop your head up so it looks like you are awake.

Slide after slide, point after point, you ask yourself.. is there no rest for the wicked? You wonder what you could have possibly done to deserve this kind of hell. You finally succumb… your head hitting the table in front of you. You can’t take it anymore… you cry out in anger… get rid of the bullet points… Please listen to us… Tell Us a Story!

Stories are interesting. They involve the audience. They draw you in.

Bullet points are boring. They put you to sleep.

How then do you get beyond bullet points?

If Cliff Atkinson has his way, you’ll relegate the bullet points to the trash and pull out that trusty old storyboard and create a compelling story for your audience. One that will energize them and help them to remember what you said.

In his book “Beyond Bullet Points”, Cliff suggests that you set up a story with five scenes.

Scene 1: Where are we, and when is it?

Scene 2: Who are we in this setting?

Scene 3: Why are we here?

Scene 4: What do we want to see happen?

Scene 5: How do we get there from here?

With the answers to these questions you create an appeal to your audiences emotions. One that will create an emotional connection. This is act one, you have two acts to go.

It’s back to the script and now your job is to boil your story down to three main points and decide what you want to say and in what order you want to present it. The finished product will have audiences listening instead of sleeping.

I have found Cliff’s book to be a wonderful resource to create a compelling presentation. His blog and website are a treasure trove of Powerpoint tools and creative elements.

I urge you to pick up his book and develop your own powerful story. Dump the bullets and draw your audience in. Increase your confidence and your effectiveness.

Remember… Tell a story… make a point.. and that’s not bullet points

I have been listening to a fascinating audio book entitled “All marketers are liars” by Seth Godin. In his book, Seth talks about a new concept in marketing: Developing stories to market to groups of people with different “world views”. This is fantastic stuff. I am so tired of “in your face” marketing techniques that bombard me with overhyped spam. Seth’s book is a revelation. Market to people by telling them a convincing story.

Stories are powerful tools. People love to hear stories. If you throw a bunch of facts and figures at me I’m going to tune you out. But if you tell me a compelling story, I’m all ears. I’ve learned this first hand in Toastmasters. Attend any speech contest that Toastmasters puts on and the winner of the contest will be the one with the best story. It’s simple and it’s true. International speech contest winner Craig Valentine puts it this way… Tell a story… Make a point.

So how do we develop a story to reach a target group? We need to listen. What are people talking about? What are people interested in? What is the “Buzz”? Hang out for any length of time in your local Starbucks and you’ll pick up on the Buzz. Is it the latest Idol or Bachelor or maybe the latest edition of Survivor? Could it be a politician or maybe the latest video game? People are always talking. We just need to hear what they are saying. I was in a Starbucks the other night and the topic of conversation that caught my ears was about Paris Hilton. The question was asked… what do you think about the Carl’s Junior ad featuring Paris Hilton? The responses went from brilliant to risky to downright sleazy. I would say if people are talking about it is was a pretty good marketing move for Carl’s.

We can also listen to people online. What are people talking about in the popular blogs and forums? I did a little search today of my favorite blogs and here is what I found.

Steve Pavlina is talking about Self Discipline

Slacker Manager is referencing Micromanagement

Rosa Say over at Talking Story is talking about Responsibility

Genuine Curiosity has a compelling article on Spheres of Influence

Bert over at Open Loops is raving about ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars”

Author Seth Godin is referencing a program about Lying and Winking

When you just glance at the list above which would be the most compelling? Even though I like serious subjects like responsibility and self discipline, I would be clicking on the link about lying and winking first and the link about dancing second. I think my choice makes a point… a story needs to be interesting and compelling. Facts and figures, while important, just don’t sell well.

I think this whole subject today could be called “Listening Marketing”, developing a compelling story to share with your target audience.

Hmmm… I wonder who was lying and who was winking…??