Good Examples
My friend and client Bill landed a big client for his legal practice last week. The client came from a referral. Bill said the referral came “out of the blue.” Turns out the guy who made the referral met Bill seven years ago and has been on Bill’s email list ever since. Bill sends weekly…
David Hockney, my favorite modern artist, died yesterday at his home in France. He was 88. I love his paintings, especially the ones from his days in California — bright, sun-splashed, colorful (VERY colorful) canvases, like this one: Mulholland Drive by David Hockney But my favorite Hockney story isn’t about a painting he made. It’s…
Remember that scene in Ghostbusters when a “focused, non-terminal, repeating phantasm” (a.k.a. “a class-five full-roaming vapor”) slimes Dr. Peter Venkman (Bill Murray)? That’s how I felt — like Peter Venkman — when I stepped outside of the well air-conditioned Orlando International Airport yesterday evening. The heat (90 degrees) and humidity (85%) slimed me (SPLAT!) I…
I was 11 the first time I saw Steve Martin, and I thought he was like a wild and crazy comet who came out of nowhere to light up Saturday Night Live’s stage. Most of America — including me — had never seen this guy before. He went from unknown on Friday to a sensation…
In a world where everyone looks and sounds the same, how do you stand out as unique and better so others notice and choose you? Every business owner I know ponders that riddle. As does every artist. So when I see someone who consistently finds a way to stand out, be unique, and create something…
“Contrast creates clarity.” That’s one of “The Four Concepts of the Silver Bullet” in Neil Gordon’s book The Most Powerful Sentence of All Time. It’s a simple idea. And most business leaders ignore it completely. Here’s what I mean. A financial advisor says, “We help you build wealth and plan for retirement.” OK. So does…
If you’ve been following the news from outer space, you know NASA spent $30 million and 10+ years building the world’s most sophisticated space toilet — only to have it break on day one of the Artemis mission. Turns out scientists spend a lot of time and money thinking about how to handle poo, pee,…
Here’s a story about how a little-known musician broke through and became a star — and how you can do it, too. A few nights ago, Melissa and I heard an all-star jazz band perform in honor of Miles Davis who was born 100 years ago — May 26, 1926. Miles grew up in East…
In honor of World Storytelling Day, two quick stories about the profit-generating power of stories… STORY #1 Neuroscientist Paul Zak ran a simple experiment: he showed people a short, emotional story about a father and his young son with terminal cancer. Then he measured their blood. After watching the story, participantsā brains released oxytocin —…
Halfway through her set last night at City Winery in St. Louis, singer-songwriter Emily Scott Robinson asked all of us in the crowd to pull out our phones and join her email list. She used to ask her fans to follow her on Facebook and Instagram. But the social platforms are making it harder and…