Journey to the Past
A Fan, A Hall of Famer, and A Wink… Business Lessons from the Ballpark
Marketing master Gary Vaynerchuk shared a story on LinkedIn the other day that I have to share with you. He describes going to his first baseball game with his mom and uncle in 1985 when he was a kid. Superstar outfielder Rickey Henderson catches a fly ball to end an inning and (Gary V takes…
Read MoreAl Franken Messed With My Mind and Then I Got Over It
When I was a younger business person, I never thought much about mindset. Meditation? Not for me. Visualization? No, thanks. Self-affirmation? Not a chance. I think it was Stuart Smalley’s fault. Remember him? He was a recurring character on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s. Al Franken played the part before he left SNL to…
Read MoreWhy Nicole Kidman Did This for Tom Cruise…
Back in the 1990s, Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise were Hollywood’s IT couple. A fairy-tale marriage. Three movies together — including a really creepy one called “Eyes Wide Shut” and this: When their love was shining brightly, Nicole dished out a few dozen bucks to the International Star Registry. She chose a twinkly little star…
Read MoreHard Times Come Again No More
Back in April, I made a Spotify playlist for my 23-year-old daughter, Maddie. She lived on High Street in Denver. I named the playlist “Shelter in Place on High Street – Volume 1.” In the letter I sent with the playlist, I wrote, “…sharing music is sharing love. It’s about connecting.” I imagined she and…
Read MoreHow TV’s Greatest Host Can Help You Be a Great Marketer
I was browsing through some of my favorite old marketing training discs the other day and came across one by Dave Dee… …whom I still listen to today. Back in 2007 Dave offered some unconventional advice about how to write better emails: Watch Regis Philbin on television, Dave advised. I don’t recall what I thought about…
Read MoreDeliberate Gratitude
A few years ago, I regularly posted “Gratitude Snippets” on Facebook. They were short posts. Expressions of appreciation for people and things… …a beautiful day… …a restaurant server who went the extra mile… …a mail carrier who braved snow and rain to make the delivery… …a song that brightened my mood… …a colleague who offered…
Read MoreHow to Attract Attention – The Jesus Way
Here’s a parable about parables… …with a lesson that can help you attract attention for your marketing messages and inspire people to act. In the Bible’s Gospel of Luke, someone asks Jesus, “…who is my neighbor?” Jesus answers with the story of a “certain man” who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and “fell among…
Read MoreMy kids made it rain… and so can you
It’s raining here in St. Louis, MO, USA… …which reminds me of the time my twin kiddos summoned a drought-ending thunderstorm with a rain dance. We were at my inlaw’s farm in central Missouri. It was bone dry for weeks. But (finally!), we adults could smell and feel the rain coming. As the wind picked…
Read MoreWhen having a bad day, consider Adolphe Sax’s story…
Last week, I had one of those days when nothing went right. It made me grumpy. And as I grumped around, I focused more on feeling sorry for myself and less on staying focused and productive. That made it worse. I got past it, but it made me think about how easy it is to…
Read More40 Years Later, I Still Remember This…
I was cleaning out a closet the other day and found an old biology textbook. As I paged through it, I was struck (stunned, saddened) by how little I remembered. Then I got to the chapter about animal biology… …and my memory clicked: “Kids prefer cheese over fried green spinach.” That’s the little story I…
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