Self-Marketing and Facing Our Strengths

Scott Belsky was one of the speakers at this month’s World Domination Summit, and he gave a talk based on his book, Making Ideas Happen (Affiliate). At the end of chapter two, Belsky challenges readers to overcome the stigma of self-marketing and gives several strategies for doing so. One of those strategies is effectively naming the differentiating strengths or experiences you possess. Step two of the process is creating a communications strategy for telling others about the strengths and experiences that make me good at my profession (or the various aspects of my profession). Step three is executing on that plan.

Well, right now I am working with a couple of partners to design and develop BarrettABrooks.com, where I will transfer this blog and also tell more of my story. The blog will be my sandbox for testing creative ideas, sharing life lessons, and taking action (with your help, of course). I’ll write on a few main topics, or buckets:

• Entrepreneurship
• Servant Leadership
• Organizational Culture
• Travel
• Relationships
• The Great Outdoors
• Psychology
• Current Events

Basically, I’ll write about the things I love and the things I learn.

It’s part of my overall self-marketing strategy and it makes me very uncomfortable. I hate talking about myself, I have a fear of sounding pompous or conceited, and I think deep down at the root of everything is a fear of criticism or rejection. After all, if I am to openly proclaim my strengths and my mission and then publicly fail, it opens me up to all kinds of negative feedback.

Luckily, I learned a lot about myself at World Domination Summit. There are several things I need to work on in the immediate future if I want to succeed in establishing and growing Living for Monday:

1. Be more vulnerable
2. Take more action (and finish the drill on key projects)
3. Get comfortable marketing myself and L4M’s products/services

In an attempt at all three, I want to tell you about some of my greatest differentiators. Next time I post I’ll write about how those strengths will help me grow into an awesome coach, recruiter, and product creator. The last post of the series will ask for your help based on what comes next for marketing myself and L4M.

Disclaimer: this post is unabashed self-marketing in an attempt to get over my fear of self-promotion. I go into detail about where my strengths come from and why they are differentiators. I would love it if you would read and tell me how to better communicate these differentiators without sounding conceited or pompous. I would also like feedback on ways in which I am apologetic – I have a tendency to self-efface in order to diminish the self-promotion aspects. Call me out on it!

Here goes nothing…

My Differentiators

I have been given the chance to explore the world.

I have visited three continents, 10+ countries, and 20+ states. That list pales in comparison to a guy like Chris Guillebeau who has visited 175+ countries. But I’ve learned something new about myself every time I’ve visited a new place. I grew up being hauled all over the country because my parents wanted me to see new places and experience new things, and I couldn’t be more appreciative of that fact.

College was a playground for travel where I made two trips to Europe, one of which was to study at Oxford University for an entire semester and live in England/Europe for four months.

My travels have helped me to understand new perspectives appreciate diverse people, and communicate across cultural boundaries. Studying at Oxford ignited my passion for learning, made me a writer, and honed my communication skills. Travelling through Europe with my girlfriend expanded my comfort zone, made me try new things, and challenged conventional beliefs.

Most importantly, my travels have allowed me time to reflect. They have forced me to take a step back from life as I know it and reevaluate where I am headed. They have given me clarity and pushed me to make changes in my life to align with what I truly believe. They have strengthened my relationships with friends and family. And ultimately, my travels have fueled my personal development, which has led to many of my further differentiators.

Few people my age have had the opportunities to travel as I have. I have been fortunate in that way. Fewer still have used their travels as fuel for personal growth. I have done both and it has given me a more wholesome view of the world, of business, and of the impact I can have on others. I can only hope I will have the opportunity to continue to travel and develop new perspectives.

I use both my left and right brain

So many people have distinguished between left- and right-brain people, but it is becoming more and more accepted as a false dichotomy. Brene Brown put it so well at WDS when she said that there are people who use their creativity and those that don’t.

Ie, no one lacks creative ability. Instead, we are molded and influenced to believe that we lack creative ability. Brene reminded us that our art work is graded in elementary school – a purple tree receives a 50 because trees are green… Which send a message of conformity. And then we move up through the ranks of education and we are graded on our ability to find the right answer instead of coming up with innovative or creative solutions to old problems. And then our fate is cemented when we are hired by a big company to follow directions and sit in a cube…

Luckily my semester at Oxford University opened up my creative side again – otherwise I would probably still be following directions and sitting in my cube. At Oxford I was taught to make strong arguments based on research-based unique opinions. Yes, everything was supposed to have some kind of factual basis, but there was no right answer. “What do you think about the Arab-Israeli conflict?” does not have a right answer. For that experience I will be forever grateful.

So then I went to work and I took my learning with me. But at work they wanted right answers. I felt like I was back in the environment where answers should be catered to what a superior wanted to hear. So I found my own creative outlets. I started reading blogs and books and articles from unconventional people. I created a blog in order to have an outlet for my creative ideas.

This unique thing started to happen. I was learning to be a high-level strategic thinker in my consulting work (which built on my experience leading organizations in college) at the same time I was learning to be creative on nights and weekends. The problem was that I was being forced to compartmentalize my life. Left-brain from 9-5 and Right-brain in my free time just didn’t work.

The beautiful thing about Living for Monday is that I actually need both types of thinking to succeed. I have to brainstorm and provide creative solutions to old problems. But then I have to know how to create strategies for execution. I still have a long way to go in molding the two halves of my brain into one complete skill set… In the mean time I know that a key differentiator is my ability to challenge the status quo and then deliver strategic plans to make it happen.

I have strong communication skills

This one is so blasé because its what everyone wants to hear. I can speak, I can write… blah blah blah. But really, I speak well in public and I write well.

My speaking ability comes from the necessity of past experience. I held various leadership roles in my college fraternity that meant I was in charge of leading meetings in front of a large audience at least once a week. I served as an orientation leader, which meant I was on stage and speaking to groups multiple times a day for an entire summer doing everything from acting to reading, to rapping, to speaking to auditoriums of nervous parents, to relaying lessons to incoming college students. I was in a leadership development program where I had to introduce corporate executives to large audiences and make presentations to “clients” from our leadership projects. Finally, I went to work and was immediately put in rooms with executives of huge companies and partners from my firm where I had to present ideas succinctly, answer probing questions, and remember not to bite my tongue at any given point.

My writing ability comes from two places: Oxford University and consistent blogging since my travels to Oxford. If you can’t tell yet, they don’t teach at Oxford like they teach at American universities. Instead of big classrooms, we learned in intimate tutorial settings where a don (Oxford professor) would meet with 2-10 students at a time. Every week, in every class, we were required to write a paper of 4-10 pages in length. All in all, I wrote over 100 pages over the course of three months of classes. At the same time, I started my first blog to catalogue our adventure at Oxford and throughout Europe. When I got home from Oxford I started this Living Values blog, and then when I left my job I started the Living for Monday blog. Basically, ever since I left for Oxford in March of 2010, I haven’t stopped writing.

That hasn’t been lost on the people around me. The reason I know speaking and writing have become differentiators are the way people react to me. Older adults ask if I plan to become a published author (I do) and groups to whom I speak praise me on my ability to communicate a message or facilitate a conversation.

My communications skills are differentiators for me.

I have always been a natural leader

The first thought that comes to mind after that statement relates to my days as a little league baseball player. Even back then I was regularly voted as captain of my team and onto the all-star team. I was runner up for the leadership award as a twelve year old. The point here is that I didn’t know what leadership was at that age, I just knew that I wanted to work hard and be the best at everything I did. Because of that, other people were willing to follow.

There are two sides to this story. The first is that people tend to follow me. I am not entirely sure why, but they do. It has happened throughout my life and I cannot entirely explain, but I know it is a differentiator – when I set a path, create a vision and lead by example, others have followed. Three examples:

• I ran for team captain of my high school baseball team, lost, and then proceeded to act like a captain anyways. I helped set high expectations of winning the state playoffs and we lost in the semifinals where we had only made it to the first or second round in the past.
• I ran for president of my college fraternity unopposed, which meant I was elected. People allowed me to do that because I had a vision of where I wanted to go.
• I was asked to create a vision, strategy, and form a group to refound an honor society in college. I was not elected, but rather intentionally sought out the people that were influencers and could actually make the idea happen.

The other side of this story is that whenever I have asked for permission to lead, my peers have struck me down. I lost election for elementary school president and never ran for SGA again. I asked for my high scool baseball teammates to select me as captain, and they chose someone else. I had an intense desire to be in secret societies in college, and despite my accomplishments I was never once invited to the prestigious groups. I applied to be the student commencement speaker and was chosen as the alternate, but was not chosen to be on stage.

So while I am a natural leader, people do not like to pick me… Especially my peers. Those older than me – mentors, professors, etc have always had more confidence in my leadership ability than my peers. I don’t know where this comes from, but I do know that it is why Seth Godin’s message appeals to me. He says, “Don’t wait to be picked. Go. Take action on your own.”

So I guess what it comes down to is that I’m not scared to get my hands dirty and lead by example. I’ve never asked anyone below me to do something that I am not willing to do. I am not scared to cast a vision that is scary, imposing, and that might not be accomplished. When I am presented with an opportunity to lead, I take it. Not for glory or popularity, but because I don’t know how to do any different. The reality is that I have an intense desire to change the world, and that must come from taking responsibility and action towards a greater vision.

My participation in a leadership development program in college cemented my desire to lead and create change. It made me define my values, create a vision for my life, and define the legacy I want to leave in this world. It made my desire to lead tangible and gave me something to shoot for.

I may not be the first to be chosen by my peers, but I am not scared of the responsibility of leadership.

I have a burning desire to learn

My desire to learn chases me everywhere I go. When I see problems I want to learn potential solutions. I want to absorb the knowledge of the people around me. I want to devour books and articles and blogs and everything else that can convey knew knowledge.

My desire to learn has been a life-long pursuit. When I was young I read voraciously. From Goosebumps to Harry Potter to The Chronicles of Narnia, I read and read and read. And then I wanted to be cool (you’ll notice that my desire to be cool put a halt in my personal development for a couple of years).

What finally snapped me out of the learning plateau was… you guessed it, my studies at Oxford. I finally was given the license to learn for the purpose of forming my own opinion. I hated the confines of college in which I was encouraged to read mandatory textbooks to answer multiple choice questions about minute details in the text. My question to some of my professors if I could talk to them now: why does it matter? Is it just easier to adapt suggested questions from the textbook publisher than to create a test that actually makes us think and requires thought on your part to grade?

I’ll never forget the day I received a paper back that said something like this: “You make great points in this paper, but you didn’t follow directions. Grade: 70.” That was literally the most infuriating experience of my classroom time in college. But I digress.

When I came back from Oxford I dove back into reading and started amassing a library of books. Biographies, business texts, religious writings, novels, classics, and more. It was as if every book held the key to some important piece of knowledge that would allow me to solve a problem later down the road.

What I found was that the more I read, the more I learned. And the more I learned the more I was able to synthesize disparate ideas from various sources. By doing this I realized I could serve as a curator of ideas, reading through sources and bringing together great ideas to save people time and inspire.

My desire to learn fuels my ability to be creative. It creates a way for me to lead and deliver solutions to those that have problems that need to be solved. Most importantly, my desire to learn allows me to write and speak on interesting topics that come from various sources. It allows me to see problems in the world and start to find ways to fix them.

My desire to learn is a differentiating strength for me.

I love building meaningful relationships

I’m just to the introvert side (I think) of the introvert/extrovert scale because I’m not the guy who can or would go to a networking event and hand out 50 business cards. In fact, big events make me nervous. I don’t like the feeling of not knowing people and the idea of standing there awkwardly without anyone to talk to is a daunting thought.

That being said, once I’ve met people I love to learn about their stories. Where do they come from, what do they love, what are they good at, what are their dreams? These things intrigue me, and they fuel deeper connections.

Somewhere along the way I learned the value of close friends, great mentors, and always being willing to share myself with others. When I meet someone, I follow up with a note or email. I keep in touch, I wish people happy birthday, and I make sure people know that I care about them.

People mean the world to me and building relationships is the way for me to learn their stories, stay connected, and help in any way I can. The way that I care about those close to me, my willingness to really listen to others, and my willingness to invest in long-term meaningful relationships are  differentiators.

I am younger than almost any other person in this industry.

One of the first things people say when I tell them about what I’m up to and I’ve answered a couple questions is this: “Just to play devil’s advocate for a minute,” [a polite way of saying: let me call you out on why you’re likely to fail, be discounted, or otherwise crash and burn] “what do you say to people when they ask about your age? Isn’t that a major weakness?”

Here’s what I want to say: “No way. You’re a bozo. My age is to my advantage.” Instead it always humbles me, makes me retreat into my shell to some extent and reply with something weak like, yes but… blah blah blah.

Here’s the reality of the situation: I had to go through a ton of leadership trials in college (more about that later). Then I went off to Oxford and they taught me to think for myself (more on that later too). Then I went to work for a huge professional services firm where within two months I was working on a project team at a Fortune 5 company; within three months I had received a 10% raise and promotion by meeting the right people, proving my worth, and learning the performance review system; and within seven months I was managing a team of three people on one of the most important and creative projects at the Fortune 5 client; by the time I left, I was being asked for advice (yes, me) by every new hire at the staff level in the Atlanta office. Finally, ever since I graduated college I have read, networked, and invested in myself constantly. I’ve learned more in (almost) 25 years than a lot of people have the opportunity to learn in a lifetime.

My age and choice to leave the conventional work force means that I’m not prisoner to the status quo. I don’t have a boss to answer to and I can get creative with the way I solve problems. I don’t have to find the right answer, I can find many potential answers, learn about the options, and then present an educated argument or proposal to anyone asking.

I have youthful energy, passion, and work ethic that carry me through The Dip (to use Seth Godin’s term). That energy, passion, and work ethic will no doubt carry over to my future years because I’m ingraining all three into habits… They are constantly becoming a part of me.

That’s a long way of saying that my youth is an advantage and I don’t want anyone to be fooled because of my age. I don’t have all of the answers, I am not as wise as many people older than me, and I have plenty of hours to commit to my craft before I reach the 10,000 hour mark made popular by Malcom Gladwell. But I can guarantee you that if I don’t know an answer, I know I will find it. I may not be as wise, but I have mentors who can share the wisdom of their years. And I may not have reached the 10,000 mark, but you can bet your tail I’m working towards it.

My age is a strength of mine.

Wow, so 3,500 words later, there you have it. That’s alot. If you know me, I would love to hear your thoughts on everything I had to say in today’s post. Have you seen any of these strengths in me? Do you feel that I’m kidding myself with regard to anything I feel is a strength? How can I better communicate these strengths?

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How to Live a Remarkable Life in a Conventional World

I spent this past week in Portland on vacation with my girlfriend, Nicole. We booked our trip around the World Domination Summit, which took place this past weekend. If you want to know more about our travels in Portland, you can read detailed posts on my travel blog at http://www.barrettabrooks.wordpress.com

Chris Guillebeau created The World Domination Summit in 2011 to bring people together around the shared values of community, adventure, and service. This year’s (un)conference was the second annual, held in various locations around the city of Portland, OR. The theme of the conference was the following question:

“How do you live a remarkable life in a conventional world”

And today I want to share the 15 best answers I found to this question from an incredible weekend spent with awesome people.

1.    Be constantly vulnerable

Brene Brown drove home the point loud and clear that being vulnerable is a very good thing. In fact, it is the only way we can live an authentic life in which we truly impact others. Convention tells us to conform, become complacent, and adjust our actions to meet the image others have created for us.

Brene says no to those false ideas. Instead, “Who you are will always trump who you think people want you to be.” In opening the conference, Brene spoke of Conference Anqiety Syndrome, making several points that apply wholly to living a remarkable life.

First, we have to realize that “cool is about self-protection.” Next time I catch myself being cool, I need to remember that vulnerability trumps cool.

Second, we have to remind ourselves that “no one belongs here more than me.” Whether here applies to WDS, a great opportunity at work, traveling around the world, or anything else, I have to remember that I am there for a reason. Only then can I make my maximum contribution.

Finally, “Your experience here cannot exceed your willingness to be vulnerable.” How true that was at WDS and how true it is for my future endeavors. Authentic connection with others only comes from true vulnerability. New friendships, family relationships, deep conversations, and new projects all come more naturally from a place of vulnerability.

I have to remember that if I put myself out there and fail or receive rejection in return, I have done my best. I have been in the arena and until others have been their too, their criticism cannot move me.

To live a remarkable life, I must continue to push myself to be vulnerable.

2.    It is never too late to make a come back

Scott Harrison taught me that to live a remarkable life we must never give up on ourselves, but instead realize that it is never too later to make a comeback. Scott was a night club promoter in NYC with “every vice possible” before he woke up one day and decided to make a change.

He went from drinking, drugging, womanizing, and spending to serving, feeling, growing, and connecting. He went from club promoter to charity founder. He went from morally broke to founding one of the most inspirational and innovative charities known to man: Charity:Water.

In so many ways, Scott’s early story reminded me of my own. Raised in a good family. Smart, Christian kid. Grew up to rebel for no particular reason. Drinking, drugs, sex. Until one day I was forced to make a change or live a life of insignificance. I am still very much in the building phase, but Scott’s story shows me that a remarkable life is well within my reach.

Never give up on yourself. No matter what exists in your past, there is always a greater future to be had if you will allow yourself to dream. Those are the words my heart interpreted from Scott Harrison’s talk.

You are worthy; you are remarkable. It is never too late to make a come back.

3.    Understand who you are

Susan Cain and Jonathan Fields reminded me that knowing thyself is such an important characteristic for having an impact in the world. Susan is an introvert and proud of it. As she spoke I had this intense realization that although I have always been pegged as an extrovert, I really lie closer to the neutral line in between introversion and extroversion. In fact, if anything, I lean to the introvert side of things until I get to know someone, at which point I can settle in and really share myself.

The point made here is that we can always learn something new about ourselves. We never know everything. We never know every little corner of our souls, but we can always work towards ever-greater self-knowledge.

By understanding who I am, I can better understand how to interact with others to create the greatest impact in the world. People who know themselves and actively design their lives around that knowledge can lead remarkable lives no matter what convention is telling us.

4.    Seek adventure

Adventure is one of the shared values of those that choose to attend WDS, and Jodi Ettenberg embodied that value to a great degree. I learned from Jodi that adventure gives us a peek into our own souls, as well as the souls of others. It allows us to catch authentic glimpses of people, cultures, and locales.

Jodi seeks adventure by traveling the world and experiencing food to connect with people. She has learned many ways to eat safe, but authentic in any city and she used our breakout session to pass that knowledge along… To make adventure more accessible to each of us.

“Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” ~Mark Twain

To live a remarkable life, I must seek adventure.

5.    Kill good ideas in favor of chasing great ideas

David Fugate, founder of Launch Books Literary Agency, was the first to make this point this weekend during his “Book Concepts that Sell” workshop. And then immediately afterwards, Scott Belsky (read more under #6) reiterated the point.

Both men offered great insight. For creative types, coming up with ideas is not the problem. The problem is actually two fold with the first part being that we can often have TOO MANY ideas. The solution is to develop the ability and capacity to kill the good ideas in favor of pursuing the great ideas.

Good ideas lead to a good life. But great ideas lead to a remarkable life. To live a remarkable life, I must always remember to kill the good ideas so that I can spend my energy chasing the great ideas.

6.    Take action consistently

Scott Belsky is the author of Making Ideas Happen and he presented the second half of the two fold problem I mentioned above. When we have many ideas (both good and great), we often end up taking action on none of them.

Scott shared an equation that will lead to living a remarkable life by taking consistent and definitive action:

Making Ideas Happen

=

(Creativity & Ideas + Organization & Execution + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability)

This led to another great moment of evaluation for me. I am great at coming up with ideas and getting them started in the moment of excitement. But then my energy often tapers off and I repeat the process to renew my energy. Scott calls this habit ‘incrementalism’.

But if you look back at those we admire for having lived remarkable lives, they were not incrementalists. Neither were they just creative thinkers with lots of ideas. Instead, they executed on their ideas by combining creativity, execution, community, and leadership.

To live a remarkable life, I must push myself to take consistent action and finish projects. 1 finished project will have infinitely more impact than 100 unfinished projects. Period.

7.    Develop unique superpowers to do good

Chris Brogan is a comic nerd through and through. He was vulnerable in front of a crowd of 1,000 and I loved it. And in the process he reiterated Brene Brown’s message while adding that we have to develop our superpowers to do good.

Chris used some of our favorite superheroes to describe potential superpowers… things like synthesis, empathy, tenacity, and rage. He challenged us to name our superpower and then to test it, fail, and gain confidence from the experience.

By honing our superpowers in this way over time, we will gain the ability to do immense good in the world. In the process, we have to remember that no matter how weird we are, or how unique our superpower may be, it is needed in the world. Therefore, “the weirder you get, the more you will succeed.”

I must develop my unique superpowers by exercising them, learning about their capacity, failing, and gaining confidence. Only then can I use my superpowers to do good and live a remarkable life.

8.    Commit to serving others

Service is yet another of the shared WDS values. Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott taught me that so much can be learned in the service of others. They have been traveling the world for over five years in the name of serving others.

They taught me that an unheard voice can be made loud and clear through service. They taught me that there is more to every story than what we may see on the surface. And they taught me that only through service to others can we truly experience the world and make deep connections.

To live a remarkable life I must always remember to commit to serving others in all that I do.

9.    Leverage your skills and interests to create passion

Cal Newport taught me that many interests can be molded into a passion, a life’s work, or a calling. I didn’t always agree with everything that Cal had to say, as I tend to lean a bit more towards the fact that there is purpose in what we do and any old interest may not spark our sense of purpose over time.

But, Cal’s message did resonate with me in that developing expertise is such an important part of becoming truly passionate about a given interest. The question I encourage my coaching clients to ask themselves is this: which of my interests do I care enough about to become an expert?

When we care enough to pursue an interest until we have developed true expertise and a valuable skillset, we both become more valuable as a contributor and more passionate as a person. Passion contributors live remarkable lives.

To live a remarkable life I will have to become ever more passionate by developing expertise and skills.

10. Tell a great story

One of my close friends gave a wonderful graduation speech in which he said “Tell a great story with your life.” Sarak Peck reiterated that message in her workshop on crafting narratives.

Sarah taught me that crafting narratives and telling great stories is a way of connecting with others. Stories bind us emotionally, communicate our vision, and share our lessons with others. At the end of the day we all have stories, but to live a remarkable life we must create and tell a remarkable story.

That story cannot always be planned. It cannot be controlled. It can only be communicated as is unfolds. It can be shared passionately, as with Scott Harrison. It can be used to interweave with the stories of others. It can be used to inspire. But for it to do all of those things, we must first create it, and then share it.

To live a remarkable life, I must tell a great story with my life.

11. Build a community of support

The third and final shared value of WDSers is community. The value of community in remarkable lives repeatedly made itself clear throughout the weekend. In particular, Corbett Barr’s workshop on instant idea evaluation showed the immense value of a community of support.

Corbett’s session was like a massive mastermind session, and the value of the feedback reminded me that I must build a community of support in order to live a remarkable life. We need feedback, we need constructive criticism, and when we hit the troughs of energy we need support. Building a community provides for all of these things.

Corbett reminded me that I need a mastermind group (which I’m hopefully forming with a couple of fellow attendees). He taught me the value of open, honest feedback.

To live a remarkable life I must build a community of support that will help me and support me.

12. Keep your eyes on your own paper

I learned so much from the attendee stories that we heard on Sunday, but a common theme was keeping my eyes on my own paper. It can be so easy to look at what others are doing and want to do the same. It can be easy to envy and covet and imitate.

But what makes a life remarkable is its uniqueness. Imitators are not heralded for their remarkable copying. We should be inspired by others but “don’t compare your inside to someone else’s outside.” A remarkable life comes from a place of authenticity and vulnerability. It comes from establishing our mission and getting after it.

To live an authentically remarkable life, I have to keep my eyes on my own paper.

13. Transform yourself to transform the world

J.D. Roth is an incredible man with an incredible story of profound personal transformation. J.D. taught me the value of transforming oneself. He reminded me to concentrate on changing myself in order to inspire others to change as well.

J.D. reminded me that focusing on what others should do will not make me better and it is not the way to transform the world. Instead, I should work every day and every month and every year to become a better version of myself. This time next year, as I board the plane to Portland for #WDS2013, I hope to have transformed myself to become a better person.

I can only transform the world by first transforming myself. To live a remarkable life I must embrace and pursue constant personal transformation.

14. Courageously invest in others

Chris Guillebeau has taught me so much through The Art of Non-Conformity (book and blog), The Empire Building Kit, and The $100 Startup… But never has he taught me so much as he did at WDS.

Chris showed me that living a remarkable life means courageously investing in others. It means trusting and empowering those around you to do remarkable things themselves. It means ignoring the trolls and naysayers and critics in favor of supporting the change agents and problem solvers and doers of good.

Chris has made himself vulnerable in countless ways in order to invest in me. He has neglected his natural introversion to stand on stage repeatedly in front of 1,000 people. He has shared his journey liberally with his followers, even when receiving criticism from others. And all the while he has asked for NOTHING in return.

I know that to live a remarkable life I must courageously invest in others.

15. $100 is All it Takes

Chris has also taught me the value of $100. It stated a couple of months ago when I received an advance copy of $100 Startup. It continued when I attended his Atlanta book signing and met him in person for the first time. Through all of this he showed that a meaningful, impactful business can sprout from $100 or less.

But then Chris did something entirely unexpected at the end of the day Sunday. He made the most courageous investment of all in all 1,000 attendees.

He created his own parable of the prodigal son and will be tracking the results over the next year. Combining this year’s profits with an anonymous WDS donation from a 2011 attendee, Chris dispensed $100,000 to the 2012 attendees.

He showed absolute trust and confidence in our ability to do good with the money. He showed a willingness to be absolutely vulnerable in handing out CASH to 1,000 people, many of whom he does not know deeply. Why?

Because he knows we share values of community, adventure, and service. Because he trusted that we would each walk away and willingly bear the burden of responsibility that comes with such a generous gift. And because he wants to see what happens when you empower a group of change-makers with the tools to make it happen.

To live a remarkable life, $100 is all it takes.

#WDS2012

(To learn more about WDS and to sign up to receive notifications about #WDS2013, check out http://worlddominationsummit.com )

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If your ‘why’ is making money, you won’t make money for long

Today’s post is a bit of a rant. My main point: as an organization, if you do not have established values that you live everyday, HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU MAKE DECISIONS?

The potentially obvious, and certainly most common answer to my question (for companies) would be: we do everything to increase shareholder value or increase profits. WHAT? What does that even mean? 

If we are willing to make all decisions based on increasing the financial value of the company in the markets, then we are chasing a moving target. It raises one simple questions in my mind: To what end? What stock price will be enough? What profit number will be enough?

I am sorry if I ruffle feathers here, but this is something I have to get out, and I hope you’ll discuss, debate, agree, or disagree with me. The best way to increase shareholder value is to start with values and make decisions accordingly from there. 

I want to throw this out there because I know it is a huge debate for business owners and decision makers everywhere. Opportunities come up everyday to flex, bend, break, or crush our values. They always will. The simple truth of the matter is this: If we have established values which we feel are subject to being bent, broken, or otherwise worked around, they might as well not be there. And as an organization, we might as well throw in the towel.

Daniel Pink tells us people are motivated by purpose. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras tell us core ideology is proven to work in building companies that stand for long periods of time.

So why do we keep building companies and organizations around something other than a common purpose and set of values? The world has too many problems and the market’s needs are far too great to do anything less. The world deserves our best effort and the way to get there is through shared purpose that inspires executives, employees, volunteers, and interns alike to row in the same direction. Perhaps when our focus shifts to what matters and motivates, the profits might just follow.

If we don’t start with values, how can we ever make decisions and set the right strategy to fulfill our purpose and maximize shareholder value? After all, if we fulfill our purpose and live by our values, shouldn’t we be meeting the need we exist to meet?

Thoughts?

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Gen Y: This is Our Time

There are problems to solve. There is work to be done. There are market needs to be met. There are governmental and big business issues to be tackled.

Quite simply, we have work to do. And we are the solution. Consider this a call to Generation Y to embrace the challenge.

We’ve been on both sides of the fence.

Generation Y, my generation, has grown up in the most fortunate of eras. We have seen massive wealth and economic prosperity. We have also seen the downfall of the economy as a result of questionable actions, values, and policies.

We’ve seen both sides of the fence and this side doesn’t look nearly as pretty. So the question is, are we going to sit back and wait on the solution to fall in our laps or are we going to go out and get it? I vote we go out and get it. Here is why I believe we can, and why I believe we should:

We have the talent, time, and passion.

We have extraordinary talents as a generation, but I believe we are underperforming on our potential. We have outstanding skills imbedded in us, but we often find ourselves giving our time and energy to organizations or causes that we don’t actually care about. That’s got to change. Life is too short to use our talents solving problems about which we could not really care less.

We have the time. We are young enough and vibrant enough to set out to tackle the world’s most challenging problems. With dogged dedication and tireless effort we can solve the problems talked about on a day-to-day basis… But we need to get to work sooner than later.

We have the passion. I can hear it in peers my age. I can hear it in the voices of graduating college students. I can hear it in young professionals. The problem is that we have a hard time figuring out how to place that passion. Where do we start?

We have the right tools.

The wonderful part about being a member of Gen Y is all of the amazing gadgets, enablers, and resources at our disposal. The internet is extremely widespread, gadgets can get us any piece of information in less than 30 seconds, and all of this adds up to the rapid exchange of information, ideas, and connections.

We use our resources to have fun all the time. We use them to find great restaurants, seek new information on our favorite bands, authors, or movies, and we constantly receive news through social media and other outlets.

But the more important implication of the resources at our fingertips is the ease with which we are now able to network, outsource work about which we know very little, and form businesses from scratch. The technology that enables our everyday fun can also enable extraordinary business and problem-solving opportunities. We just have to learn how to start using the resources to our advantage in that way.

It’s going to take hard work.

It’s a long road ahead. It’s going to take hard work – blood, sweat, and tears will be required. Hours of toiling with the hardest questions, problems, and issues on earth are a must. Failure will be an almost certain outcome at some point along the way. We’ll get discouraged by the mountainous workload that will accompany our efforts to change the world.

But it will be worth it. Because deep down, inside of us, we all have a need to find meaning in this world.

We can do it.

The simple fact of the matter is that we can do it. It might take a slight shift in mindset. One from hoping problems get solved to proactively pursuing the solutions. One from having fun with the resources at our fingertips to using them for problem-solving and organization building as well.

But with this mind shift will come mind-numbing possibilities. Walls and barriers will be destroyed, the answers will begin to form, and the issues at hand will being to dissolve. And it will all be a result of us, Generation Y, stepping up to our time and putting our mark on the world. So, are you ready?

Talent, passion, values, and relationships will make it happen.

It’s time to start. It’s time to discover our talents, name our values, embrace our passions, and get to work. It’s time to connect with one another and find out how we can work together to change the world. To solve the preeminent problems.

We have the talent – let’s use it. We have intrinsic values built into our lives, but we need to name them and live by them. We’ve got passion for the world, but we need to focus that passion on the problems about which we care most. And we revolve around our social relationships. So why not start working together in a meaningful way?

Embracing our role as the next generation of creators and leaders.

This is our time. This is our time to step up and become the creators and leaders not only of tomorrow, but of today. The world is thirsting for our creativity and leadership. It is begging for our talents and passions. It is conspiring to bring our great minds together through world-wide connections and meaningful experiences.

And we don’t have to wait. We don’t need permission. We don’t have to be hired. We just need to start. We need to pick a problem and find the solution. And then pick another problem and another.

Generation Y, this is our time. What are we going to do with it?

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Different, Better, Special

I recently  had the chance to sit down and listen to a talk I have heard several times in my life. It was a talk by one of my all time greatest influencers and mentors, Earl Leonard. Mr. Leonard is the namesake of the Leonard Leadership Scholars Program in the Terry College of Business at UGA, my alma mater.

This particular talk is one that every member of the leadership program hears during their time in the program. We affectionately call it ‘Earl’s Pearls.’ I say all of this because I want to share one particular tidbit from the hour-long talk.

Different, Better, Special

Quite simply, what are we doing to be different, better, and special?

Different

When I think about how I’m different, it changes the way I make decisions. Often times, different raises the word ‘bad’ in conjunction. But let’s take a minute and define different… a bit unconventionally. Different to me means being courageous. It means forgetting about conventional thinking and the status quo and doing what feels right.

Being different is actually GOOD thing – it means taking control of our life and our world and shaping it the way we see fit. Forget what we feel like we should do, we need to do what feels right. As Mr. Leonard says, “Ask yourself: ‘Am I happy?’ And if the answer is no, GO DO SOMETHING ELSE.”

Every day I try to be different in one main way: I am unwilling to accept ‘impossible.’ I want to build an ‘impossible’ company. One of those places where people fight tooth and nail to get in the door. One of those companies where people buy your products and services because of trust and reputation. So every day I’m taking measured action to create that different kind of place.

Better

I love this part. It’s all about becoming what we were meant to be. Developing breadth and depth of experience. Pushing ourselves beyond our everyday boundaries and comfort zones so that we have new boundaries and new comfort zones. This is about life-long learning and humility that allows us to learn from our mistakes.

Becoming better is about have that burning desire to wake up everyday and find our inner greatness and put it to work. Becoming better is expanding our skill set so we can spread great ideas and catch the world on fire. It is about being excellent for no other reason than the sake of improving ourselves and those around us.

I get better in two main ways: I listen and I read. I listen to podcasts, I listen to TED talks, I listen to mentors, friends, and family. I read books, magazine, blogs, and anything else I can get my hands on. Every day I try to find a new idea or a fresh bit of insight. That’s my way of getting better.

Special

Special is inherent. Special is in you. It’s in me. Being special just means embracing our talents and gifts we have been given and putting them to good use.

When we become special, we put our talents on showcase and open them up for praise and recognition… and criticism. When we are special we put away the fear of failure and embrace the opportunity to shine. We put our character and good works on display so others feel empowered to do the same.

I want to be special by forming meaningful relationships and leading by example. The people in my life mean the world to me and I want others to think of me as a trustworthy friend and someone willing to do anything for them. I also want others to look at me and look at my values of family, excellence, courage, passion, and  integrity and see congruence.

So what does it mean for you to be different, better, special?  When was a time you woke up and made that conscious decision to make it happen? Share your story in the comments. Or, highlight one of your friends that lives their life different, better, or special! I’d love to hear the stories because I know… I absolutely know you are out there doing it!

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Your Resume Sucks (And so does mine)

It’s ok. So does mine. Actually, the point I’m making here is really more important than you or I. In all reality, all resumes suck.

Have you ever thought about what a resume consists of?

Every resume is supposed to fit on one sheet of paper… for maximum efficiency for the reader. Forget your experience, forget your story, just get it on one sheet of paper or go ahead and throw it in the trash yourself.

Put your name in big letters at the top! Guess what? Everyone else’s name is in similarly sized font in a similar location on a similar sheet of paper. Whoops. I hope your name stands out on its own!

What are power words? Can somebody explain that concept to me? Find a resume advice site and they’ll tell you to use power words to describe your experience. Any recruiter that gives me an interview because I used the words launched, accomplished, and competence is not invested in finding people that are ready to do work that matters.

Listen, here’s the deal. We are taught to build resumes the way Henry Ford taught employees to crank out Model Ts. Efficiently, so they all fit in a manila folder or a desk tray, and in such a way that we have a better chance of winning the lottery than being hired because of our resume.

If you have landed or are about to land a job solely because of your resume, then more power to you. I am proud, I hope we can connect on LinkedIn, and maybe we should do an interview so I can stand corrected.

In the meantime, let’s do the world a favor. Throw your resume away, stop submitting your 8.5 inches to go into a stack with 500 other resumes, and start looking for a job that matters. 

We need to stop formatting and start forming meaningful relationships.

But first, before we do any of that, let’s start with us… We matter, we have something to offer, and we are valuable assets. Define your values. Embrace your passion. Dream Big. Change the world. 

I once wrote a post called the value resume. If the fundamental definition of ‘resume’ changes, I’ll be all for them. And perhaps we should start there. I’ll go first. My resume will contain my values, my passions, my dreams, and how I plan to change the world. In addition, I’ll tell the reader why they should hire me, but only in those terms.

My resume is no longer a ‘resume’ because of the following:

Work is not about being miserable for a paycheck. Work is about finding the organization with which we align to such a degree that the work becomes a fulfillment of our purpose. We’re all here for a reason and our time is too short to keep fitting our life’s work onto one sheet of paper and hoping  we get picked because we used Lucida Sans and everyone else used Times New Roman.

Once upon a time, Seth Godin opened my eyes. Ever since then, I can’t help but agree:

Your resume sucks. So does mine. What are we going to do about it?

Thoughts? Comments? Disagree? Let’s get the conversation going in the comments!

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‘We Are All Weird’ by Seth Godin

Title: We Are All Weird (Affiliate Link)

Author: Seth Godin (Personal Site, Blog, Domino Project)

Page count: 97 in Hardback

Rating:  7 out of 10

Who should read: Anybody contemplating, in the process of, or fully committed to embracing their inner weirdness and using it to change the world. (We are all, after all, weird.)

The Punch Line: At 97 pages, you can easily read this manifesto from the ever-popular Seth Godin in 97 minutes or less. For a spark to get going, encouragement to stay weird, or a kick in the butt to wake up, it is definitely worth the small time investment. Godin is forever challenging us to fight the status quo and create work that matters. We Are All Weird follows the same trend.

Extended Thoughts and Summary:

Normal is no longer normal, and mass no longer sells. The industrial revolution promoted efficient production of mass-consumed goods and services. With the advent of the internet and the opportunity to self-create, self-employ, self-publish, and self-promote, we all have an opportunity. It’s the opportunity to be weird in a good way. To create products and services based on our own weird ideas for an equally weird tribe. That’s Godin’s basic argument, and I couldn’t agree more.

If you have ever read both Godin’s blog and one of his many books, you know they follow a similar format. His blog posts are generally short, pithy, and full of unique insight somewhere along the lines of: the world needs you to step out of the box. In his books, you might say Godin simply writes an extra blog post for a number of consecutive days, linked by a common theme, and then compiles them into an organized book or manifesto for publishing. With We Are All Weird, I feel Godin has done just this.

The sections/posts are further divided into an introduction, three parts, and a postscript by the following titles:

• Introduction: The Pregnant Elephant
• Part 1: Capitalism, Industry, and the Power of Mass – And its Inevitable Decline
• Part 2: The Four Forces for Weird
• Part 3: The Gradual and Inexorable Spread of the Bell Curve
• Postscript: Onward Toward Tribes

As I said in the punch line, this manifesto can be easily digested in less than two hours and it will certainly spark some new ideas, thoughts, or action. It is worth the time, but rest assured that you will find no map, instructions, or guide to finding your inner weirdness. Just a call to get moving.

I’ll close with a couple of my favorite quotes from the book:

The opportunity of our time is to support the word, to sell to the weird and, if you wish, to become weird. pp. 3

Most people who make that choice [to become weird] are paradoxically looking to be accepted. Not by everyone, of course, but by their tribe, by people they admire and hope to be respected by. pp. 16

Average is for marketers who don’t have enough information to be accurate. pp. 61

The weird set an example for the rest of us. They raise the bar, they show us through their actions that in fact we’re wired to do the new, not to comply with someone a thousand miles away. pp. 72

What I care a great deal about, though, is each human’s ability to express her art, to develop into the person she is able to become. I care about the connections between people and our ability to challenge and support each other as we create our own versions of art. And I care about freedom, the ability to express yourself until it impinges on someone else’s happiness. pp. 90

That’s that. Godin printed a very limited number of the hardback edition of We Are All Weird, so be sure to pick one up in a hurry if you value the hard copy. Otherwise, pick it up in e-reader format at your leisure!

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The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick M. Lencioni

Title:  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable (Affiliate Link)

Author: Patrick M. Lencioni (The Table Group, Personal Bio, Facebook, Twitter)

Page count: 220 in hardback (I read the Kindle Edition)

Rating: 6 out of 10

Who should read: Leaders, managers, and members of teams of any type

The Punch Line: 80% of the book is a fable based on the essential message of the book, which is centered on the five dysfunctions as described by the title. If you only have 30 minutes to an hour, start with “The Model” on page 185. From pp. 185-220, Lencioni describes the five dysfunctions and gives sample exercises to overcome each of the dysfunctions.

Extended Thoughts and Summary:

The book begins with a brief introduction by the author and then launches straight into the fable.

‘Kathryn,’ a fictional character, has been selected as the new CEO of ‘Decisiontech, Inc.’ The company is a tech startup in Silicon Valley. Because previous leadership did not take the company to the heights expected by analysts, Kathryn has been called in as a turnaround expert and team guru. In her fifties, she doesn’t even remotely match the typical profile of a Silicon Valley CEO.

Over the course of several two-day off-site executive retreats, Kathryn goes over the five dysfunctions model with her team. The five dysfunctions are:

1. The absence of trust
2. Fear of Conflict
3. Lack of Commitment
4. Avoidance of Accountability
5. Inattention to Results

In walking her team through the model, Kathryn helps them to realize how dysfunctional is the executive team at Decisiontech. In addition , Kathryn develops strategies to cope with each dysfunction within the team.

Along the way, more than one of the executive team members either quits or is fired, but in the end the team is all the better for the wear. By the end of the fable, the team is much more functional and Kathryn has proven herself to be a capable change agent.

Much more helpful and important than the fable material are the last 35 pages of the book. In these pages, Lencioni provides an overview of each dysfunction, an explanation of how the dysfunctions are related, highlights typical symptoms of each, and, finally, provides relatively simple team exercises to tackle each dysfunction head on.

As shown through my rating and punch line, I did not find the entirety of the book to be incredibly enlightening or necessarily worth the page count. However, the last 35 pages are very practical and useful, which should prove to be valuable for future reference.

I would recommend reading the book, but definitely not to be put at the top of your reading pile. As stated, start with the last few pages and come back for the fable if you want a light read that incorporates the basic principles.

For group discussion, I recommend using the team assessment on page 191. Follow up by utilizing Lencioni’s suggested team exercises over the course of several team retreats if possible.

Interested in reading the book based on this review? Buy it here: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Affiliate Link)

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Unique Selling Proposition

I stumbled upon a great podcast the other day conducted by Pat Flynn at smartpassiveincome.com, which can be found here. The guest on the podcast is Corbett Barr, who hosts an awesome blog here and a great site here which focuses on building traffic to your blog and establishing a thriving online business.

Now, if you’re not interested in blogging, online business, or passive income, this might be a podcast you can pass on. If you are interested, please take the time to check it out.

However, one topic covered was call the ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ and I have to share to spread the word – it applies to anything you are doing in life, not just blogs and websites. The essential message: there are a million other products, websites, blogs, staff consultants, internal sales associates, PR coordinators, etc… So what are YOU bringing to the table that your readers, customers, employer, audience, etc. can’t live without?

What is your story? Can your purpose and drive be summed up in one line that converts would-be-customers into believers? What are you bringing them that they cannot find anywhere else? If you don’t know, you’re probably just treading water.

My problem? I don’t have a unique selling proposition for this blog. It’s great, I enjoy writing, every once in a while I get a few hits. But there is no core, convincing message. I’m not building a tribe. Are you?

I would love to hear what your unique selling proposition is, whether it is in running a small business, starting a new company, selling a product, writing a book, a blog, or something in between, or just in life. Why should people engage with you?

And even better, I would LOVE your help in developing my own USP for this blog. How can I combine my passions for personal development, leadership, entrepreneurship, a belief that young professionals are the future if we can unite around big ideas and principled actions, a love for coffee, and a desire to grow… as a person, as a professional, as a traveller, etc. In fact, I need your help.

Please, tell me what your USP is. Tell me what you find compelling in a given post here. Tell me what other bloggers you are following. I want to connect and I want to build a ‘tribe.’

Corbett and Pat, thanks for putting great ideas out there for free. This is just one of many, and I will certainly keep looking to you for advice.

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The 30 Day Challenge Day #3: A Strong Belief

I have been receiving daily emails for the past three days from the Domino Project. They are part of the thirty day ‘Trust Yourself’ writing challenge that is in conjunction with their recent re-release of Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Today’s prompt asks what one belief I have that is not shared by my family and closest friends.

That is a tough one. I try my best to surround myself with people who share my basic values and beliefs. So instead, I’ll share one belief on which my family and friends have not openly expressed their opinion to me.

My belief: leaders are made… And every single person on this earth has the potential to lead others to do good in the world. Yes, predisposition and natural tendencies can make it easier for some people to lead. A person born into the slums of Brazil, a small farming village in China, government housing in the Bronx, or in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness might have a harder time finding their potential and exhibiting leadership qualities than others.

 But with the right influences, a personal drive to succeed, a desire to be free from conventional wisdom, and the perseverance to overcome hardship and setbacks, anyone can become a leader. But they need others to help. They need those people who have been provided for for their entire lives (like myself) to step up and make a difference or open a door. They don’t need a handout, they need a step-up (as it was put at our Habitat for Humanity volunteer orientation last night).

I believe that every single person born on this Earth can be made into a leader and a world-changer… If only those of us that are striving to improve ourselves will also strive to help others.

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