Casual Fridays

Two posts by Big-Time Gurus recently addressed the same point.

1. Tom Peters:

Old story. But never an old story. I went to Whole Foods and Starbucks back-to-back yesterday afternoon. No holes: Every (EVERY—perhaps 6?) staff member was pleasant, chatty, informed, etc.

I remain amazed.

2. Seth Godin (read the post to get context)

Sure, she was an annoying nut. But she was passionate about containers, certainly. Smart hiring goes a long way.

Duh, you say? Yet how many businesses really hire people because they’ll be pleasant, chatty, informed, and PASSIONATE (specifically about your core offering)?

I submitted a proposal to write a manifesto for Changethis.com. It is a presentation I present on personal development. The premise is based on the same concept as the 3 Rs of Business. In my presentation, I encourage individuals to take stock of their personal brand, Brand You as Tom Peters says, [...]

If you happen to see this post today, hop over to inBubbleWrap where they’re selling The Prepared Mind of a Leader for 1/2 off with free shipping.
I’m currently half-way through the book and have found it fascinating. It is a tough read, though. The authors give exercises that require you to take time [...]

…maybe that’s why I love the concept so much (sorry my CPA friends):
Asset-Based Thinking (non-flash version)

Just think what could be possible if people focused on:
• Opportunities rather than problems
• Strengths more than weaknesses
• What can be done instead of what can’t

Within their material, I see the phrase:

Small Shifts
_____________

Make Seismic Differences

It seems uncanny that I happen [...]

Megan Casey is Editor-in-Chief of Squidoo. She also has a rather good blog called First Thing Monday. My guess is if you like business books, you’ll like First Thing Monday.
Check out her post on Athletes vs. Dieters (not what you think) to see what I mean.
Megan also contributes to the Squidblog.

In response to John Moore of Brand Autopsy and Tom Peters of Tom Peters!, here is my stack of books I’m reading. OK, maybe I’m not reading all of them at once. I used to read 6-7 books at a time. Right now, I focus on one at a time… sometimes two. [...]

Each weekday morning, I receive a bubbly, little invite to check out what I may win that day. It could be a business book (or a library of books), or it may be a seminar, CDs, an interview with a famous author, or a bag of crap from the lost and found (they’ve given [...]

The Book of Cool

Ingenious.
The Book of Cool is actually a set of DVDs and a book which document how some of the world’s “coolest people” perform their “coolest tricks.”
This is like the Cliff Notes of cool.
The concept is wicked smart in my opinion. It implies two things:
1. THESE tricks can make you cool.
Are these [...]

With a couple of presentations and significant client work lately… I’m a bit tapped out. The creative juices aren’t flowing as readily and I’m looking forward to the Christmas break as an opportunity to recharge.
But this is a time of giving, right? So, in that spirit here are a few links to some [...]