Synopsis: I asked Seth 5 questions about the dynamics of tribal leadership, and here’s what he had to say:
1. How does a member of any particular tribe know she’s ready to lead one of her own?
Seth: Well, everyone is a member of a tribe. A community tribe, perhaps, or a spiritual one. The time to [...]
Synopsis: Story-telling is important in modern marketing but you’ve got to remember that nobody learns everything all at once. The story has to begin with something compelling enough that you want to learn more – the story must unfold. The mistake marketers make is that they tell all the story at once, take it or [...]
Synopsis: Question: What is an example of company that created a brand by conducting a dialogue with customers?
Answer: You don’t know many either, do you Guy? Ahh, we agree! I think that while markets are conversations, marketing is a story. Starbucks creates conversations among customers, so does Apple. The NYSE makes a fortune permitting people [...]
Synopsis: For fifteen years, I was a book packager. It has nothing to do with packaging and a bit more to do with books, but it’s a great gig and there are useful lessons, because there are dozens of industries just waiting for you to do something like this. Let me explain:
A book packager is [...]
Synopsis: The best businesses and the best projects are a quantum leap above the competition. This gulf represents competitive insulation, because others can’t figure out how to get up there with you.
Amazon, for example, has a leap between it and other online retailers. Sure, you might be able to mimic part of what they’ve got, [...]
Synopsis: 1. Don’t let popular spreadsheets be in charge of the way you look
92% of all the business presentations made in the United States are done with templates created by big companies in Excel or Powerpoint. This is a horrible tragedy.
First, programmers don’t often have a lot of taste. The fonts are flaccid, the defaults [...]
Synopsis: If you run a business on a small island, every interaction matters and every customer is precious.
There’s a finite number of people you’re going to be able to sell to, and every person you interact with knows everyone else, so you always have to be on your best behavior. You can’t say, “tough” and [...]
Synopsis: In order for an idea to spread, someone has to do the spreading.
In the dark ages (ten years ago), the only way to spread your idea on a large scale was to do it yourself. Lots and lots of ads.
Today, marketers get all sweaty thinking about how this happens magically, virally, for free. If [...]
Synopsis: 1. Go where your customers are.
Jacquelyne runs a tiny juice company called Chakwave. I met her in Los Angeles, standing next to an organic lunch truck. Like the little birds that clean the teeth of the hippo, there’s synergy here. The kind of person that visits the truck for lunch is the sort of [...]
Synopsis: When you’re in a small meeting (you and one or two other people) it’s awkward to use a laptop or Powerpoint, because it destroys the intimacy of the discussion. Basically, it says, “I’m going to talk to the screen and you can watch, okay?” Start by writing these facts down.
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