Alan Webber is the founding editor of Fast Company.
Fast Company has had a fundamental influence on my belief in Great Work—work that’s less hierarchical, more innovative, more creative, more design focused, more full of meaning and more engaging.
Alan has just published a fantastic book called Rules of Thumb: 52 Truths for Winning at Business Without Losing Your Self, which contains his wisdom and insights from 30 years in business.
In our talk, Alan sheds light on his top rules of thumb from the book:
- Ask the last question first: what’s your definition of victory?
- How to create an a-ha moment to create a solution that actually works
- Keep 2 lists: 1) What gets you up in the morning? 2) What keeps you up at night? And learn how these questions can help you find work that’s motivating and makes an impact on the world.
You can learn more about Alan
at www.rulesofthumbbook.com.
Posted on July 28, 2010
Do you want to create a leading brand?
Then Al Ries is your man. Al is the legendary marketing strategist who co-authored a series of articles declaring the arrival of the Positioning Era in 1972. Positioning is about how to place your brand in the mind of a consumer in a crowded marketplace, and this concept has revolutionized how people view branding.
Al is the bestselling author of 22 Immutable Laws of Branding and Focus: The Future of Your Company Depends on It.
In our conversation, we talk about what it takes to make a brand truly flourish, which often defies logic and conventional wisdom:
- How to be the leading brand – the Heinz, Starbucks, Red Bull or Gatorade – of your category
- What people will remember after reading a magazine with 200 ads – and what this means for your brand
- Why doing things different is more important than doing things better than the competition
- How to increase profits by focusing on a single concept (find out why Nintendo is more profitable than Sony)
Learn more about Al at www.ries.com.
Posted on July 21, 2010
I met Annie McKee, one of the world’s top advisors on leadership, at a conference in Dubai last year. I was excited to meet her because her work as the founder of the Teleos Leadership Institute focuses on creating large-scale change in organizations to evolve and do more great work.
Annie is the co-author of several groundbreaking leadership books: Primal Leadership, Resonant Leadership and Becoming a Resonant Leader.
Annie has been dubbed the “High Priestess of Executive Coaching” by Business Week. With a title like that, you may picture her dressed in flowing white robes and carrying a sacrificial dagger. But the truth is—her approach to finding meaning (at work and in life) is incredibly down-to-earth.
In our conversation, we discuss:
- How all people wake up with intentions to do good work, and how to rekindle their spark when they get knocked off balance
- 3 magic words that could revolutionize every conversation you have at work
- Tools for defining a “noble purpose” to drive you forward in your personal and professional life (believe it or not, this may include tarot cards!)
- How playfulness, taking a walk, and the “perceived weird index” can get you from good to great work
NB-Although Annie’s voice comes through nicely in this interview, I sound a bit like I’m standing in a wind tunnel. Sorry about that.
Posted on July 15, 2010
If you’re a small business owner, I hope to heck that you’ve heard of John Jantsch, the man behind Duct Tape Marketing.
With Duct Tape Marketing, John has created a system for marketing your small business, so you can forget about the hype and guesswork, and counting on consultants to decode the mysteries of marketing. John’s system will get your business beyond the clutter and into the limelight.
John is insatiably curious, admits to getting bored easily and is a voracious reader of 100 blogs and 4 books a week. During our conversation he shares his wisdom about:
- How social media years are like dog years
- His “light bulb” moment about the secret to marketing small businesses
- The 2 biggest mistakes that John sees over and over, and make him smack himself on the head every time
- How to turn your biz into a “Referral Engine” that people love talking about
- Creating a brand that’s as cool as Apple (don’t worry.. you don’t need their budget or iPads)
You can read John’s award-winning blog Duct Tape Marketing here (it’s a Forbes fave and Harvard Business School featured marketing site) and follow him on Twitter at @ducttape.
Posted on July 13, 2010
