willie jackson

Month: March 2012

  • What people actually hear

    You’d be forgiven for thinking that what you say is what makes it into the mind of your intended recipient(s). The truth is that your statements become colored and tainted by a host of influences before entering into another person’s consciousness.

    How this person feels about you, whether or not they know you, what they’ve come to expect from you (if anything), inflection (if they know what you sound like), trust, intent, and a number of other things — these filter your words in the subconscious before the first statement is processed.

    So the wise marketer then doesn’t speak to express a point, he to speaks create an understanding within the mind of the person listening or reading. Once you develop this sensitivity, you can play to biases and skepticism and openness is a number of different ways.

    There are ethical and perhaps slightly less ethical ways to do this, but that’s another post for another writer.

  • In the absence of competition

    Competitors can often be characterized by unimaginative and overconfident megalomaniacs duking it out over razor-thin margins in a race to the bottom*.

    The number of companies shoehorning yesterday’s electronics into iPhone and iPad-looking exteriors is at once depressing and encouraging, for example.

    Depressing because these companies (despite their billions in funding and vast supply chains) are so out of touch that they shamelessly copy what’s working and in some cases dare to even sue the originators for patent or copyright infringement…**

    …and encouraging because the gulf between true excellence in product design and the ripoffs will in the coming years become so vast that a discriminating customers will vote with their wallets in a way that causes companies to innovate or die.

    When I think of innovation, I think of James Cameron and Elon Musk. People willing to rethink entire experiences and limitations on human achievement.

    Steve Jobs was onto something, too.

    * = It was a lot of fun writing that sentence.

    ** = I recognize that Apple is not the originator of many of the ideas upon which several of its products are built, my point here is about execution and leadership.

  • No replacement for pain

    If you have the ability to completely avoid catastrophic mistakes and failures, then you probably don’t need to be reading my blog, or any blog for that matter.

    If you’re like the rest of us, however, there simply no replacement for the lessons that come in the wake of a disaster. Some of my most powerful and longest-lasting lessons have come from cataclysmic failures and embarrassments.

    The memory serves two purposes that are equally important: 1) a strong incentive to figure out things the next time and 2) a reminder that failure (even mortifying, gut-wrenching failure) does not result in sudden death and excommunication.

    Not usually, anyway.

  • Personal motivation

    Not all of us are at the point in our career where we only do things that interest us. This is why it’s called “work.”

    So when your overflowing inbox is calling and spreadsheets must be updated (a particularly unpleasant task for me), what keeps you going? What motivate me wont necessarily motivate you.

    We often try to borrow lessons and insights from others without doing the necessarily self-reflection. This results in a faux motivation that doesn’t last when faced with adversity.

    This is also why your competition can become less relevant in the long term — you can do things for the right reasons, make excellence a habit, and determine what it is that makes the work worth it.

    If you’re doing it for the wrong (or even undiscovered) reasons, I’m afraid that burnout might be on the horizon. Get to know yourself, ask the tough questions, and correct course as aggressively as possible when you find yourself off track.

  • Lessons and ideas

    Some of the greatest lessons are the ones that no one can teach you. It’s possible that people can push you in the direction of the epiphany, but you experience the revaluation for yourself.

    The key to having frequent revelatory moments is putting yourself in a position to receive them. Ideas come to those who appreciate them when they come, so your job is to do something with them when they do.

    Do you write ideas down when you wake up or when they arrive? Discuss them with a fiend or mentor when they’re compelling enough? Act on them immediately and work on reducing the friction between inspiration and action?
    Or do you allow the thoughts to pass through your consciousness as though they were never there?

    Inspiration is precious and we should position ourselves accordingly. Good ideas come freely to those who create an inviting environment for them.

  • Counterintuitive

    The last thing a sick, weak person wants to do is eat food and yet that’s exactly what’s needed for them to recover.

    When someone develops a lesion on their gum(s), the correct course of action is vigorous brushing rather than avoidance of the tenderness.

    A chronically tired person should actually spend 30 minutes of downtime getting exercise rather than lying on the couch watching TV.

    And someone living check to check should find a way to put a few dollars away every month rather than spending it all on urgent expenses.

    These things don’t make sense in the moment when we’re compromised (mentally, emotionally, and physically), so we have to develop the right mindset before the unexpected takes place.

  • Enabling boldness

    It’s no secret that the education system is failing.

    For highly motivated individuals, this doesn’t matter so much. There’s the old Mark Twain quote…

    I never let my schooling get in the way of my education.

    The more I reflect on education and watch in horror at the classes of apathetic and clueless masses spill into a job market that doesn’t exist, the more I grow concerned for this generation.

    What’s needed is a radical rethinking of what education looks like, and for everyone to care a lot more.

    I think Amber Rae cares.

    Either that or she’s completely crazy, but I’m not sure that the distinction matters.

    Amber recently announced The Bold Academy which is perhaps her most audacious adventure to date. I had the pleasure of working with Amber last year for The Domino Project where she served as the Chief Evangelist.

    During Domino, Amber launched The Passion Experiment, which helps people get “unstuck.” Smart people. People like you.

    And The Bold Academy is a more fully-realized version of the Passion Experiment.

    The Bold Academy is 4-week experience designed to help college students and recent grads find clarity, build confidence, and unlock their full potential. If you want to do big things to “change the world” but aren’t sure how to get started, we’re creating this for you.

    I’m not sure anyone is better at what she does than Amber is.

    So if The Bold Academy looks like something that you’re terrified to apply to, then you should almost certainly throw your hat in the ring.

  • Rethinking careers

    I find myself constantly returning to the idea of careers and how they no longer mean what they used to mean, particularly for my generation.

    At dinner last night, we talked about what we’d give a TED talk on if we had to do one tomorrow. When pressed for details on my “Rethinking Careers” talk (which no one has actually asked me to give…), I mentioned things like:

    • Forgetting most of what you’ve learned in school, as fast as possible
    • Realizing that many of the individuals advising you on life outside the halls of academia have not in fact ventured very far from said walls
    • How no one knowing who you are or what you do (when beginning a freelance career) can be a huge benefit since you can fail in obscurity without anyone noticing

    Ideas like these (and a laundry list of additional ones) are always churning, so as I flesh these out a bit more, I will share them here on the blog. Perhaps in ebook format.

    Also: on Saturday, April 21st I will be moderating a panel at the Find and Follow Your Passion Conference.

    Come say say hi.

  • A seat at the table

    Sometimes you just need to pick a different table.

    And bring your own chair.

  • The power of conviction

    Just before leaving my job in April of 2010, I had a series of discussions with the Managing Director of Atlanta’s office, Craig Ramsey.

    I wanted to be sure I was making the right decision, or to at least give the company a fair shot at addressing my concerns before I struck out on my own. Craig is a fellow FSU alum who I’d met at several company events, and someone for whom I have a great deal of respect.

    I ended up moving forward with my plans to leave the company, but I remember telling people on more than one occasion after leaving that if I had worked with or reported to Craig during my time there, I would probably still be employed there.

    Why? His conviction.

    Craig believes in what he does, and has the work ethic to prove it. There is of course a measure of conviction required of any executive who hopes to remain employed for long, but there was an honesty to Craig’s conviction that made an impression on me.

    I don’t think the importance of conviction can be overstated.

    In your department, your startup, or your writing — it’s what will cause people to rally around your cause, subscribe to your newsletter, be moved to tears at your prose, and burn the midnight oil for your idea.

    Conviction is what provides the push when discouragement sets in, when distractions appear, and when shortcuts are considered. Conviction is the mental and emotional transfer of your belief in something that then be internalized by others.

    Give us something to believe in.